new baby

[Sydneysmom]

Hi, I found a baby red 3 days ago, his mom was shot, i guess Sydney (him/her, not sure but the name goes both ways) to be about 6-7 weeks old, attaching a couple pics, am i close on the age? i am feeding puppy formula with a syringe, every 4 hours or so, drinks about 2-4 cc, and has eaten apple, cooked sweet potato and raisins, also has nibbled on some peanuts, pine nuts and walnuts. love to be in a fleece pouch, and hasn't bitten me :) Seems to sleep alot, when taken out of the cage just wants to get back in pouch, is this normal? is it just to soon and new for him to want to explore? Thanks for any help :thankyou

[pappy1264]

Looks a little younger. Do you have a weight? You should be feeding 5-7% of his body weight per feeding. Can you post a general area you are in, if you need help? What are you feeding for formula? Esbilac changed their formula and it is no longer suggested for use in squirrels. Fox Valley is what most use, but many also use Goats milk (with full fat yogurt and heavy cream, there is a recipe on here). He really should be with other reds, singles can be very tough. And also, you should still have him on heat, heating pad on low under half his enclosure so he can move off if he gets too warm. He is a little young for the other stuff, only other thing he should be eating is quality rodent block. (if you don't have one, you will need a digital scale and weigh him every morning to keep an eye on his weight.)

[Unikorngrrl]

Hello and welcome!! I can't help you with age, but I can tell you that you will need to stop the puppy formula! You'll need to get Goat's milk, heavy whipping cream and full fat vanilla yogurt. I can't get to the recipe on my phone but someone else will post it or I will when I get home. YoBaby yogurt is all I have found full fat. AND all fruit, nuts, etc...will need to stop for now. Fruits and nuts are treats way later in the game. You want to order Fox Valley formula and henrys growth blocks from Henryspets.com. it's by far the most recommended here. The goats milk mix will get you through until the fox valley comes in. While ordering from henrys you may want to go ahead and buy syringes and nipples. Flat rate shipping so it comes out cheaper to buy more at a time. Puppy formula does have have the nutrients that squirrels need. You want him to take the fv formula as long as possible, don't try to wean. The only solid food for a long while should be the blocks or your guy will never want or learn to eat healthy. From the pics i'd say he's still young and should sleep a lot, but others with more experience will post. Thank you for helping Sydney and Good Luck!

[Sydneysmom]

I just ordered from Henrys, the squirrel blocks and formula, the formula is a different brand then you mentioned, went to a feed/grain store and got it, came in a small carton, hope its ok until my order comes. Also have a mineral block in his cage. I am located in New Hamshire, i do have a digital scale, i will try to weigh him this afternoon. Will add the heating pad also :) Also will stop the nuts/fruits...thanks so much!!
Any guess on the age? Also am going this afternoon as i have heard that there is another (or 2) babies in the same area, wandering around........

[Unikorngrrl]

I just ordered from Henrys, the squirrel blocks and formula, the formula is a different brand then you mentioned, went to a feed/grain store and got it, came in a small carton, hope its ok until my order comes. Also have a mineral block in his cage. I am located in New Hamshire, i do have a digital scale, i will try to weigh him this afternoon. Will add the heating pad also :) Also will stop the nuts/fruits...thanks so much!!
Any guess on the age? Also am going this afternoon as i have heard that there is another (or 2) babies in the same area, wandering around........
Use the goats milk formula until the FV comes in!! You can get the ingredients at the local grocery!

[Unikorngrrl]

I just ordered from Henrys, the squirrel blocks and formula, the formula is a different brand then you mentioned, went to a feed/grain store and got it, came in a small carton, hope its ok until my order comes. Also have a mineral block in his cage. I am located in New Hamshire, i do have a digital scale, i will try to weigh him this afternoon. Will add the heating pad also :) Also will stop the nuts/fruits...thanks so much!!
Any guess on the age? Also am going this afternoon as i have heard that there is another (or 2) babies in the same area, wandering around........
Oh no and hurry and get to those babies before something else gets them or they die of dehydration!!! Make sure they're hydrated before you feed. Update us if u find them and we can help u with what to do next. Goats milk formula for them too!!

[pappy1264]

I am in MA, north of Boston, if you get stuck and need help. Do you know what the formula is? Most sold at feed stores are not the best choice. If you can pick up a carton on the gm and full fat yogurt and heavy cream (initially, you only feed the gm w/yogurt to make sure they adjust then add in the cream). You can get it in the supermarket where the milk is (Meyenburg with vit. D. is what you want, believe it is a purple carton, not the blue one, that has added iron.)

[Sydneysmom]

Will be going to the store to get the goats milk, yogurt and cream :thumbsup
just weighed him and he weighs 48 grams. Is this a good weight? And Unikorngrl, i will keep you posted if i find any more, fingers crossed for a good outcome.....pappy1264, thanks for the offer and i will keep you in mind if i get stuck :thankyou

[pappy1264]

Yeah, that is about right, he is about 5 weeks old. He should be eating every 4-5 hours. Keep rodent block in the cage at all times to nibble on, don't offer anything besides the blocks and formula for now so they eat the blocks otherwise he will choose the nuts, which is not good, esp. as they start to wean. After he has been eating the block well, you want to start offering foods from their natural diet, which include pinecones, mushrooms, lichen, moss, nuts (pine, acorn), seeds, fruit, tree bark, buds, flowers and also keep an antler or other type of bone in cage for them to gnaw on.

