New Member Intro

[coosacat]

Hi everyone! I hope I'm doing this right . . . here goes. I'm a veterinary assistant in Alabama at a vet clinic with a wildlife rehab license. Last year someone contacted us about a baby flying squirrel found after some trees were cut down and none of my coworkers wanted to try raising it, so I volunteered. Before long I had three baby flying squirrels and found that I had become the "squirrel lady". I raised and released those three successfully, and since then I've raised and released four grey squirrels (from 3 different litters of different ages, all at the same time - feeding schedules were quite a challenge) and am currently raising two grey squirrels that are about 5-6 weeks old. I also have a ton of cats (I'm the "cat lady", too), a sugar glider, and a guinea pig.

I sure wish I had found this board when I got the very first squirrel! Although everything has worked out pretty well so far (well, I'm going to have to replace some wallpaper . . .), it's a tremendous relief to have found a group of knowledgeable and experienced squirrel people.

Thank you for allowing me to join.

[Scooterzmom]

:Welcome aboard!!!!!! It is always a pleasure to meet someone like you who cares for the little fuzzers and can even offer the skills you do have. Very nice to meet you!!!!

P.S. We would love pics of your protégés... we all LOVE pics here :)

[trueblue]

Thank you for caring for the squirrels.... !!!

Welcome to TSB !!!

[MiriamS]

Wow and :Welcome

[redwuff]

:Welcome :thankyou I t is wonderful for us to have you on our board. It is a wonderful, extremely knowledgable bunch of folks here.

[rocky63]

:Welcome to the nut house :crazy :crazy

[SammysMom]

:Welcome Aren't squirrels just the cutest? So glad to have you here!

[IrishHarps]

Go you! And welcome! Happy to see new faces :)

[Ladyshires]

Welcome. I'm addicted. Completely.

[Rescue04]

welcome to the board.

[coosacat]

Thanks for the welcome, everyone. I tried to get pics of my current babies, but it didn't work out too well. I don't have a camera right now, but since I have to haul the babies to work with me every day a coworker took pics with her cell phone and e-mailed them to me. They came through fine, but the pics are enormous! 2MB! As soon as I figure out how to down-size them, or borrow a friend's camera to take better ones, I'll post them.

They are still doing great! I'm on my way to do their last feeding for the night. They both nibbled at a piece of walnut today. :)

[astra]

Thanks for the welcome, everyone. I tried to get pics of my current babies, but it didn't work out too well. I don't have a camera right now, but since I have to haul the babies to work with me every day a coworker took pics with her cell phone and e-mailed them to me. They came through fine, but the pics are enormous! 2MB! As soon as I figure out how to down-size them, or borrow a friend's camera to take better ones, I'll post them.

They are still doing great! I'm on my way to do their last feeding for the night. They both nibbled at a piece of walnut today. :)
Welcome!

Yes, pics are MANDATORY!

So, they are ready to nibble, huh? ;)

Just one suggestion that a lot of experienced rehabbers make (I am not one of them, I am just learning from them :)) - do not let their first solid food be nuts or anything like that.
If they are ready to start nibbling on solid food - put a good quality squirrel block.
Once they get off formula, squirrel block will take place of formula for providing all essential nutrients. Daily blocks are their insurance against MBD.
If their first food is nuts, it will be much more difficult to get them to like blocks later on (and most squirrels are very picky eaters to begin with ;)).

So, put some squirrel block with them.
They might not eat them right away, they will play with them, pee on them, stash and crumble and whatnot, but eventually they will start eating the block and that will establish good eating habits.;-)

The blocks that people use:
Kaytee Forti Diet for rats and mice (blue bag, not green) - available at petstores. Mazuri blocks should be available at stores, too.

Henry's Healthy Blocks - available at www.henryspets.com

Those will be a good start, and people will share other things they feed (just don't remember them off the top of my head)

[MiriamS]

:goodpost

[coosacat]

Thanks, astra! They are not really eating anything yet, just tasting, so I better get over to PetSmart and see if I can get the right food before I spoil them with the fancy stuff. The last bunch I raised didn't much care for the rodent blocks, and now I know why. They wanted the gourmet meals!

This sure is a wonderful place. There's more information here than I ever dreamed I'd find. I've got a lot of reading and learning to do.

Here (I hope) are the pics I promised. The people who rescued them named them Tom and Jerry.

[Skul]

Little stinkers appear to be in the seven week range.
So darn cute at that age.

[coosacat]

Hi, Skul! Seven weeks would be about right - I got them on Feb 27, and the biggest one had one eye open, while the smaller one still had both closed. All eyes were open within 3 days. These pics were taken March 7. They are just starting to bounce around rather clumsily. They're about to move into bigger quarters so they can exercise.

Cuter than a box full of buttons!

[Scooterzmom]

Awwwww... adorable little scroochies... You just wanna cuddle your nose into that fur and give them belly kisses :Love_Icon

[rzsracing]

Here is a cople of pictures of Rocky who I raised since a baby.. He is now 5 years oldmjs And he has his own helicopter which he lives in

[Skul]

Tailor made for Fort Rucker. :rotfl

[Sweet Simon's Mommy]

Oh MY
Welcome
That picture makes me think of a show I watched as a kid
Andy's Gang ..
He has a little hamster that flew around in an airplane and Midnight the cat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9_LD2cVdwI&feature=related

[babysquirrelchip]

:Welcome I'm sort of new here too! I am so thankful for this board, the people here have saved so many lives. Everyone is very nice and helpful! :Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon

[IrishHarps]

Hi Babysquirrel and :Welcome