Advice Please

[SandraH]

My best friends son found a baby flying squirrel at their back door last Sunday morning. Her kids wanted to do nothing but play with it so I brought it home with me to try and take care of it. He is doing relatively well right now but I am not sure I giving him the proper nurishment he needs. Right now I have him on a solution of 50% water and 50% evaporated milk along with a little bit of all natural apple sauce. He has a nice round belly now which I hope is a good sign and is active about an hour a day. I feed him about every four hours (yes I take him to work with me). I am estimating him to be about four weeks old. He is covered in fur but his teeth are barely peeking in.

This is my first time rehabing any type of animal let alone something this small so any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Somebody's Mother]

first thing if at all possible go to your local petsmart and buy ebsilac puppy formula for him. mix it one part formula to two parts water. this has all the essential nutrients for raising a baby squirrel. plus they seem to like it. use a syringe to feed the little one. less chance of aspirating formula than with a bottle. make sure and put some bedding in. old t-shirts are great. and put a heating pad under one side of the cage. that way the little one can determine if they need it or not.
i forgot to ask, is he pooing and peeing normally?
thanks for coming to the rescue. there is plenty of good advice to be had on here. also if you can, post some pics. we are all squirrel nuts!:D
many a squirrel has been rehabbed through this board.

[Somebody's Mother]

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255


this link should be very helpful!!

[GhosTS]

SandraH, First of all :Welcome to TSB and :thankyou for taking care of the flyer.
Did you try finding a rehabber.Squirrels who hasnt opened their eyes yet needs great care.And specialized food and equipment.He will thrive well in the care of a good rehabber.
Somebody's Mother is right..The baby needs Esbilac puppy milk formula (Powder).Evaporated milk( Intended for humans ) is not good for squirrels(And other animals).The wrong milk will cause diarrhea and its deadly.Please do everything to make sure he gets Esbilac as soon as possible.He needs to be fed using a syringe.Eyedroppers and bottles are too big for them and it will aspirate them easily.(An indication is bubbles coming out of the nose)It is deadly.To avoid aspiration use a small ( 1cc ) syringe.He also needs help to pee/poop.After every feeding rub lower belly with a damp cotton ball to help him get bowel movements.

[Gabe]

SandraH, welcome to the squirrel board. It's good to hear of people that are so willing to help our wildlife.

I agree with GhosTS, a rehabber is definately the way to help that little flyer. He does need some specialized care right now.

Gabe

[SandraH]

To answer all questions at the same time and thanks everyone for your advice.
He is already going to the bathroom on his own and I have beding set yp for him. And believe it or not I did try to find a rehaber, including the closet zoo and no one did it in my area. I even tried jacksonville which is an hour south of me. The advice I received about the evaporated milk came from my vets asstistant and she said that she rehabs squirrels but she was rehabing 2 right now so she could not take on another one.

I do have one more question. When his teeth come in what do I switch him to? I will get the puppy formula that you all recommended today. Oh and should I continue with the applesauce he really seems to enjoy it.

Thank you all again.

[susanw]

Are his eyes open yet? I would suggest that you click on the link that Somebody's Mother gave you if you haven't already. Welcome to the board!:Welcome

[Gabe]

I actually put food in before their eyes open. Their mother brings tidbits to the nest as soon as their teeth come in. In most squirrels it is before their eyes open, not sure about flyers. You can cut grapes in half, use apple wedges, any fruit or veggie. As you can see he is going for the applesauce already.

If you are on good terms with the vet tech try to gently, without insulting, teach her about Esbilac. So many vets and vet techs have no idea about what wild animals nutritional needs are.

[SandraH]

I baught Ebaslic today and he has been more active today than any other day. Oh and his eyes have opened. They were opened when I got him. Thank you all for your help I will post pictures as soon as I can get them. I will be checking back frequently for any tips and pointers.

Thank you all again.

[henrismom]

Hi, :Welcome to TSB, I don't know enough to give you any advise. Just would
like to say that I'm glad that you can look after the little fuzzy. Stay here and
you will get all the help that you need, they have really good people here who
know what they are doing. Good Luck to you....Will check to see how you are doing. :)