[Unikorngrrl]

By JIT
"knowing you cannot have FV today... I can recommend a temporary formula with all ingrediants found at the grocery store..
1 cup goats milk {meyerburg brand, cold carton(in refridgerated section near milk and dairy) or canned next to evaporated and sweet condensed milk}
1/3 cup heavy cream also called whipping cream, also in the refridgerated section in a small carton
1/3 cup dannon all natural vanilla yogurt or stoneyfields vanilla" The YoBaby yogurt will work too.

Also by JIT
"A homemade hydration type fluid can be made and kept in fridge for three days/72 hours...and any pedialyte type fluid should not be used for more than 24 hours anyways.. become couterproductive due to the salt/sodium.

1 quart warm water
3 TABLE spoons sugar
1 TEASpoon salt
use the 3 cc syringe..."

You will probably need to use this hydration formula with the others IF you find them. They'll need to be hydrated before feeding formula!

[Unikorngrrl]

Puppy formula does have have the nutrients that squirrels need. Luck!
OH BIG TYPO!!!! Does NOT have the nutrients. So sorry!!! Stupid PHONE!! :shakehead

[farrelli]

When are you going to get the others? This is really important that you go ASAP.

[Anne]

Hoping that if there are siblings that you can find and help them. Loved the pictures of Sidney! We absolutely go crazy over pictures. You have received excellent information from the others, let us know how we can continue to help you.
:Welcome To the board!

[Fireweed]

Wow. SOOOOO cute. :Love_Icon
Good luck finding the other two. Thanks for saving this little guy. :bowdown

[Sydneysmom]

Just spent a few hours searching for the others, no luck. It has been raining here all day, so i hope they were just hiding, am going back tomorrow to check again. Thanks for the well wishes, Sydney has spent the day sleeping and eating (and peeing & pooping),will post more pics soon. Should i be able to sex him/her at this age? Thanks

[Fireweed]

Just spent a few hours searching for the others, no luck. It has been raining here all day, so i hope they were just hiding, am going back tomorrow to check again. Thanks for the well wishes, Sydney has spent the day sleeping and eating (and peeing & pooping),will post more pics soon. Should i be able to sex him/her at this age? Thanks
Hopefully there were never any other babies. But best to go back tomorrow to make sure. :thankyou

Yes, you can sex them at that age. If he's got something sticking out around close to his belly button area--he's a he. If not, he's a she. :D

[Sydneysmom]

I went yesterday and searched again, and no sign, so hopefully she was the only one. And she is a she, i'm pretty sure :D She seems to be eating ok, i have to wake her up to eat, but she drinks good, i have put a little capful of plain yogurt in her cage, she seems to lick it a little every now & then, is this ok? She was out and crawling around on me last night, for about 1/2 hour, then crawled up behind my hair at the back of my neck and went to sleep. My husband tried feeding her last night and she wouldn't eat for him, kept crawling back to me, do they normally just bond to one human? My order from Henry's shipped yesterday, so hopefully it gets here quick so i can switch to FV formula and the blocks.
i weighed her yesterday and she was up to 50 grams, is 2 grams a day what i can expect her to gain?
Will try to get some new pics today, i think she looks better already :)
Thanks for all the help, hope i'm not asking to many questions, i have spent alot of time on here going back through alot of the posts reading up on her.
:thankyou

[pappy1264]

That is good to hear, they still do sleep quite a bit at this age, but in a week or so she should start to be awake and playing more. Does she have a stuffie (a stuffed animal) with her to snuggle with? If not, get her an appropriately sized one. They love to snuggle and play with them, esp. if a single. Two grams is a little less then you might normally see, but at least she is gaining, that is what you want to see. That should increase when she gets on the correct formula. Speaking of which, you will need to do a gradual switch, so you would miss up both fresh (make it the night before you plan to feed it and you want to make a fresh batch for every day.) You would pull 75% of the original formula in and 25% of the fv mix. Feed that a few feedings, then go up to 50/50, again for a few more feedings, then 75/25 (fv to original) for a few, then finally on full stregnth fv. Watch for any signs of issues with digestion (constipation, diarrhea). Also fv takes a little longer to digest so you may want to move up to 4.5 hours between feedings to give more time to digest, you will have to watch and adjust accordingly. And again, weigh every morning after pottying, before feeding to get a correct weight. And 5-7% of that mornings weight every feeding. You may not always be able to get the full 7% in, just do at least the 5%. Can't wait for new pics. And yes, they do tend to know who 'mom' (the one that feeds them) is. You actually want to keep her contact with others limited, so she will not be too attached to humans when released (although reds wild up pretty good no matter what! lol)

[farrelli]

Yogurt is fine and actually good for them.

The stuffie is great, but make sure that it doesn't have any hard eyes or anything else that can get bitten off and cause choking.

[Sydneysmom]

Just a quick update, i just weighed her and she is at 56 grams :)
attaching a couple pics from a few minutes ago, she was a little frisky after eating :)

[pappy1264]

She looks great!

[Unikorngrrl]

Absolutely precious!! You're doing great!! :grouphug

[MollyBear361]

What a coooooootiiiieeeee!!! Welcome Sidney. :Welcome

[jbillings]

Is there any update on this little sweetie? :donoShe is absolutely adorable :grouphug

[Sqrl]

Oh what a sweetie..she is so cute and growing fast...you have done a great job...:thumbsup

I think she has a great mommy and daddy....what a lucky girl she is....:multi