question

[SquirrelMcFurrly]

i was told to post this question on the baby squirrel section....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i have two baby brothers. my boyfriend and i found them in his car engine with nest and all and the mother got spooked and ran away! we have had them for about 3 week now. we got them with their eyes closed now their eyes are open and tails are bushy! we have them seperated becuase of they were trying to nurse on each other. we have two plastic containers with towels and heating pads. we are still feeding them the puppy milk in a syringe etc. i was just wondering what is the next step with food and cages(getting really stinky even though cleaned everyday) etc.....we started giving them but bananas they both got disinterested! so please give me some ideas! thanks

[island rehabber]

Chris (Nutz4Squirrels) is the best person to help here because she has tons of rehab experience but she's probably recovering from the NJ Wildlife Rehab conference yesterday (her talk was excellent, as always!). Anyway, if your foxer babies are as old as you say they need supplemental foods along with their Esbilac, such as shelled or chopped nuts, kale and broccoli for calcium, apples and grapes, etc. NO peanuts or sunflower seeds, OK? They will also be much happier and better adjusted if you put them back together in one cage. If they are still sucking on each other you may need to feed them more quantity, and more frequently. Green seedless grapes work very well for me when I'm trying to distract squirrel babies from doing this....when the offending brother tries to suck on the other one, stick a green grape in his mouth and let him suck that :) If you do think they are 9-10 wks old they need nuts, native fruits (not bananas) and veggies to really grow strong and healthy. I hope Nutz will weigh in here and lend more of her expertise to help you.

[island rehabber]

Forgot something: at their age they should be in a large cage (at least 2x3ft) with swings, shelves and ladders to climb on and lots of leaves and branches to chew on. The reason you have an odor problem is that they are in a plastic container....a cage with a metal bottom or better yet, removable tray is the best way to keep the stinky problem under control. Your babies need to be leaping, climbing and hanging from their hind legs to build their coordination and muscle strength.

[muffinsquirrel]

I just posted a reply under your original post. I do feed black oil sunflower seeds, but not in excess.

muffinsquirrel

[SquirrelMcFurrly]

thanks for the help! we are getting the cage tonight. i have seen on some web sites that purina dog chow is allowed, is this true?

[island rehabber]

"i have seen on some web sites that purina dog chow is allowed, is this true?"
Aaak! If that was on someone named "Clarissa"'s site, don't get me started. In my humble opinion there is almost nothing on that site about raising squirrels that even borders on being correct, but it's just my opinion. I would not give dog or cat kibble to squirrels because it is formulated for carnivores and squirrels are herbivores -- real simple, right? You can start pre-weaned squirrels on rodent block, Zupreem monkey biscuits or even Cheerios. Raw unsalted almonds are great, too....they're getting darned expensive, though!

[thundersquirrel]

nooooo dog food. try cheerios.
oooo and if you want to wean them off milk, you can get a dish, fill it a TINY bit with Esbilac, just enough to cover the bottom (if they're really young, they can drown in it if it's too deep). get a piece of wheat bread without crusts and put it in the milk. flip it over a bit so it's kinda saturated with milk, like a sponge. that will encourage the babies to chew soft food that reminds them of Esbilac.

you can give them a chew toy too. find a maple tree (make sure it hasn't been sprayed with pesticides or anything) and break off a few small twigs. it's an automatic chew toy and they will like the taste. that way you can keep track of their teeth.

this is fun. it brings up memories of old squirrels....ahhh, good times, good times.
stay nutty :multi
thundersquirrel

[SquirrelMcFurrly]

yes i have done the cheerio thing for about a week....ya the dog chow thing didnt sound right to me either. we got a cage tonight and they are having a ball(we got a ferret hammock and they love to longue on it):D

[island rehabber]

Oh my squirrelies love their ferret hammocks! My avatar is probably too small for you to really see but it shows my Jessye Valkris from last summer sitting in her hammock, gazing out to sea. (We released her in the woods later that day, as she was so ready to go.)

[SquirrelMcFurrly]

ya i do see it! we have the same exact one! the 2 boys love their new cage i think we should of got it earlier, but were trying:)

[sparkysmom]

Sparky loves his hammock too. Don't know how much more stuff he can pack in it though. He is so funny trying to drag his toys, blankets, etc. up the tree limb and into the hammock. Never fails he will get to the top and it will fall. Breaks my heart and I want to help sooooooo bad, but I think thats part of the fun of it.

[SquirrelMcFurrly]

what kind of toys do you have?

