CJP
09-12-2011, 01:20 PM
hi everyone,
my name is CJP and im from London, England.
About 3 weeks ago i discovered a young male grey squirrel (8-10 weeks) that seemed weak and scared in a park in a busy part of east london which is surrounded by roads. i could not see any other squirrels around and decided to take him home and look after him. to start with i did this in the worst way possible and did not do the appropriate research and made a number of mistakes in caring for him which resulted in him showing signs of what i now know to be MBD, (i will go into more detail in a moment) which i fortunately seem to have dealt with.
while this experience was definately unpleasant for me but more importantly for him its upside has been that i have taken my responsibilities in caring for him much more seriously and have spent a good deal of time researching squirrel care (many of your posts have been very helpful in this).
I do still feel how ever that any advice i can get from everyone would be very valuable.
for most of the time ive had Chip (i called the squirrel chip) i fed him cows milk, fruit and unsalted peanuts. then about a week and a half ago he seemed disinterested in the milk so i stopped feeding him that and gave him more solids. (i can hear you all groan through the internet! i know, many mistakes there!)
by not giving chip the appropriate diet he began showing signs of MBD (seizure like shaking and stiff back legs) on friday though he now appears to be back on top form, which is great as i was very worried the other day. he is incredibly tame and affectionate and ive become very fond of him.
to combat the MBD this i went to a reptile house and got some calcium powder which i now spinkle on his food but at the time gave him a lot of by mixing it with water. i give him a variety of fruits and veg as well as seeds and salad leaves. i give him peanuts as a treat. i also now feed him a syringe full of goats milk with a little of the calcium powder in it which he seems to love about 3 times a day. he also has a bowl of water and a hamster water bottle with a little metal nozzel and he drinks from both. i also got him some puppy formula but he doesnt seem interested in that at all... il try again with it at a later date maybe. i am starting to feed him with gerbil food as well, is this ok?
he lives in a cage which is about 3 foot wide, 2 foot across and 2.5 feet high and it has plenty of braches and things that he climbs on, but im looking to get another cage that i can wire to this one and give him more space to run around. i am hoping to buy him a really big cage but cant afford this yet and im not sure how long it will be until he might want to go back into the wild so a second cage connected to the first will have to do for now. i let him out of his cage for most of the day when im off work but when at work he is out for half an hour before i go to work and when i get back in the eve. ive taken him outside a few times (i live next to woodlands), unfortunately he seems not to enjoy this but i will keep trying.
if i am still doing something wrong with him please let me know!
Thanks everyone, hope to hear back from you soon.
CJP
my name is CJP and im from London, England.
About 3 weeks ago i discovered a young male grey squirrel (8-10 weeks) that seemed weak and scared in a park in a busy part of east london which is surrounded by roads. i could not see any other squirrels around and decided to take him home and look after him. to start with i did this in the worst way possible and did not do the appropriate research and made a number of mistakes in caring for him which resulted in him showing signs of what i now know to be MBD, (i will go into more detail in a moment) which i fortunately seem to have dealt with.
while this experience was definately unpleasant for me but more importantly for him its upside has been that i have taken my responsibilities in caring for him much more seriously and have spent a good deal of time researching squirrel care (many of your posts have been very helpful in this).
I do still feel how ever that any advice i can get from everyone would be very valuable.
for most of the time ive had Chip (i called the squirrel chip) i fed him cows milk, fruit and unsalted peanuts. then about a week and a half ago he seemed disinterested in the milk so i stopped feeding him that and gave him more solids. (i can hear you all groan through the internet! i know, many mistakes there!)
by not giving chip the appropriate diet he began showing signs of MBD (seizure like shaking and stiff back legs) on friday though he now appears to be back on top form, which is great as i was very worried the other day. he is incredibly tame and affectionate and ive become very fond of him.
to combat the MBD this i went to a reptile house and got some calcium powder which i now spinkle on his food but at the time gave him a lot of by mixing it with water. i give him a variety of fruits and veg as well as seeds and salad leaves. i give him peanuts as a treat. i also now feed him a syringe full of goats milk with a little of the calcium powder in it which he seems to love about 3 times a day. he also has a bowl of water and a hamster water bottle with a little metal nozzel and he drinks from both. i also got him some puppy formula but he doesnt seem interested in that at all... il try again with it at a later date maybe. i am starting to feed him with gerbil food as well, is this ok?
he lives in a cage which is about 3 foot wide, 2 foot across and 2.5 feet high and it has plenty of braches and things that he climbs on, but im looking to get another cage that i can wire to this one and give him more space to run around. i am hoping to buy him a really big cage but cant afford this yet and im not sure how long it will be until he might want to go back into the wild so a second cage connected to the first will have to do for now. i let him out of his cage for most of the day when im off work but when at work he is out for half an hour before i go to work and when i get back in the eve. ive taken him outside a few times (i live next to woodlands), unfortunately he seems not to enjoy this but i will keep trying.
if i am still doing something wrong with him please let me know!
Thanks everyone, hope to hear back from you soon.
CJP