Hello from Bulgaria :)

[Amitola]

I just found this site about a week ago and I can't tell you how happy I am! I live in a small country (where raising squirrels is really not that common) and though in the capital, I have a really hard time to find a vet that can properly help me with the two little trouble makers we (my boyfriend and I) found 2 months ago. They are two male red squirrels (Eurasian type) now named Jekyll and Hyde (but I am almost sure they think their names are "Don't go there!" and "Stop biting me!" :)
We found them at my neighbor's yard just lying in the grass, scared to death. The neighbor said that they have just fallen off their nest and their mom was eaten a few hours ago by a stray dog. They were noticeably young (though with eyes wide open) and one of them had blood on it's nose. We got worried and decided to take them to the vet, because we've never had any experience with squirrels. He examined them, treated them for lice, fleas etc. with a powder and... that's when he told us that in his opinion they are just 5 or 6 weeks old (their two upper front teeth were hardly showing at that time and they could not yet curl their tales), and are still nursing. We thought that they'd never want to eat from a syringe, but fortunately they proved us wrong :) We fed them Beaphar puppy formula and we had no problems for about 3 weeks when they started refusing the milk ( at about 9 1/2 weeks of age maybe). We decided that is their time, and after trying a couple more days, they weaned themselves and we started to give them hard food - nuts, fruits, veggies. We put a rodent block (not those that are just little bits I think we don't have them here, but a big square one that looks like chalk) and they won't even look at it... So we were probably doing something wrong, because 2 weeks ago they started loosing fur. It all started on the right back leg on the slightly smaller one (Jekyll), and it was just 2 really small patches that weren't even bald, but they definitely had less fur than normal. We decided that it's probably from a fight (play-fight) between them. Then he started to lose fur on the bottom of his tale, just above his butt and in few days that part was bold, the patches on his leg were bigger and in the meantime Hyde started to lose fur as well. The vet took a skin scraping and told us that it's probably from their diet (our guess also). That's when I found this wonderful site and learned that our boys are most likely suffering from Ca deficiency. So now we are stuffing them with fruits and veggies full of Ca, puting vitamin drops in the water and desperately trying to make them eat the rodent block and let's hope that they are going to be fine soon :) Other than that they are two little lively, wonderful and mischievous trouble makers :)
Here are some pics of them (mostly from their 1st day home) and a pic of Jekyll's back leg (blurry, sorry about that).

[keetz1205]

:Welcome to TSB! I just wanted to give this thread a bump so more experienced folks could look at this leg. The hairloss on the leg and around the tail doesn't look to good and may be due to poor nutrition. Someone will be on soon....

[island rehabber]

:Welcome Glad you found us! I believe you are our first member from Bulgaria :). You are doing the right thing changing their diet to Calcium-rich foods and limiting the high-phosphorous foods (no seeds or bird food or peanuts, etc.) We have a member here, 4skwerlz, who is our resident expert on squirrel nutrition, and she has both a recipe to make homemade blocks AND an online store where you can purchase them. I know if you ask her she'll help you put together the ingredients you need to make the blocks yourself and get some really good nutrition into these beautiful little ones. Turning around a squirrel's diet and seeing improvement takes time...don't worry if you don't see immediate results. :thumbsup

[Ronda]

Welcome! You have two of the most adorable little squirrels! This site is the best for info and advice..and we look forward to seeing lots of pics of your cuties. I can also recommend the nutrition info and blocks from 4skerwls....my princess Scrat loves them

[stosh2010]

Welcome to T.S.B. We are ALL SO HAPPY THAT YOU FOUND US---
You are NOW in the Company of HUNDREDS of Compassionate , Friendly, and ( Photo Junkie) Squirrel Lovers.
Any Question you may have NOW and any future uncertainty in the coming months concerning Squirrel health & nutrition will be ANSWERED Right Here---and quickly.
I live in Costa Rica with "the KING" ( Rama Rota ). I hope you get to view his Thread---he's a FUNNY DUDE.
WELCOME...once again.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________
Stosh >>> Keeper of the KING ( of Costa Rica )

[CritterMom]

OMG, the EARS!! They are so cute!

