Baby Squirrel Hurt

[alex39]

Probably the same squirrel that I saved from the crows. Now he is older. Eyes opened. Very hostile. His tails got bit by cat or crows. I managed to take him in a small cage. Will mom take it back again even if hes hurt ?

what should I do ?

[Rhapsody]

Since you have him with you in a cage I would suggest that you keep him warm... with either some fleece or a heating pad. Offer some water or homemade pedialyte once the squirrel is warm then you can access his wounds.

Homemade Pedialyte
1 tsp salt (teaspoon)
3 Tbsp sugar (tablespoon)
1 quart warm water

[mugzeezma]

Probably the same squirrel that I saved from the crows. Now he is older. Eyes opened. Very hostile. His tails got bit by cat or crows. I managed to take him in a small cage. Will mom take it back again even if hes hurt ?

what should I do ?
Yes she will.
I have a couple of tail amputees...it happens...he will adapt.
Hostile is good! It's self preservation...very important for a wild

Here is a good site to age him
http://www.orphanedwildlifecare.com/squirrelcare.htm

[alex39]

Since you have him with you in a cage I would suggest that you keep him warm... with either some fleece or a heating pad. Offer some water or homemade pedialyte once the squirrel is warm then you can access his wounds.

Homemade Pedialyte
1 tsp salt (teaspoon)
3 Tbsp sugar (tablespoon)
1 quart warm water

he is hostile I cant
dry blood on the nose also

Mother came 3 times didnt get him...

[lilidukes]

he is hostile I cant
dry blood on the nose also

Mother came 3 times didnt get him...

Are you saying you can't handle him??? If so then we need to find a rehabber for you.

[alex39]

Are you saying you can't handle him??? If so then we need to find a rehabber for you.
if you could find a rehaber that would be great but I doubt there is some in Montreal.

[astra]

if you could find a rehaber that would be great but I doubt there is some in Montreal.
there are no rehabbers in Montreal, but we have a few members, although, i doubt they can take him - they are full...let me try and contact SF (she is overflowing, too, though)

[mugzeezma]

there are no rehabbers in Montreal, but we have a few members, although, i doubt they can take him - they are full...let me try and contact SF (she is overflowing, too, though)
We have covered this before...
read the site I sent to you...try to reunite.
Tell us how old this baby is based on the pictures on the website and let us know how old he is.
If you have to handle him, throw a towel over his body and pick him up with finger and thumb wrapped under his chin....move slowly and be in a SMALL QUIET ROOM...like a guest bathroom.
Swaddle him so only his head sticks out if you have to feed him
ALWAYS WARM FIRST.
pedialyte for the first 2-4 feedings

[squirrelfriend]

reuniting is always best if it can be acheived. If not, it will survive nicely without the tail. This is a very common injury with squirrels. Will he drink on his own without you? If so just put pedialite in a water bottle for him. Change it each day for about two days.

If you need someone to rehab him I can take him but I am in Mississauga which is near Toronto. Could you meet me half way?

[alex39]

She is probably 5-6 weeks. She still very hostile I put some henry blocks and water cup in it. She has been probably attacked by a crow and she is very hostile. I am waiting for camera battery for footage video or picture. I dont have access to a car right now. Maybe someone I know will take her. I will try to reunite tomorrow again but today it failed 3 time. The mother came and left without her.

I will try to put a water bottle also but I have no idea if she will eat/drink.

[Rhapsody]

I have taken in 2 month olds on several occasions before and they were totally wild and hostile from being frighten, but they calmed down in a few weeks of good care..... in the mean time I had to wear thick gloves and I picked them up in a receiving blanket over their body/head so they could not see me (therefore they would not get scared) and they ate FV out of a syringe "no nipple" and I placed a glass water bottle on the side of the cage for them..... they ate hhb, vegetables and nuts really well for me - I just dropped them in on the floor of the cage until they learned to trust me.

[Kristal]

Alex has her in a covered cage in the entrance to the duplex for tonight. He gave her some water, some fruit, a few peanuts and a boo ball. She gets on her back in the corner of the cage and growls when he comes near, which I think is odd. I would expect her to be on all fours with her tail forward. Is that any reason to worry about her? :thinking

The mom came and checked around and came back and did it again and then the same thing again and then she then left for the night. It was close to sundown, though, and she might have been unsure if the kit was safe to carry up without interruption from a predator. The kit is probably about 7 weeks old by now, so maybe she was trying to coax her to follow on her own. Dropping a kit halfway up a tree would just make matters worse, after all. Maybe she felt the kit would be safer where she was for the night.

