Housing questions

[MrDuke03]

I have a 6-7 week old squirrel (Spunky) that I have had for a few weeks now.
He is very healthy and aside from occasionally not being to hungry I'm not having any major problems. I am feeding him about 10ml of Fox valley every 5 hrs or so.

Right now he is in a puppy carrier that is lined with a towel and a terry cloth baby blanket I also have a washcloth over the door to make it darker for him. When does he need to be moved up into a bigger size cage?

I have been putting in rodent block and some small pieces of carrots and lettuce in for him to get used to chewing on, but I notice that he is chewing on everything right now (I assume he is teething). Would it be ok for me to put in some clean sticks from the yard?
If so should I clean them by baking them or something first?

Thanks

[MrDuke03]

Here are a few pics

[Gina]

He sure is a cutie - I would be looking into housing now - from what I read on here once they start chewing it does not take them long to chew through the plastic carriers. Check on craigs list for large bird/animal cages but check bar spacing before buying.

Check here and through different threads, there are sooooo many amazing cages that members have and took pics of.
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=199

[lelliott]

He's very cute! Now's a good time to give him some small branches to chew on. Baking or freezing them couldn't hurt, and make sure they're a non-toxic type.

I would be looking at housing now too - the spacing on the door of that carrier makes me nervous. He can almost certainly get through it if he has an active moment. Be careful with terrycloth too - he can get a toenail or toe caught and injure himself trying to get free - possibly even break a leg. Better to use a tight weave fabric, like a cotton t-shirt or cotton baby's receiving blanket.

From what I've read you want to look for a cage with 1/2" bar spacing. It can be difficult to find large cages with such narrow bars, so you may want to consider building a cage.

Just make sure that any cage you get for now either isn't very tall or is modified to make it impossible for him to climb the walls. You want metal that he can't chew through, but he's still too small for a huge cage. If he climbs too high he could fall and really hurt himself. What I did is built a very tall cage (about 6'), but right now Kirby's only living in the bottom of it. I've lined the wire mesh walls with corrugated plastic so that he can't climb. When he's old enough, I'll remove the plastic panels (or whatever's left of them - I'm sure he'll chew) and add levels to the cage.

Good luck!

[Rescue04]

Where did you find the tray for the door? I have several like this for temporary housing and transit, that would be great to keep my other babies happy till they can get in theier permanent homes.

[Jackie in Tampa]

http://www.petspantry.tv/acatalog/2012.jpg
this is the cage type(RAT CAGE with 1/2 inch bar spacing and not tall, no wheel) I use for about a week, maybe two weeks before stepping up to a finch flight cage...
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41oDk-6YEbL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


also with 1/2 inch bar spacing... the babies can stay in this until they need a bigger one ( 3 months'ish)
Then it's on to the big ones ...and then the release cages...
but always with 1/2 inch bar spacing!!!!

EDIT...I always cover the cage to keep drafts off of the babies...
and so they feel secure...it's all new to them...