Since it takes a while to get the premade blocks from the US or even to sometimes gather the correct ingredients, here are a couple ideas to help get some of the blocks you have at home into them in the meantime:

Grind a few of the blocks up in a coffe grinder, food processor, or blender until they are a powder. If you don't have any of those things, you can put them in a plastic baggie and whack the heck out of them with a mallet until they are powder, too. Then, try to find some yogurt that is made with whole milk (not low fat or no fat). Here in the US several yogurt manufacturers offer this as a line of yogurt for infants. Flavored is good - vanilla, banana, peach and pear are all good choices. Then put a spoonful of the powder, a spoonful of the yogurt, and a tiny blob of almond butter or peanut butter (or you can toss a couple pecans into the grinder and use that). Heat it in a microwave for a few seconds and stir ver well to mix the nut butter through it. Offer it by spoon still warm, or put it in a little flat dish. If they don't want it, you can add a little molasses or syrup to sweeten it slightly, or a bit more nut butter, or you can also add in some of the puppy formula powder they were eating before to it - which will make it taste familiar. My squirrel INHALES this stuff.

You can also take equal parts of the squirrel block, the formula powder, and the ground up nuts (not peanuts) and mix with just enough fruit baby food or yogurt to bareiy moisten it so it will stick together. Roll into little balls and let dry a bit. Each time you make these, you can increase the amount of ground pellets and decrease the nuts until they are eating a larger proportion of the ground squirrel block than the nuts.

Both of these have all kinds of nutrients and good things in them, and also have the benefit of getting the squirrel accustomed to the taste of the squirrel blocks.

They are just so darned cute I can't stand it.

[tomcics]

The very first thing I did after seeing the pics of these extraordinary beautiful Eurasian Reds was to subscribe to this thread. I'm a fan already. Your story was also very touching and so happy you could rescue Jeykll & Hyde. There are many knowledgeable people on this board to give good advice to you, I am someone who will appreciate your stories and pics (so keep them coming :D ). Thanks again for being so kind to help these two little guys out.

[Jackie in Tampa]

:Welcome :wave123
Welcome to TSB!
CrittersMOm has given you good advise..
Diet is key with sqs.
TSB has a member who is sharp with nutritional issues and does have a product line and web site for sqs, Henry's Healthy Pets
From my experience as well as learning here through others, hair loss at a young age would seem to be either diet, bugs/fungus or allergies.
I have never heard of the puppy formula that you used, thinking
4Skwerls or someone can help you decide if it may not have had enough nutrition to keep them healthy. When the immune system is stressed, symptoms can present themselves in alot of different ways.:dono
I am sure someone will have some advise for you soon.

The two babies are gorgeous...and I love their ears too..:D
I am so excited to see sqs from all over the world, so please keep the pics coming!:Love_Icon

[Amitola]

Thank you everyone for the compliments and the given advice, I'm sure it'll be most helpful :) We'll be sure to check out 4skwerlz' nutrition thread.

@ CritterMom: We will get on with the home made blocks asap (all the mentioned ingredients are easily obtainable from the nearby supermarkets). We have coffee grinders, blenders, kitchen robots etc etc BUT we will be trying out the mallet method just for the kicks (my boyfriend was especially fond of the idea of whacking stuffs with a hammer :D ). Also getting some low fat natural yogurt will be no problem, since we do have just about any kinds of yogurt here in Bulgaria ( the stuff is really popular around :) ). Thank you for the wonderful advice, I hope they will get used to the home made blocks easily and we will be able to get them back in shape.

Let's hope it's nothing more than Ca deficiency. Unfortunately pure Ca powder or pills seem to be really hard to get in our drug stores (for whatever odd reason it might be) but we do have some combined Ca + Vit D ones which we used to give to my boyfriend's dog when it was a puppy. We were wondering whether we could powder them and use them for the squirrels (either as additional ingredients in the blocks or just as powder mixed with their food).

I will do my best to upload more pictures but it's just so hard to get a decent photo of them since they are so hyperactive and wiggly :) Thanks again and see you soon. :)

[lilbitsquirrely]

:Welcome :Welcome :Welcome How precious,and those two are darling,and way too cute. You found the best place in the world for help and you are doing the right thing,getting them extra calcium and on a much better diet,is going to make a tremendous improvement.:thumbsup I hate that their mother was killed:sad ,but I thank:bowdown God y'all found them and were able to save them.:jump

[CritterMom]

Use FULL FAT yogurt, not low fat. The fat is good for them - they need it in their diet.

[4skwerlz]

Welcome to TSB!

You can't use calcium + vitamin D tablets; there is too much vitamin D, which will make the MBD worse.

