New Squirrel Owner

[Parkertables]

Hey I'm Parker, We have a 6 to 7 month old squirrel. He fell out of a tree at what we think was about 6 weeks old, eyes open, full of hair. We did the pediolyte thing and survived. We are now feeding him sunflower seeds, and peeled pecans. I give him an occassional fresh pecan from our tree, and we just started back giving him a small apple wedge a couple times during the day, and he tears that up. He has a fairly large outdoor cage, 48 square feet about 7 feet tall with large tree limbs to climb on, and I refresh his greenery evry week or so (cut limbs from the legustrum bushes). He goes out in the morning before work, and I bring him in every night just before dark. At night he sleeps in a small 2 x 3ft cage in the laundry room, and he loves that as well. I'm concerned mostly that we are giving him the right diet and nutrition. He gets plenty of excersise as he does "laps" in his cage during the day, back flips and all. I have chicken wire on the ceitling in his cage for him to hang up side down and do flips. He is full of energy, loves to play with his humans, loves being caressed and played with, and seems to "communicate" as to what he likes and does not like. I have read in other sites about various types of food concoctions that don't exist in the wild, and am curious about there validity. We have used mostly common sense and some things we learned from some squirrel rescue sites. We released him once at about 12-14 weeks in the back yard. He seemed happy to be in the wild until after work the next day when he showed up, climed up my wifes leg to a handfull of pecans and dove into a bowl of water I had for him. I think we are fortunate that he did not get eaten by a predetur, realizing that we released him far to soon. Since he came back, we have decided to keep him. So, there's a little history on our little guy. Any thoughts that can help will be appreciated.

[jbillings]

:Welcome to TSB! Check out this thread for healthy squirrel nutrition. Also, visit http://henryspets.com and http://squirrelsandmore.com
Healthy Diet for Pet Squirrels (Revised 2/13) (http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?39275-Healthy-Diet-for-Pet-Squirrels-(Revised-2-13))

[SammysMom]

:Welcome You have come to the right place! His diet is a recipe for disaster and it is good that you came here for help. Most important is that he needs rodent block. The ones that I use for my squirrel are Henry's Healthy Blocks from http://henryspets.com. Also, you should go to our nutrition thread and take a look at the list of what they need to eat. Nuts and fruit are for treats only.

[TubeDriver]

:Welcome You have come to the right place! His diet is a recipe for disaster and it is good that you came here for help. Most important is that he needs rodent block. The ones that I use for my squirrel are Henry's Healthy Blocks from http://henryspets.com. Also, you should go to our nutrition thread and take a look at the list of what they need to eat. Nuts and fruit are for treats only.

Welcome! We all love to see pics!:poke. Please check out the diet stickies so you can get your squirrel on a healthy diet and avoid Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD).

[MollyBear361]

:Welcome

[farrelli]

As mentioned, the diet really needs to change. A quality rodent block needs to be the basis of his diet. If I were you, I'd go out to the pet store today and get some Mazuri or Kaytee Forti-Diet and then order some blocks from Henry's online.

Other than that, I'm sort of concerned about his flipping in the cage. Some do it for fun, but many out of stress and boredom. We recommend plenty of out of cage time, play time, hand wrestling, and toys and whatnot both in and out of the cage. Does he get these things? Many people even give their squirrels run of the house when they're home or their own rooms.

Also, is he going to be a forever pet or are you releasing him? If the former, please be aware that he should never be allowed outside lest he run off. We have too many stories of this, and because they weren't prepared for release, it may have ended badly for them. If you plan to release, we have a whole soft release process that you'll have to read up on.

[stepnstone]

Just want to reiterate what everyone else has stated about diet.
You have to get him on a healthy diet! MBD is no joke, 90% of the
time you won't know they have it until they become lethargic,
crippled, seizure or drop. If they survive...
As far as the flips they don't really concern me. My girl (almost 3)
has done flips since a baby. She has free roam and her door is always
open except for (my) bedtime or if I'm out. It's play to her, she will
even do them on request.

[SQUIRRELSAREME]

Hi and :Welcome you will get the best advice here just follow the information these wonderful people give you and I promise you will have a very healthy squirrel.

[Parkertables]

Wow!!
Really great input, and thanks. From what little I know about these little critters, I do not think he is stressed or bored. His cage is rather large (although I have no other squirrel cages to compare to), and has plenty of room to play. He has been cutting flips as soon as he has been able to do so, and he has a un-stuffed cloth rabbit that he plays with. We "wrestle" on a fairly regular basis, and he loves for me to roll him over. He is pretty spry and jumps about the cage from limb to shelf. (he has several shelves on which he perches during the day to observe the back yard). I will order the Rodent Block asap, and go to the pet store for the other things. I'm not sure about the "out of cage time". I have two cavalier king charles spaniels, and a rat terrier, and they think he is a mouse (or food). Free range of the house will be very difficult, I am open to other suggestions, from those in a similar situation. I do not plan on releasing him at this point, as we feel he is to domesticated, but you can educate me on that concept as well. At what point are they "to domesticated to realease"? Quite frankly, we (I) really enjoy play time with, and caring for this little guy. I would have never imagined to have this as a pet, so I want to be sure I give him the best quality of life that I can give. Thanks for the advice, bring it on. I'm a sponge, and will soak it up. Once I figure out the picture thing, I will upload some of our little guy in his habitat.

[CritterMom]

Please, please, PLEASE heed the notes on his diet - as a longtime member here, when I read your list of foods, what flashed through my head was "he's doomed if that doesn't change." The problem with trying to match their outdoor diet is that they eat such a huge variety of things you will never get it right. The diet he is currently on is far too high in phosphorus and far too low in calcium and the sum of those two things is metabolic bone disease.

