feeding

[nsquirrel]

When do you start giving babies food? Nutterbutter is only 4 weeks now but I wanted to ffind out now.

[Milo's Mom]

The longer you can keep them taking the Fox Valley formula the better.

After their eyes open, I cut a Henry's Healthy Block (Growth Formula) in half and place in their cage. They will play with it, sleep with it, nibble on it, and of course pee and poop on it. Each day I remove the old one and replace with a new piece. They will learn to know the smell of it and soon they will start eating them. When I see that they are eating them, I start placing an entire block in the cage (1 per squirrel), then when I see that they are eating that entire block I give them one in the morning and another in the evening.

Then slowly one veggie at a time I begin to introduce veggies and eventually they are down to 2 FV feedings a day (morning and night) and a bowl of fresh veggies throughout the day along with their blocks (2 each). NO FRUIT AND NO NUTS! They do not need them and they are not all that great for them. They MUST learn to love their veggies and blocks before they get anything else...if not, your just opening yourself and them for health issues....

This entire process takes weeks. With the age of your little one now the ONLY thing he should be eating is FV. And only AFTER his eyes open do the HHB's get introduced.

I believe all of this info is posted in the Nutrition Forum...I think it is a "Sticky". Have you read the stickies in the different forums?

[Rhapsody]

I generally start the entire process mentioned above by Milo's Mom around week 7 - by this age the young squirrels are fairly stable on their feet and walking good, therefore, they can hold the food that is given to them.

[nsquirrel]

Thanks every one. I have read some of them but haven't gotten to all of them yet:) actually now that you mention it I think I have read that one

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

I usually start when their eyes open. I'm not careful like everyone else, I just give them big chunks of fruits and veggies (except soft stuff like grapes, banana, and watermelon, that gets chopped really small or they'll try to suck on it and choke). Apple is always a favorite among the eyes just opened crew.