Alex could not get a good look at her, but it looks like her tail is injured and like she might have a bloody nose. Maybe she will calm down enough to be looked at closely later on.

He's going to try to reunite tomorrow in the day time, so let's all keep our fingers crossed!

[alex39]

Here is the little miss

[Kristal]

Is that how she gets on her back when she is growling at you? Also, her nose does not look bloody in that photo.

[alex39]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJXcKp6Z5rc

we dont see her very well but you can hear her. I managed to touch her and she she stopped screaming and enjoyed me petting her.

[alex39]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZhqJcSznZ4

eating, screaming, ah so much fun !

I need some sleep...

[Kristal]

Ok, from watching that, she looks like she is in good shape to me. I only worry that she does not sit up to eat, but that is probably her first solid food, so maybe that is fine, too.

I don't see any blood on her nose, and I don't see the blood on her tail, either. Am I missing it, somehow? She looks alert to me, at least. And she looks like she has calmed down a lot, even allowing herself to be petted. She must be so lonely! If she does not have any serious injuries, she should definitely go home to mom.

Can anyone see anything that looks like a warning sign of injury or a cause for concern here?

[Kristal]

Well, the new is thus:

The baby calmed down enough to let Alex clean the wound in her tail with baxedin. He says it's small, about a half an inch, and he might post a pic of it later. It's in the middle of her tail.

Someone named Florence suggested that Alex keep the baby for a week so that flies don't lay eggs in her tail. Alex says that she is a friend of Island Rehabbers, and here is her blog:

http://ecureuiland.kiwibonga.com/

We just have the ordinary flies here, no bot flies.

Also, the mom moved the rest of the family to a different tree hollow today. I suspect that she came down looking for the girl who was taken by crows this morning, and not finding her, decided that her remaining kits are not safe there. She has not moved far, though. I think she is in the same tree.

That she was taken by crows explains the fact that she was getting on her back to defend herself last night. That would surely be the best position to bite a crow from, and she was probably just in a panic. As you can see in the second video she is defending herself on her feet now like you would expect a healthy squirrel to do.

My only concern would be if a week is really too long to wait before reuniting the baby with her mom. I wonder if the wound on her tail is bad enough to warrant that, too. The mom is moving her family today, too. Apparently the remaining kits were climbing out of the new house afterwards. I wonder if she would take the kit that Alex has with that chaos going on.

Florence said that she can get Alex some Baytril via her kids who live in Montreal, too.

Soooo.... What do you guys think? It sure would be nice if I was not alone in this thread here :p

How long is too long to wait before reuniting a family?

[Rhapsody]

I would place another cover in the crate for the squirrel to hide under so it can calm down..... poor little thing looks scared to death
(and) give it a nut or two to eat, no baby squirrel I know of will pass up a good walnut or pecan.

[Scooterzmom]

We just have the ordinary flies here, no bot flies.

Just a word of caution, Kristal, if I may... We do have bot flies here. I have had several of my wilds who did get them in the past. Be careful. That being said, however, it is early for bot flies here though, so I would not worry too much about those.

As for getting on her back to fight off a predator, at that age it's their best defence. Their teeth are not big enough to inflict significant damage on a large predator so they need all the weapons they have, and that includes the claws from all four legs :) Little Pebbles still uses that method every now and then when wrestling with Hansel (who is twice her size). Once they are more solid on their own feet they will stand to fight - like she's doing most of the time now.

Also, the mom moved the rest of the family to a different tree hollow today. I suspect that she came down looking for the girl who was taken by crows this morning, and not finding her, decided that her remaining kits are not safe there. She has not moved far, though. I think she is in the same tree.

That she was taken by crows explains the fact that she was getting on her back to defend herself last night. That would surely be the best position to bite a crow from, and she was probably just in a panic. As you can see in the second video she is defending herself on her feet now like you would expect a healthy squirrel to do.

I do think that waiting a week would definitely jeopardize the reunion with mom. Squirrels have a short emotional memory... mom will have assumed ther kit has been dead awhile by then. The kit will have grown and will smell very different too.

I would make sure the wound is clean and give one treatment of Baytril to help jumpstart the healing process but I would absolutely try to reunite with mom again today or tomorrow. If reunited then her mom will keep the wound clean for her little one. Their resilience is quite amazing.

I would allso place a small box of some sort, laid on its side with a blanket in it for the l ittle girl to go hide in. Having a "roof" over their head makes them feel more secure and will help keeping her calm.

[Kristal]

Just a word of caution, Kristal, if I may... We do have bot flies here. ....

