A nutty question....

[Rebel Rescue]

I know it's important to provide squirrels with things to chew on to help keep their teeth healty and worn down. From what I've read, the squirrels gnawing on hard shell nuts to open them helps with their dental health. We have a bag of hazelnuts (in the shell) and every day, we provide a few to Rebel.

If he is out of his cage for exercise, he takes the nut, sniffs at for a few moments and then appears to lose interest. If he is in his cage when we present it, he does the same thing with the exception of occasionaly running off to a corner of his cage to stash the nut. When changing the litter in his cage, I've look for evidence Rebel is gnawing on the hazel nuts but have yet to find any evidence he has figured out what he needs to do with the nut.

We have shelled a few of the hazelnuts and presented the contents to Rebel and he loves them. I'm thinking if I were to partially crack a shell just enough he can smell the contents, he might get the idea to start gnawing to get what's inside.

Any ideas on how to help him learn what he needs to do with a nut still in the shell?

[Milo's Mom]

How old is the squirrel?
Does he eat other nuts in the shell?

[Monipenny]

How old is the squirrel? Hazelnuts are very hard for young ones to break open.

[Rebel Rescue]

How old is the squirrel?
Does he eat other nuts in the shell?

Rebel is about 12 weeks old. So far the only nuts he has "shelled" are peanuts. The hazelnuts are the first hard shelled nuts we have presented him. To date, all other nuts presented to him have already been shelled. We know we need to get him to be able to open the nuts himself, but so far he either isn't interested or doesn't know what to do with the hard shelled nuts.

[Milo's Mom]

He's a little on the young side to be eating nuts.
Is he already weaned from formula?
What does his daily diet consist of?
What kind of block is he on?

EDIT: Ditch the peanuts...they are not good for squirrels.

[kastillo]

You must get him on a healthy diet if he is not already.
Please visit the nutrition forum.

Also, when he is eating his blocks with vigor, you can introduce healthy veggies, and then a while after that a nut a day or every other day.
A good in shell starter nut is an almond.

But please stop all nuts till he's eating Henry's healthy blocks daily.
You can order them from henryspets.com

Too many nuts for a inside squirrel, and they can develop metabolic bone disease, which can kill them.

[Rebel Rescue]

Is he already weaned from formula?

Yes


What does his daily diet consist of?

We have been feeding him a variety of pre-packaged mixes for rodents purchased at local pet stores. We have been giving him a variety of the vegetables, fruits and nuts which are listed on the nutrition page here: http://thesquirrelboard.com/squirrel_nutrition.htm


What kind of block is he on?

According to USPS tracking, his HHBs should arrive in the mail tomorrow. (We weren't aware of HHBs until we discovered this web site a couple of days ago.)

You can find more background on Rebel here: http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40453

[Rebel Rescue]

Rebel has definitely gotten the hang of opening nuts now. He can make short work of an almond and can even crack open a walnut. I'm not sure how long it takes him to get the walnut open, however the surprising thing is each walnut he has opened has been perfectly along the seam of the two shell halves. I still haven't seen him open a hazel nut yet.

[SammysMom]

Not to be a downer, but he is getting too many nuts. I did the same thing and it did not go well for Sammy. He got MBD because of weaning too early and too many nuts. Think of it as giving a kid candy and him not eating his veggies. They really need a good diet or they are simply not healthy.:Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon

[Unikorngrrl]

Not to be a downer, but he is getting too many nuts. I did the same thing and it did not go well for Sammy. He got MBD because of weaning too early and too many nuts. Think of it as giving a kid candy and him not eating his veggies. They really need a good diet or they are simply not healthy.:Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon

SammysMom is so right. I gave my precious Jax MBD by feeding him so many nuts and not knowing/following a healthy diet. Then I had to adjust his diet, he hated it and I was heartbroken b/c I had to give him "tough love" but didn't wanna have to... It took a while but he started eating healthy... If you really care about him (and you obviously do) follow the diet!!! It's terribly heart breaking to know that you caused your baby to be in pain (joints and muscles), his bones to be weak, and all in all sick (he had a seizure too)!! I'm here to tell you!!! I called it McDonalds and candy SM :crazy !! Good luck Rebel!! :Love_Icon

[Rebel Rescue]

Not to be a downer, but he is getting too many nuts. I did the same thing and it did not go well for Sammy. He got MBD because of weaning too early and too many nuts. Think of it as giving a kid candy and him not eating his veggies. They really need a good diet or they are simply not healthy.:Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon

I can assure you, we are following the health diet for squirrels chart: http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=196487&d=1361161942

His feeding regimen begins with me giving him a single HHB in the morning before departing for work. My daughter later will give him an assortment of fresh vegetables and maybe a piece of fruit later in the day. When I return from work, I've been giving him a single nut, alternating between almond, walnut, hazelnut -- so far he only stashes the hazelnuts without eating them. Before going to bed, Rebel gets one more HHB.

If a single nut a day is too many, what then would be the appropriate interval?

As best we can tell, Rebel is eating all or most of his HHBs. When cleaning his cage, we have only found a couple of partially eaten HHBs he stashed away.

[puddinpie]

Sorry, I dont mean to highjack this thread or anything, but I was reading this and about the MBD that inside squirrels can get . We feed our wild greys all sorts of nuts, they love them. Is this MBD something only insdie pet squirrels get?

[Monipenny]

Squirrels in captivity are prone to MBD because of faulty diets, that is why it's essencial to follow a strict diet for them and nuts are not a healthy part of their diet so give them sparingly like one or two a day as long as they are eating their blocks and veggies, no peanuts and sunflower seeds though. I doubt MBD is common in wild squirrels because they eat a balance diet in the wild, it's possible and maybe some have developed this disease but I have not seen it personally.

[Milo's Mom]

I can assure you, we are following the health diet for squirrels chart: http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=196487&d=1361161942

His feeding regimen begins with me giving him a single HHB in the morning before departing for work. My daughter later will give him an assortment of fresh vegetables and maybe a piece of fruit later in the day. When I return from work, I've been giving him a single nut, alternating between almond, walnut, hazelnut -- so far he only stashes the hazelnuts without eating them. Before going to bed, Rebel gets one more HHB.

If a single nut a day is too many, what then would be the appropriate interval?

As best we can tell, Rebel is eating all or most of his HHBs. When cleaning his cage, we have only found a couple of partially eaten HHBs he stashed away.

Rebel is going to be released correct? (no I have not had a chance to go read the other thread, sorry) If he's going to be released and if he's eating his HHB's (make sure of it) and he's on the Healthy Diet there is nothing wrong with 1 nut a day. Just make sure it is really only 1 nut a day and not 1 nut from every person in the household (assuming there are more in the house than you and your daughter).

If he's an NR, personally, I would limit the nut intake even more so. My NR gets 1/4 to 1/2 of an almond a day and there are many days when she does not get even that. Her favorites are pecans but she only gets them on special occasions (Christmas, her Birthday, etc.).

As for grinding down teeth....sticks, deer antlers, sterilized bones (real bones like you would give a dog), black walnuts have a very very thick shell and they are some of the toughest shells, and there is a treat on the inside.