[nutz4squirls]

Hi SquirrelMcFlurry, you should be starting your babies on Zupreem Primate Dry diet or a good quality rodent block. The rodent block is available in most pet stores. Depending on what state you live in you may be able to purchase the Zupreem Primate diet locally. Please follow Island Rehabbers feeding advice on the zuts, fruits and veggies. Also, make sure to offer a femur bone or deer antlers for the squirrels to gnaw their teeth on.
Hey, Island rehabber, your right, just catching up now from NJ. Glad you liked the talk. Nutz

[island rehabber]

Yup, I'm a big fan of yours! Right now I have no rehab babies...had to give my five 2-wk old siblings to another rehabber to squirrel-sit for a few weeks while I sit in Bronx County court! (Note to self and anyone listening: Never ever serve on your condo board -- you can get sued and your whole life gets turned upside down!) I can't wait to get those squirrel babies back and to get back into rehabbing again. For now, I just try to help other folks by sharing info via this Board. :)

[sparkysmom]

What kind of toys? Anything and everything he can take away from the cats and dogs. Now that Sparky lives here, everything is HIS. His favorite are teddy bears that you can get in the pet section. He tackles them and they have terrible fights. Of course Sparky always wins.

[rehabber]

Clarrisa has had her permit pulled....FINALLY. Anyway if you are feeding grapes peel them. I have heard of babies getting choked on the peel. Also I do not try and wean my "kids", figure Esbilac is not going to hurt them and as long as they want it, I give it to them. I even had a female foxer that would meet me outside when I went to feed babies in the outside cages, she wanted a syringe also. I feed striped sunflower seeds, the black oil are way to high in fat and you have to be very careful how much of those they get. I also only put unshelled nuts so they learn how to open them. Nuts are just a treat after they have eaten their veggies. LOL I like to throw ZuPreem Dry Primate Chow in the blender with a few pecans and then mix it with Mott's Strawberry/Banana Applesauce to make marble size balls. I have to use this for my unreleasable, BB, as he can not hold food and he loves this. Have also used it for head injured adults to get them eating again.

[SquirrelMcFurrly]

i can not find this rodent block that people are talking about
:search

[CliffordandDaisy'sDad]

http://us.st11.yimg.com/store1.yimg.com/I/pet-guys_1890_25486608

http://store.yahoo.com/pet-guys/-071859424100.html

http://www.epetpals.com/rat_food.htm

[SquirrelMcFurrly]

http://us.st11.yimg.com/store1.yimg.com/I/pet-guys_1890_25486608

http://store.yahoo.com/pet-guys/-071859424100.html

http://www.epetpals.com/rat_food.htm



ohhhhh i see thanks!:thankyou

[Squerly]

Clarrisa has had her permit pulled....FINALLY. Who is Clarrisa? :dono

[muffinsquirrel]

That's the best news I've heard in a long time! How did you hear about it?

She is - or was - a so-called rehabber that did more harm than good.

muffinsquirrel

[MissDolittle]

I see what you mean :skwredup:
http://*****************/~jbsum/squirrel.html#Formu

[island rehabber]

all I can say after reading that is "Oy, what a load of crapola."
(Apologies, Squerly, if I have violated the bad-word boundaries. :) )
The frightening thing is that while most of us know better than to listen to this nonsense, the well-meaning public does not. And she was very convincing.

[MissDolittle]

Yes, now that I know better..in the beginning I found her site, that's where I
got the dry dogfood idea from.

Now that I think back, I got my first squirrel from the animal shelter...they were
feeding him soaked catfood, only. They do know better now :).

[SquirrelMcFurrly]

is it ok to give the squirrels a bath or just to wipe them off i think they need a cleaning???

[Secret Squirrel]

You can wipe them off just as well. I use baby wipes alot!!!!:crazy

[SquirrelMcFurrly]

my 10 week year old foxers are eating cheerios, rodent block and apples. what kind of food(nuts etc) should i be feeidng them native to Texas?

[MissDolittle]

I'm in Texas too, 70 miles west of Dallas...where are you at?

I pick up pecans in fall, they are everywhere, so I stock up. I also buy
hazelnuts and walnuts during christmals season, but I will have to order
the mixed nuts from Chris's Squirrel Store soon. I also pick the acorns
during fall.
But pecans and acorns is what they get the most, because that's what
we have around here.

Besides that I offer Mazuri Rodent blocks, apple slices, peeled grapes,
brocoli, the greens of dandilions, water melon, cheerios, a fresh branch
from the oak trees I have in my yard, and some sunflower seeds and
peanuts, but very little of that. I'm sure I forgot to mention something lol.

[SquirrelMcFurrly]

dallas, but right now waco im in college at baylor

[MissDolittle]

Hm, I got a phonecall from Waco 2 hours ago about 4 orphaned squirrels.
Do you rehab or do you know somebody down there who does? If so, gimme
phonenumber! lol

As to the Dallas area, do you know the Dallas/Fort Worth Wildlife Coalition?

http://www.dfwwildlife.org/

I have their phonenumber and every time somebody calls me from that area,
I pass it on and tell people to call me back if they can't get help there. So
far nobody called back and I gave that number out about 30 times this year
already.

It's almost ridiculous how many people find my site first..I offered the Coalition
to do some free search engine work for them to get them up further up on
google than myself, but they declined...:dono .

It's possible we'll be moving closer to Dallas by the end of the year, depends
in what city hubby gets the new job, but we'll stay in Texas for sure.

[SquirrelMcFurrly]

im just glad i found this site:) these are my first squirells and i had no clue what to do. but i agree the DFW need to get there web page more easier to find on google:search
p.s. i wrote you a personal message about the waco babies