I do think that waiting a week would definitely jeopardize the reunion with mom. Squirrels have a short emotional memory... mom will have assumed ther kit has been dead awhile by then. The kit will have grown and will smell very different too.

I would make sure the wound is clean and give one treatment of Baytril to help jumpstart the healing process but I would absolutely try to reunite with mom again today or tomorrow. If reunited then her mom will keep the wound clean for her little one. Their resilience is quite amazing.

I would allso place a small box of some sort, laid on its side with a blanket in it for the l ittle girl to go hide in. Having a "roof" over their head makes them feel more secure and will help keeping her calm.

Yea, it seems that they have been found in Canada, though I had read previously that they are only in the southern US. Certainly they are not as common here as they are in the warm states, at least. I just glanced over an article about them which said that their distribution is not well documented, but that they have been found in southern Canada.

And about waiting too long, that is my concern, too. Squirrels have to be emotionally resilient because of how much loss they suffer through their lives. They do have strong attachments, but I would imagine that these would fade quickly. On the other hand, I remember reading about two siblings that were reunited in a rehabbers home on this board. They had been apart for months, and yet they remembered each other. Still, I would worry about chancing it with this baby. I suspect that a mom would reasonably assume that the kit had become raccoon food if it took too long to reunite them.

Also, I wonder if it is better to give no ABs at all than it is to give just one dose. :dono I do not think that they have any negative effect on the immune system aside from killing beneficial intestinal and vaginal flora, though...

And yea, I suggested covering her up last night. As you can see in the second video, she is fairly calm today and even gave armage for Alex when he petted her... :eek:

My god, but they are so trusting at that age :Love_Icon:Love_Icon :Love_Icon

[alex39]

There is 3 babies on the tree playing near the mother. Should I put the babies on the tree ? he can climb. Will he make it on his own and mother take him back ? because I tried several attemps and she didnt pick it up...

[Nancy in New York]

There is 3 babies on the tree playing near the mother. Should I put the babies on the tree ? he can climb. Will he make it on his own and mother take him back ? because I tried several attemps and she didnt pick it up...

I quickly read about you little squirrel. I would not try reuniting tonight. Is this the same mother that has come back to this little one several times, and just keeps ignoring it? First, it's too late in the evening now to try anything, and I doubt after this amount of time, the mama will take it back.
What did you figure the age was again? If I read correctly it's estimated 5-6 weeks? Way too young, it may crawl up the tree and then get stuck. I think you have a baby squirrel on your hands that we can help you to raise, now I have to read your thread completely.

[Nancy in New York]

Is he sitting up better when he eats? Do you have him on formula? He still needs to be on formula, preferably Fox Valley 20/50 which can be purchased from http://www.foxvalleynutrition.com/main/home.asp, or from www.henryspets.com. Let me see if some of the members in Canada have some supplies that they can send to you. I'm sure that it would be a lot quicker than if I sent them from the states. Do you have flannel in the cage for him to burrow into? I can imagine that this little one is very scared, it would be easier on both of you if you handled him a little, just comfort him and pet him. Do you have other animals? You don't want to expose the squirrel to anything like a dog or cat, don't even let him see them.

[alex39]

Is he sitting up better when he eats? Do you have him on formula? He still needs to be on formula. Let me see if some of the members in Canada have some supplies that they can send to you. I'm sure that it would be a lot quicker than if I sent them from the states. Do you have flannel in the cage for him to burrow into? I can imagine that this little one is very scared, it would be easier on both of you if you handled him a little, just comfort him and pet him. Do you have other animals? You don't want to expose the squirrel to anything like a dog or cat, don't even let him see them.
She is sitting now sometimes when she eats. But she only eats avocado. Not sure she is drinking from the bottle. She don't want formula. She is in cage with tons of clothes now. She trust me now and I have another squirrel almost 9 months old... They aint together I fear for disease/fleas... I didnt clean him yet because i want him to smell for his mother but I cleaned his tails wound with nexadin and water and it seem better now...

I do have a little left of fox valley 20/50 and HH blocks too :)

[Nancy in New York]

She don't want formula. She is in cage with tons of clothes now. She trust me now and I have another squirrel almost 9 months old... They aint together I fear for disease/fleas...

Are you planning on releasing your 9 month old? What are you feeding your 9 month old, and what are you feeding your new little one? Diet is extremely important for these little ones...:)

[alex39]

Are you planning on releasing your 9 month old? What are you feeding your 9 month old, and what are you feeding your new little one? Diet is extremely important for these little ones...:)
Yes trying to figure a plan but might have to wait another year. I feed hh blocks and vegies nuts and fruit to my older one. Read post above was edited...

