One of my squirrel pals is behaving strangely

[JLM27]

Today one of my usual visitors to the window ledge seemed to be having trouble keeping his balance when he is sitting on the branch eating his nut. He sort of overbalances backward and has to quick catch himself. I have never seen this behavior before, and he did it repeatedly.
Then when he was on the window sill, he kept hopping backward an inch at a time until he was up against the corner of the window. It almost seemed involuntary. He also did this repeatedly, each time he came to the window sill.

He ate well, and his eyes are bright. I thought he was a little clumsy on the branches for a young man.

Finally, I couldn't see real well through the screen, but it seems to me that his penis has a sore tip and redness around it. He is not a baby, but is probably about 1 year old.

Anybody have any ideas what could be wrong?

[JLM27]

I'm bumping this up because I got no replies. I can't get a video until tomorrow morning (probably).

[4skwerlz]

Hard to tell from your description if anything's wrong. I have seen them try to balance on a thin branch while eating, and they keep tipping back and forth. Keep watching and see if he seems generally weak or sick.

[JLM27]

Hard to tell from your description if anything's wrong. I have seen them try to balance on a thin branch while eating, and they keep tipping back and forth. Keep watching and see if he seems generally weak or sick.
I will watch him, but I will also try to get a video tomorrow at breakfast

[Legomom]

Could he be a little worn out from mating? Adding the imbalance to the red/sore penis might lend some credence to the thought. :thinking

[JLM27]

I hope that's all it is. There does not seem to be a lot of mating in the backyard right now, but it's not like they would tell me.:D

[JLM27]

I did not see any strange behavior this morning, but I'm not sure the guy in question was there. I've got four little boys coming every morning, and three of them look a lot alike. Nobody this morning looked sore in his private area. I will still keep an eye out for him. He sometimes comes late in the afternoon to the feeders, too.

[JLM27]

Well, I saw my little guy today and although he was not tilting backward today on the branch, he seemed very clumsy climbing up and along the branches to get to my window sill, and slower than he should be. He is not hopping backwards, but he still likes to back himself into a corner of my window sill when he eats. I think he got hurt somehow, maybe fell(?). I sure hope he is not permanently damaged. I couldn't see any one place that was malfunctioning, like he was using all of his limbs, but just altogether he didn't seem as quick or coordinated as he should be.

[4skwerlz]

My really old wild boys would often be somewhat slow-moving, climb slowly, mostly walk instead of run. However, if he's showing uncoordination, that is a bit different. If he seems a bit better, then that's excellent. Seems like with wild ones, once they start to improve they go on to get well.

All you can really do without catching him is give him extra food, and dose him with Ivermectin in case of parasites.

A pic would help.