You should be able to find PLAIN calcium tablets or powder online. Good luck!

[Amitola]

CritterMom, sorry, I misread your first post and somehow didn't see the "not" before "low fat or no fat". Thank you for correcting.
4skwerlz, thank you for the answer. I thought that vitamin D can't be too good for them also, but I'm no specialist so I had to ask. The problems with ordering online is that few sites ship to Bulgaria. And even if we order from a site that ships we have to wait for a month and the shipping cost sums up to (if we are lucky) $25 . That probably doesn't sound too much to all of you, but in our currency it's almost double that amount (again, if we are lucky). But I guess the price is not that big of a deal since it's for our two boys, the delivery time is what we are more worried about...
Thank you all again for the answers :)

[Skul]

What a wonderful surprise.
Beautiful little squirrel.
Very happy you could join us.:thumbsup

[Amitola]

Also, now that you mentioned MBD, I read all the threads about it and I have to apologise for asking about the Ca + vitamin D pills since you made it clear a couple of times in those threads that this kind of pills isn't good for the squirrels :) I just never thought to look at MBD threads more thoroughly, because neither one of them have weakness, lethargy, seizures or paralysis, but if we want to keep it that way I guess I should research more.
Also, I have a question (to no one in particular) about... well, let's call it discipline, although I can't imagine how you can discipline a squirrel :) Jekyll and Hyde currently live with in boyfriend's house, because soon he'll have the apartment all to himself (and we can make them a huuuge cage :) )and we thought that it's better that they get accustomed to it from now (the only problem is that they are a bit more used to him than to me :( ). Jekyll is a sweet and loving creature and he let us pet him, hold him (even for a few seconds) without biting us and he is very social. Hyde on the other hand, is a different story... He is very territorial and every time we try to touch him or even when he sees a hand near him or we say "No!" he squeaks in protest and starts looking at us like we are trying to kill him :) We can't hold him even for a second unless we are wearing gloves, because 90% of the times that he bites he draws blood... So my boyfriend decided to discipline him in a way and every time Hyde bites he receives a tap on his nose from him. It's a small, gentle tap of course, just so he knows that he did something wrong, but it's in no way abusive. I really think it doesn't work, on the contrary, I think he hates us more for that :( Other than that he likes jumping on me and playing chase with my hands (I assume it's a game) and running all over my legs :) He likes picking my hair, chewing my buttons etc. (he does all those things with my boyfriend as well) and on occasions he seems content to be with us, but his overall behavior screams "I don't like you anymore!" :(

[Skul]

If your squirrels are are anything like ours. (I suspect they are).
The behaviour is normal.
Perhaps his bite is to get attention.
Instead of the soft tap on the nose, might I suggest just saying "NO", (or the Bulgarian equivalent), then turning away.
If he does not recieve the attenion from his bite, he may stop.
This will take time, so be patient.

May I ask the age of the squirrel?

[Amitola]

Thank you for the quick answer. They are both almost 4 months old.

[TinyPaws]

You could also try blowing on their face just after you say no. Everyone here has givin great advice..About the blocks, I use a cheese grater to get mine to powder, it makes it very fine and less lumpy..

HELLO AND WELCOME TO TSB. :Welcome

[Skul]

Aah, still young.
Tinypaws had a good suggestion.
You might try that, also.

[stosh2010]

The problems with ordering online is that few sites ship to Bulgaria. And even if we order from a site that ships we have to wait for a month and the shipping cost :)
Welcome to THE CLUB....I am in Costa Rica and a MONTH is average.....

Amitola wrote:
he likes jumping on me and playing chase with my hands (I assume it's a game) and running all over my legs He likes picking my hair, chewing my buttons etc
Rama Rota is the same with me--He plays "Catch me If You Can" and spends most of his time ON MY BACK--but with RamaMama he sits there and lets her touch, stroke and nuzzle him....Oh WELL !&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Stosh >>> Keeper of the KING ( of Costa Rica )

[4skwerlz]

The problems with ordering online is that few sites ship to Bulgaria. And even if we order from a site that ships we have to wait for a month and the shipping cost sums up to (if we are lucky) $25 . That probably doesn't sound too much to all of you, but in our currency it's almost double that amount (again, if we are lucky). But I guess the price is not that big of a deal since it's for our two boys, the delivery time is what we are more worried about...
Thank you all again for the answers :)