[Nancy in New York]

She is sitting now sometimes when she eats. But she only eats avocado. Not sure she is drinking from the bottle. She don't want formula. She is in cage with tons of clothes now. She trust me now and I have another squirrel almost 9 months old... They aint together I fear for disease/fleas... I didnt clean him yet because i want him to smell for his mother but I cleaned his tails wound with nexadin and water and it seem better now...


Do you see any bugs/fleas on him? Seriously, I really doubt that the mom is going to take him back. She has passed him by many times, and I think sometimes they know when they need special care, and just aren't equipped to handle that....especaily if she has three others.

[alex39]

Do you see any bugs/fleas on him? Seriously, I really doubt that the mom is going to take him back. She has passed him by many times, and I think sometimes they know when they need special care, and just aren't equipped to handle that....especaily if she has three others.
I dont see any but they hide very well in fur. I think she has some because I have tons of bites on me each day and each time I handle her..

[Nancy in New York]

I dont see any but they hide very well in fur. I think she has some because I have tons of bites on me each day and each time I handle her..


You could try Zodiac or Sargent Flea & Tick spray for cats and kittens. Make sure that it says its for use on kittens. DO NOT use any of the drops that you put on their shoulder. I have taken a tissue and sprayed it with the flea spray and then rubbed it all over the squirrel...try that and change the bedding as I'm sure it also has fleas in if she does.:)

[Nancy in New York]

Please look at the chart for the healthy foods to feed a squirrel. Your little one is in the growing phase and it's vital that he gets calcium rich foods. Avocado is a treat, if you notice on the food chart in the link I provided. Give him a variety of the good foods to choose from, avoid peanuts, and nuts in general. If you are feeding the HHB's they have enough nuts in them.
Can you try grinding up a couple of the blocks, make a little formula and pour it over the blocks. See if he will at least eat some of that. He really needs calcium and the Fox Valley and the blocks are definitely the best source for that....and then try some of the recommended foods on the link.
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28009

Just in case you don't get to the thread with the healthy foods, I thought I would post it here. This is compiled by 4skwerlz, one of our members!

http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/vv95/nancym518/Spring%202011/HealthyDietScreenshot1.jpg

[alex39]

try to reunite again...

She went for the tree. Mom went near but then went away in the nest. The little girl just went higher out of reach. now I can't even see her. A crow flew over.


..............

[alex39]

She climbed a little less higher so I took the ladder and got her !!

Now I will mix Fox valley with avocado. Since she dont drink milk I will feed her mixture of FV and stuff ?

[Kristal]

She has taken back kits three times, Nancy. So there was a good chance that she would take this one back, too. She has taken this one back before already. But she is lucky this year with 3 surviving kits. Maybe she is a bit overwhelmed and more likely to reject this one even though she only had a minor tail injury. Certainly after two days it was already less likely for the mom to take her back.

On the good side, she will have Daisy, who is probably her half sister, anyway.

I guess the dawn bath is advised to get rid of any fleas? Can you give step by step instructions for that?

[momma2boo]

She climbed a little less higher so I took the ladder and got her !!

Now I will mix Fox valley with avocado. Since she dont drink milk I will feed her mixture of FV and stuff ?

You could mix her up a batch of Boo Balls. It has rodent block, FV formula, pecans, baby food fruit, and coconut oil. Here's the recipe. It is soft and squirrels (even the picky ones) like it.

Ingredients:

50 grams rodent block (crushed to a fine powder) I use Harlan Teklad 2018.

50 grams powdered Fox Valley squirrel formula. I use 32/40.

50 grams crushed nuts. I NEVER use peanuts.

3 capsules of Multidolphilus.

20 grams "organic" coconut oil (melted) (I've reduced this to 10 grams since it is warmer weather and they don't need the extra fat)

1 jar (approximately 100 grams it's more like 115 grams ) of Earth's Best Organic baby food fruit (I use apples and plums)

Directions for mixing:

Mix dry ingredients together well (including the multidolphilus powder from inside the capsules).

Mix organic baby food fruit in to your dry ingredients until well blended. It will seem very wet.

Mix coconut oil into the mixture until well blended.

Put in the refrigerator for 5 hours (Overnight is even better). This lets it set up. It softens/moistens the rodent block and dissolves the FV.

Once you are ready to serve it take out about a 1/2 tsp (5 grams) of the mixture and roll is in your hands but not so much that it will melt the coconut oil. Give it to your squirrel.