ryriedel
09-08-2013, 01:54 PM
can anybody tell me what is going on with my squirrelfriend? she's exhibiting some odd behavior that i haven't seen before.
squirrel is about a year old and a new mother. i've been out town for the summer and haven't been able to monitor changes in her behavior, but upon arriving, i've seen that she scratches her face against tree limbs and is now missing streaks of fur on one side of her face. normally, she is very healthy. some hypotheses, in order of likeliness (i think):
1) her behavior is strange consequence of nursing.
2) she has been in conflict with another nursing squirrel in the neighborhood and is scratching at a scab/scar.
3) she has fleas. i live in new orleans. i haven't examined her closely yet.
4) she is ill. This seems unlikely because her behavior otherwise is relatively normal.
i heard that she was gnawing at the shutters about a month ago, so i'm guessing that, connecting the dots with her pregnancy, her babies are anywhere from four to six weeks old. as a frame of reference, i found her on the 21st of august last year, when she was about six weeks old, which might make her babies eight weeks old, though i have not yet seen them.
help? thanks.
squirrel is about a year old and a new mother. i've been out town for the summer and haven't been able to monitor changes in her behavior, but upon arriving, i've seen that she scratches her face against tree limbs and is now missing streaks of fur on one side of her face. normally, she is very healthy. some hypotheses, in order of likeliness (i think):
1) her behavior is strange consequence of nursing.
2) she has been in conflict with another nursing squirrel in the neighborhood and is scratching at a scab/scar.
3) she has fleas. i live in new orleans. i haven't examined her closely yet.
4) she is ill. This seems unlikely because her behavior otherwise is relatively normal.
i heard that she was gnawing at the shutters about a month ago, so i'm guessing that, connecting the dots with her pregnancy, her babies are anywhere from four to six weeks old. as a frame of reference, i found her on the 21st of august last year, when she was about six weeks old, which might make her babies eight weeks old, though i have not yet seen them.
help? thanks.