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View Full Version : Raccoon roundworm? Capturing Chippy.



squirrelgirl6
06-20-2012, 09:55 PM
My squirrel has been released living outdoors and wild for a year and a half now, and recently he has become very very wobbly.
At first he was just a bit off tilt, but now he has started too fall off things that I can balance on better, and he's fallen out of trees.He can't jump properly anymore,and often misses his landing spot.

He has had his wobbly symptoms for around a month now. I don't think he can live in the wild anymore, so we plan too lock him in the house, keep him forever, or until he gets better.
But I'm afraid he might have raccoon roundworm, which is supposed to be deadly too humans, too.

How long can a squirrel with raccoon roundworm live? Can we rule it out, because he's still alive after a month of symptoms?

Also any tips for capturing him? we do have a smallish cage, about 2 and a half feet by four feet, and we can keep him in there before we get a bigger one, but he's going to be really mad at us, and stressed out. He has grown up in our house and he's confortable in it, and will come in and try too hide stuff (nuts) in it if we leave a window open, but gets very upset if we close the window.

island rehabber
06-20-2012, 10:01 PM
I don't believe he could have lived this long with raccoon roundworm symptoms. He may have other parasites, however, that can even be treated. Unfortunately, sometimes this wobbly squirrel syndrome is incurable, and even the expert vets don't understand why it happens.

Sweet Simon's Mommy
06-20-2012, 10:10 PM
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/9/12/03-0039_article.htm
some info

astra
06-21-2012, 01:04 AM
as IR said, with roundworm he should have been long gone. and yes, could be other parasites.
There are tons of various parasites, but from what little I understand, the roundworm is hopeless, almost everything else - there is a chance.

It could also be a head trauma. It can worsen if his overall condition is weakened through stress etc.
It could be poison ingested, too.

A bit over a year ago I had a wild juvie. I did trap him, but then I kept him over the winter, treated him with homeopathic stuff, he was warm, initial stress disappeared (yes, of course, he was stressed when I first captured him). Also, what's important - he didn't have anywhere to jump for over a month b/c I kept him in a very low cage.
No jumping can be very healing for head traumas - no extra shaking, no extra mini traumas, he truly rested well.
So, by Spring he was unrecognizable. And, of course, went back into the wild.

So, what I am trying to say is that if this is not roundworm, there are things you can try to help him.
Most likely, he will be non-releasable, but that only time will tell.

Whatever that is, if he is deteriorating so much, getting him inside might be best. At least, if this is his time to go, he will go safely and not as someone's food, or sitting somewhere terrified unable to move.

Yes, he will be stressed at first, but that will go away.
Especially, since he was home raised and knows you (mine was completely wild).

To trap him you can use a hav-a-hart, or what i had to do is make sort of like a sack/bag out of chicken wire with a string on top, put it on its side, put some nuts inside and let him crawl inside for the nuts, then I lifted the bag and he was there (because he would not go into hav-a-hart for anything).

Other people tried different things to trap wild squirrels.

It worked for me, and it worked for him.

squirrelgirl6
06-21-2012, 09:32 PM
Okay, so things went differently than planned. Another wild squirrel we feed (named sammy) who also has the same problem as chippy came to our window. we've noticed his problem 3 weeks ago.
Sammy is worse than chip is, he can't stand up on two feet properly , really hard for him too keep his balance

Anyways, sammy comes and starts eating and his mouth is bleeding, not heavily, but his nose had blood on it. It looks like he has some kind of mouth injury, it was hard for him too eat.
so we bring the cage upstairs, lure him on the window sill, throw a blanket on him and put him in the cage.
the bleeding stopped in a minute, and he sits in the back of the cage, all scared. We had him since morning, and he still just sits in the corner. HE has had four drinks and eaten some, nut paste we made for him, but he is still really unhappy. He moves around when we look in the cage becaus he gets scared, and runs too the other side. He has groomed himself a bit too.
We werent prepared to catch him and it was sort of split second decision.
Our concern is that he has'nt moved around much all day,can this kill him?
The cage is height 13" x24"w x 18"l. W'e've heard that a squirrel can get hypothermia if they dont move around, andt they can die from it,like iif they are in a trap for more than 24 hours.
we only have him until saturday, and then squirrelfriend picks him up.
is it okay too keep him in a cage this small for 3 days?

SammysMom
06-21-2012, 09:43 PM
I am not sure about the cage size, but the blood makes me wonder if it isn't poison like D-Con which I believe is a blood thinner. I think that Vitamin K is the only thing to do for it and I'm not sure about the protocol.
Just a thought. Do you have neighbors who might put out poison?

Anne
06-21-2012, 09:48 PM
He should be just fine. Of course he is scared and bewildered but he will calm down. He is used to having a lot of freedom. I cage and treat born in the wild adults and they do just fine. The hypothermia is in the very cold months and deep snow when a squirrel or small animal can not move , no need to worry about that.
You either have 2 squirrels that have had falls, or ingested some type of poison IMHO. I would expect that it is head trauma.

squirrelgirl6
06-21-2012, 10:01 PM
if his wobblyness was because of poison how long do you think he can live with it. he's been wobbly for three weeks now.