Differentiating between babies?

[sundogdayze]

Hi guys, I am so glad I found this forum! I've raised and released a handful of baby squirrels, so I consider myself still kind of new to it. However, I love it, and I am soaking in all the information available here. :)

One question I have been trying to work out is how to tell the difference in your babies? I have 4 right now, they are probably around 3 weeks old, 3 males and a female.

Obviously I know which one is the little girl, but is there a safe way to "mark" the boys so I can track their progress better?

I thought of a drop of food coloring on the tail, different color for each boy. Would this harm them? Food coloring is safe for people to eat but I don't know if it would do any damage to teeny babies.

Anyone have any ways to differentiate between identical babies? I would really appreciate it!

[lilidukes]

I mark mine on the back of the head with different bright colored nail polishes when needed. But if you use a separate tote or box for a potty box this is not needed. Feed, stimulate then place fed baby into a tote or box, then put all back in their cage when finished.

Welcome to TSB, glad you found us!

[sundogdayze]

Thank you! I do use a different potty box, but I want to track the weight and stuff of each one separately, so the nail polish will work great!

I wasn't sure if it was toxic to them or not, now that I know, I'll go dot them. :)

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

They use pet nail polish at the center where I volunteer. Most of the rehabbers that I know use sharpie markers though. Works well. You can mark one's ear, anothers front foot, one's back foot, and then one unmarked.

I usually just can tell them each apart. Usually their ears are different or their face is shaped different or they have a different shade of color on their back or belly (harder for greys since they all have white bellies).

[Rescue04]

i use nail polish just a small mark on top of the head. different colors for different ones. i have two boys right now and one of them is on meds...have to keep them straight. worked for my twin daughters when they were babies lol....oh the things we do for our babies...fur or no fur.

[Rhapsody]

So far in four years I have not had any trouble in telling my squirrels a part..... I generally look for defining marks, colors or stripes on the body (or) even different sizes in their ears, tails and private parts.

[scoobysnack]

When I had the three rats I would feed female, male then male. That way the female was done and I knew it, I had one male in my hand and I would pick up the next one as I put down the other. It worked out well. But with three males that's a bit more difficult. Maybe have a second bin so you can feed and place the fed baby in the other bin. When you run out in the first bin you're done?

I realize this won't help track progress but at least you won't refeed already fed babies. LOL

I have trouble telling them apart I must admit.

[Bill]

At one time last spring we were feeding Douglass squirrels, we had two boxes starting with one clean box, feed and move into the clean box until no one is left, that way you leave no one out and they have clean blankets.

[Milo's Mom]

I just got done raising Quints...3 boys and 2 girls...for my own sanity I used a sharpie marker on their inner thigh/leg. One boy was the right leg, one boy was no mark, and the other boy was the left leg (all while facing me, as if I was feeding them), one girl was the right leg and the other was the left. Before I started feeding, I grabbed my weight tracking pad and wrote BR (boy right), BL (boy left), NM (boy no mark), GR (girl right), & GL (girl left), then I weighed each, wrote it down and then fed the little monsters. It worked well and if I saw that a mark was getting to light, I remarked it.

[Bill]

Should note in my above post, their were 6 babies. All now living in the woods.