You can get a shipping estimate on the Henrys Pets website: just put the item in the cart, view the cart, click "calculate shipping," fill in your country, post code, etc., and it will give you the shipping cost. If it's too much, just cancel. Often my shipping is cheaper than others because I use International Flat Rate Envelopes instead of boxes for most orders. Worth a try. :)

[mugzeezma]

CritterMom, sorry, I misread your first post and somehow didn't see the "not" before "low fat or no fat". Thank you for correcting.
4skwerlz, thank you for the answer. I thought that vitamin D can't be too good for them also, but I'm no specialist so I had to ask. The problems with ordering online is that few sites ship to Bulgaria. And even if we order from a site that ships we have to wait for a month and the shipping cost sums up to (if we are lucky) $25 . That probably doesn't sound too much to all of you, but in our currency it's almost double that amount (again, if we are lucky). But I guess the price is not that big of a deal since it's for our two boys, the delivery time is what we are more worried about...
Thank you all again for the answers :)
I am not aware of what you may have available in pet foods there but a number of people feed monkey chow or monkey biscuits if you can get rat blocks or rat feed formulated for rats and mice you can mix up what we call on this site, BooBalls.
1 part finely ground rat block
1 part milk replacer
1 part finely ground nut meats
applesauce or fruit bebt food...most of our squirrels like anything with strawberries or raspberries
add just enough fruit sauce to moisten into a dough and roll into marble sized balls and let sit over night.
THis is something very easily made and provides the calcium they need.
They are highly palatable as well.

[Amitola]

We tried the No! and the blowing in the face method, all we've accomplished is one really loud squeak and an angry look after that. Either that or he just looks at us as if saying "Silly, silly humans..." and turns around. I wish we could just say No! to him and turn away, but he's usually the one to do it first... :)

stosh2010, tell me about it... a month is the best case scenario most of the time. Well, at least Rama Rota lets someone touch him :) He is wonderful btw :)
And about the pic... when they saw the original all my friends said either that shock therapy won't help with the biting problem or that we shouldn't let him listen to so much punk music. I'll link them the one with your text, they'll laugh:)

4skwerlz, I tried ordering from the site some time ago, but apparently:
"Unfortunately we can't ship to your location.
Please select another location and try again."

Also, I managed to find a few more photos.

[mugzeezma]

I always out Mugzi on a 'time out' in his cage if he bites. Nothing a squirrel values more than it's freedom. Put him in jail for a few minutes if he bites you.

Those babies are incredible! They look like little trolls or Hobbits. but so cute.
I love the picture with the feet!!! Do they have fur on the bottoms of their feet?
Our Grays and Fox Squirrels are barefoot.

[CritterMom]

Mugz, that little squirrel is SHOCKED that you could ask such a thing about his fuzzy feetzies! How do I know he's shocked? Pic 3...

[Amitola]

CritterMom, great advice again, unfortunately even rat feed/blocks/whatever is basically impossible to find here. I can't even imagine in my wildest dreams that I'll be able to find monkey chow or monkey biscuits :) I've seen this and many more recipes on this site, but the products We have millions of kinds of bunny, hamster, chinchilla and ferret food, but they are pretty much the same product in different packages. Of course we have expensive kinds of food too (we tried one that's meant to be for chinchillas, but the vet said that should be fine for squirrels too) that supposedly is for the pickiest of eaters but Jekyll and Hyde would eat about 5 % of the ingredients so we stopped giving it to them pretty quickly. It sucks to know that we could have done so much more for the little guys if our country was just a bit more normal. Oh well, we'll manage with what we've got here and hope we'll be able to take a road trip as soon as possible (if we find where to leave the boys) to another country (Greece is just few hours away) and explore our options there.

[Amitola]

Yes, they have some fur on the bottom of their feet, about the same amount they had when we found them (the photo). We've never actually noticed how big a squirrel's feet and fingers are, until we got Jekyll and Hyde, they looked so
disproptioned and funny. :)
We put him in his cage when he bites too (I think that's one of the main reason he's biting, every time we hold him he probably thinks that he's going back in the cage...). When we do that he just stares at us and makes strange sounds something between a squeak and a click and... a sneeze maybe :D While he makes that sound he also jumps, but with tiny fast jumps (I suck so much at explaining) and flicks his tail. I think it means "I want out!", but when we get him out the cage he continues doing it, so maybe he's just cussing us :)

[4skwerlz]

4skwerlz, I tried ordering from the site some time ago, but apparently:
"Unfortunately we can't ship to your location.
Please select another location and try again."