The commercially available foods that are actually made for rats that you can buy at places like Petco - the Kaytee Forti-Diet - is fair food but they usually won't eat it because it tastes like...well, you know. The Picky Bites at www.henryspets.com are actually flavorful and 2 of them have everything they need in the way of vitamins and minerals daily. Add to that some healthy veggies, some occasional fruit, and a very limited number of nuts - a couple a day - and you will have a healthy baby...and we will never have to answer one of those heartbreaking requests from you for help when his back end is paralyzed...

Welcome to the board!

[CrazySquirrelLady]

trouble is when they get about a year old they get mean. especially boys. I recently had one bite me in an artery in my wrist and it squirted blood with every heart beat.

no sunflower seeds, corn at all..........

See if he was in the wild, he would eat things to keep him healthy. All he has to eat is what you provide.

Vegetables are 70% of the diet. He needs good nutrition or he will get a disease called metabolic bone disorder. Your foods are high in phosphorus and low in calcium..... not enough calcium in his diet will lead to seizures and death.

Please order a healthy rodent block like Henry's. He is to be given one in the morning when he is super hungry and no other food till he eats it. Then another at bedtime.

Provide plenty of good vegtables, water and give only 2 nuts a day. These should be hazelnuts or almonds in the shell. These are the best nuts for them to eat due to the calcium.

try feeding wild dandelion greens, lettuce, carrots, avocado, broccoli, cauliflower and other healthy veggies. Once a day he can have a small piece of fruit if he eats his veggies and blocks.

[farrelli]

What was he given as an infant? Because squirrels are highly susceptible to metabolic bone disease (MBD), which is caused by a lack of calcium, and because his diet has not only been calcium poor, but actually rich in foods which block its absorption (phosphorous), I'm wondering if he should have supplemental calcium. If he wasn't given a good formula, I would definitely do this. You could get deer antler (sold at pet stores), or cuttle bone, or even ground up egg shells. Human supplements are also OK as long as they don't have vitamin D.

As to release, he's not too old for it if that's what you want. You will find a variety of opinions on here about release ranging from the idea that squirrels should always be wild short of an impairment which would compromise them, to a belief that if they are happy and not pining for the outdoors, if a rich home life can be given, it beats a life in the wild marked by deprivation, disease, fear, and an ugly death. (I'm in the latter camp.) If you do release, there is a process that you'll have to learn about to get them ready for the outdoors. Personally, I think that if a squirrel can't be an integrated part of the family and not just given a small bit of interaction a day, they would probably be better free. It's hard to know exactly what your situation is though.

Here's a thread about how to upload pics. The system has been updated since it was written, but the concept is the same:

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?30-How-do-I-upload-or-post-pictures-on-this-site

[Parkertables]

It seems I have been "selected" by nature. As I walked up to my front door after work today, I approached yet another baby squirrel in my front yard, having fallen from the same tree as the first squirrel. Full of hair, eyes wide open, and a unique stripe on the underside of his tail. I dont recall this stripe on the first squirrel. Now what? Pediolite? He probably has been without any nutrition for 2 - 3 hours, based on when the kids got home from school, since they would have seen him. Why me Lord? He seems healthy, but I need help to start correctly for this new little guy.

[SammysMom]

Did you try to reunite with mama?

[farrelli]

Did he approach you? Squirrels that need help famously seek out humans. We need more info to figure out how to reunite if possible. If he's young enough to not run away, there's one way of trying to reunite, but on the other hand, if he could run away and needs help, we don't want that to happen.

Can you post a pic?

If he's dehydrated, yes, Pedialyte would be good. Gently pinch the skin between the shoulders and see if it tents. If it does, he needs hydration. If it goes right back down like on the back of your hand, formula is what's called for.

Keep him warm.

Here are some links that you need to look at in terms of basic care, the formula that you'll need to get (both temp and permanent), and proper feeding technique (improper feeding can easily cause pneumonia and a quick death).


http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?11782-I-FOUND-A-BABY-SQUIRREL-NOW-WHAT

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?29903-Do-NOT-USE-ESBILAC!-**TEMPORARY-Goat-s-Milk-Formula***

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?36777-PROPER-FEEDING-TECHNIQUE!!

People are usually here all night.

Btw, welcome to the club! Once you save one animal, they all know about it and problemed ones will seek you out. I used to be a disbeliever too.

[Parkertables]

He did not approach me, I approached him. As far as re-uniting with his mother, we found an injured female squirrell in the back yard this weekend (its raining squirrrells). She had a severe head injury, was walking in tight circles and falling over backwards. Sadly, she died over night. Probably best, as I believe she was suffering greatly. I believe this to be the (possible) mother of the orphan, since the events took place 4 days apart. I cannot say for a fact the two were related though. I found a local wildlife rescue person that has agreed to take the baby in Thursday. I boght some Kaytee, Forti Diet for my squirrell, and ordered the rodent blcok from Henrys. It should be here Friday or Sat. I pinched his skin and it fell right back into place. (new baby). And I figured that the animals all spoke. Thats how they know to come here.

[farrelli]

Make absolutely sure that the rescue will not euthanize. Many will take the squirrel, act real nice, and it'll be dead before you leave the lot. Many placed just don't have room or don't want to devote the resources. Ask if you can call about progress.

Also, look for more. They may be starting to leave the nest now looking for food.

[Parkertables]

We have been looking for more. We are feeding the baby, and have not decided to give him to the rescue, I didnt like the way she sounded on the phone. We will continue with this one as well.

[MJS]

:Welcome TO TSB!!! LOTS OF GOOD ADVICE...DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIFIC QUESTIONS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE HELP WITH???