Peter pan needs a hand

[Rescue04]

Our little boy flyer has lost some hair on the top of his head and it is thinning out on his neck - not bare, just thin. Anyone had this happen before? He is too wiggly to get a clear picture.

[shellyb1018]

Hey Peter, I just posted something about bald spot on my grey girly. I will also be watching this thread as well. This place is awesome for help! Hopefully, we get some good advice. :)

[Rescue04]

thanks shelly!!

[MiriamS]

Hey Rescue04. It seems that flyers start to lose hair due to nutrition issues. Not always but sometimes. It usually has something to do with how much protein or fat they're getting. Everyone's trying to figure out which it is but the two things that really seem to help are feeding more avocado and mealworms.



Here's the general advice Mrs. Skul provides for feeding flyers.


Just follow the "Nutrition for Squirrels" and add extra protein mentioned below. I feed my flyers a HHB, fresh vegetables and fruit with added sources of protein every day. The extra calcium in the Fox Valley is important to provide every day or so, feeding the formula by syringe or adding the powder to a small amount of plain yogurt in a dish.

Feed a high protein diet including three waxworms or mealworms a day, even when they're cocooned. Fresh or freeze-dried chicken, though not all flyers like it but they do all seem to enjoy a tiny chicken bone. Like a thin wing bone especially broken in half so they can get the marrow. You can also buy chicken based food at Petsmart and Petco. Petsmart carries Prime Bites & Petco carries PureBites FDChicken., VitaLife makes Chicken Chips and Chicken Poppers. You can find the chicken chips online. Most of these are dog treats but check the ingredients because you want chicken without anything added. You can also try feeding egg (scrambled, hard-boiled, poached) though again, not all flyers like it.

Every day, you can feed sugar snap peas, edamame, broccoli, cucumber, mushroom, asparagus, bell peppers and especially the seeds, {The pepper seeds need to be fed right away}, chayote, grape tomatoes, avocado and pretty much any leafy green or red, including raddicio. Iceberg lettuce is mostly water so avoid that. Squash and sweet potato can be fed sparingly.

You do not want them filling up on fruit so use more veggies each day than fruit. Tiny chunk of apple or pear, blueberries {3or 4} depending how big, raspberry, blackberry, grapes, strawberry, cranberries, cherry, fig, prickly pear cactus fruit. Mango sparingly. They have a SWEET TOOTH and will steal it right out of your mouth if they can. All of these fruits and vegetables can be changed so you don't need to give every kind every day. Changing what's offered is actually good for them.

I give one or two acorns and 4 or five seeds a day (squash/pumpkin/watermelon/cantaloupe) depending on how the veggie eating has gone that day. Frozen rosehips or maple seed pods are an absolute treat as long as they're not sprayed with chemicals. I always give a nut in shell for them to stash or keep. And if/when they open it. It's their free treat.

You also need to pick up Some cuttlebone for Birds and put 1 in the cage. They make a calcium mineral chew that is the shape of a ice cream cone. You can find at both pet stores. They will be in the rodent and the Rabbit/Chinchilla/Ferret sections. " Just ask some one and they will help you find them if you cant." I have 1 hanging in every cage I have. I hang them so they don't fall to the bottom and get peeeeeed on. {I hang with a piece of dental floss by the food station} The Flyers will eat on the cuttlebone and then the calcium mineral chew based on what their little bodies need. If they are not lacking calcium they will not eat them. When needed, they devour it.

[Jackie in Tampa]

I agree, mostly nutritional...
yogurt, FV, mealworms, oatmeal, veggies, chicken :thumbsup

[Rescue04]

I agree, mostly nutritional...
yogurt, FV, mealworms, oatmeal, veggies, chicken :thumbsup
he gets all that.....except for fox valley but he is still on formula...twice a day. i will pick up some more stuff for him today. hopefully it helps.

[MiriamS]

I'd push avocado. Seems to be the miracle worker for loss of fur in flyers.