PM me your address and I will check the shipping cost for you.

[astra]

I know that everyone has already said it many times, many ways, but I just cannot help it how precious and adorable they are!:Love_Icon

[Skul]

I know that everyone has already said it many times, many ways, but I just cannot help it how precious and adorable they are!:Love_Icon
I know, I keep coming back just to look.:D

[lilbitsquirrely]

I know, I keep coming back just to look.:D
:D Me too.They are to cute.I love these guys.I hope you keep up with more pictures:jump :jump

[tomcics]

The new photos are precious too, how could squirrels get that cute? Wish them the best of health.

[mugzeezma]

The new photos are precious too, how could squirrels get that cute? Wish them the best of health.
Jekyl and Hyde...such funny names for such comical characters! They will eventually grow into those big feet. The ears I'm not so sure about. I hope not!
As far as rat block see if you can find Harlan Teklad rat block.

http://www.harlan.com/

Research Models and Services - Eastern Europe
Country/Service Email Address Phone Number
Poland ►rms.de@harlan.com +49-(0)-5251-131510
Hungary ►rms.hu@harlan.com +36-(0)-30-996-7995
Baltic States ►rms.nordic@harlan.com +31-(0)-478-578327
All others ►rms.hu@harlan.com +36-(0)-30-996-7995

Try calling one of these numbers and see who you can get the rat block from.
I believe the one that is most used is 2014 and 2018 but don't quote me on that right now...;) I will have to ask around.

It might be the most easily obtainable due to the fact that it has worldwide distribution and is used for laboratory animals.
Can you find a FULL SPECTRUM lamp like the kind used for reptiles? That will greatly improve your odds against them acquiring MBD, that and at least 1/2 of direct sunlight per day. As long as they are on formula this should not be a problem. You probably already know this...The body produces D3 when exposed to sunlight which in turn helps to metabolize calcium so a good full spectrum lamp is a must have if you plan on keeping these animals for any length of time.
The lamps are expensive but have a pretty long usage life.
Biting:
Another thing you may try is pinching their cheeks with thumb and forefinger on either side of their face, holding it firmly for a few seconds and saying a sharp... NO! Be very firm but gentle. You don't want to over do it or it will have a reverse effect and scare them.
Of course I am assuming that this it actual angry biting and not the play grabbing and chomping biting. Not all squirrels bite the same! Some play bite MUCH harder!
hope this helps...:)

[Ultra Peepi]

:Welcome i just caught up on this thread here... so hello!

these 2 are so cute! love the names, very perfect for some young squirrelly pals. :D

[Amitola]

Hi everybody, you're so nice :) Thank you for the lovely comments. UPDATE: We found Calcium Gluconicum and we're giving them 0.25 mg a day each, Beaphar Knibby Snackies, Vitapol Apple lime and we are using Versele - Laga Opti - Vit drops in their water. We also added curds to their diet along with some oranges and chinese cabbage and we're experimenting with different recipes for homemade blocks that they'd like. They are doing great for now.
They get plenty of sunshine, but we could buy them a full spectrum lamp. They are not that expensive around here. Pinching their cheeks with thumb and forefinger?!? Holding firmly for a few seconds?!? I actually need my hands and I really want to keep them intact :)
Here are some more baby photos of them, sorry I don't have more recent ones, but I really haven't got the time or I always forget my camera. I promise I'll upload new pictures in the next few days.

[tomcics]

Great way to start morning is to enjoy new pics of the Eurasian Red's Jekyll and Hyde. Look forward to 'many' more new photos of these lovely squirrels in the future.

[stosh2010]

Thanks for the New photos ...Rama Rota is envious of Jekyll's ears...
Do you want to trade EAR secrets for TAIL secrets--??...Ha.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Stosh >>> Keeper of the KING ( of Costa Rica)

[Chickenlegs]

Oh WOW! EARS!!!!!!! You got some pretty babies there!

[cico]

Hi,

I am glad to see those two lovely squirrels.I have two red squirrels as well,found the male one when he was week old and the girl when she was 3 months old.They are the best animals in the univers.
I am from Croatia and I know how difficult is to find supplyes for squirrels.
Good luck with the squirrels
Love them

Magdalena