9 Week Old Flyers REFUSE Formula, have they weaned themselves?

[Miyoung]

Hello all! I fed my two 9-week-old flyers some of their formula at about 3PM CST (nearly 10 hours ago) and then a little bit later I fed them asparagus for the first time. They adore it!

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I also fed them some grapes, mealworms, and they have fresh water in their bottle.
I have some of Henry's Squirrel Blocks on order for them right now, along with calcium powder.

Anyway, they usually eat a few cc's of formula every 3 hours (save for the overnight hours) and they always seemed so eager to eat it. After they ate their asparagus for the first time (it's not their first veggie, we tried celery with them and they liked it but not nearly as much as the asparagus) they refused to drink even a drop of their formula. Is it even possible that they weaned themselves in a matter of hours?

[pappy1264]

Wait a little while and try again. Asparagus can be a little gassy, so they may feel full. No, they don't usually just stop like that, but they may not feel hungry. You can start giving them full fat yogurt in a dish, too. Mine love Stoneyfield Whole Milk Cream on Top French Vanilla. They get it every night, mine are all 3 yrs and up.

[ALittleNutty]

At this age you might want to stretch out to 5 hours between feedings. Also water bottles aren't recommended for flyers as some have gotten little tongues caught in them. A very shallow dish or a small bowl with marbles or decorative rocks is a better choice.

[Miyoung]

Thank you, I didn't know that they shouldn't use water bottles!!! I gave them a shallow dish full of water and they seem to be lapping it up just fine.

[Miyoung]

Wait a little while and try again. Asparagus can be a little gassy, so they may feel full. No, they don't usually just stop like that, but they may not feel hungry. You can start giving them full fat yogurt in a dish, too. Mine love Stoneyfield Whole Milk Cream on Top French Vanilla. They get it every night, mine are all 3 yrs and up.

Pappy, I googled where I could find some Stoneyfield because I had never heard of the brand. Fortunately, my local Walmart does carry it, but it is listed as a yogurt that is for babies...did I find the correct one? (All of the other Stoneyfield yogurt sold by Walmart is 0% fat)

[Unikorngrrl]

Truly their first and only foods should be Henrys Healthy Blocks. Once they are eating those well you can start adding green leafy veggies here and there. Here is a link to the healthy diet for pet flyers. http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?37700-HEALTHY-DIET-for-PET-Flying-Squirrels but they have a tendency to avoid the blocks if you don't start them on them first and the blocks hold the major vitamins. Sqs are very susceptible to MBD in captivity and need for us to very carefully regulate their diet for them. Blocks only until eating them really well, not just shredding them, and then green veggies. Once eating both really well you can add in other veggies. I do know that asparagus is not one of the better veggies to give. They need a strict 2:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio diet. There is a link to the ratios that helps...let me see...here it is... http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?15397-Food-Data-Chart-Update-Calcium-to-Phosphorus-Ratios That should help!! :thumbsup

[Unikorngrrl]

Pappy, I googled where I could find some Stoneyfield because I had never heard of the brand. Fortunately, my local Walmart does carry it, but it is listed as a yogurt that is for babies...did I find the correct one? (All of the other Stoneyfield yogurt sold by Walmart is 0% fat)

Yes, you should feed them the full fat vanilla yogurt. Stoneyfield does make a yobaby that is full fat. Publix carries it I know. I haven't been able to find it anywhere else here. Not that your walmart doesn't carry it of course. The walmarts here only have banana and blueberry.

[Miyoung]

Yes, you should feed them the full fat vanilla yogurt. Stoneyfield does make a yobaby that is full fat. Publix carries it I know. I haven't been able to find it anywhere else here. Not that your walmart doesn't carry it of course. The walmarts here only have banana and blueberry.

The YoBaby is the one I called and asked about at my Walmart. I didn't see any plain YoBaby yogurt, only strawberry, blueberry, and banana. Are they allowed to have those?

[Unikorngrrl]

The YoBaby is the one I called and asked about at my Walmart. I didn't see any plain YoBaby yogurt, only strawberry, blueberry, and banana. Are they allowed to have those?

Generally we try to avoid the fruits b/c of all of the sugar. We suggest vanilla, I'm not sure they make a plain... :thinking Do you have a publix? Really any vanilla or plain full fat yogurt will do. I think pappy was talking about heavy cream though...let me look back... I know the yogurt is good for them though and they really like it normally.

[Unikorngrrl]

Yeah ask pappy about the cream and all if you want. I haven't fed that, but we do put it in formula and pappy is awesome so I'm sure it's good I just don't wanna make suggestions on what I'm not sure about... The yogurt is a go though!

[Miyoung]

We don't have a Publix down here in New Orleans :( but I'll keep my eyes out for any plain/vanilla whole fat yogurt for my babies. Should I just stop feeding them fruits and veggies until I get the blocks in and they eat them well? Also, should I continue feeding them mealworms before the blocks?

[ALittleNutty]

I use the Yoplait Original Vanilla for mine. I can't find the vanilla baby one either. I would cut out the fruit but keep feeding the veggies until you can get the blocks. I'm not sure about the mealies.

[Miyoung]

My original problem has been solved, they are eating their formula again :) and I learned a lot of new things so thank you everyone.

[Unikorngrrl]

Per Mrs Skul our resident flyer expert... I started with the formula I gave you, then when their eyes were open and moving around good I started the blocks, when the blocks were actually eaten and not just shredded, I started adding in tiny tid bits of veggies. Still adding tiny tid bits. The veggies, if they come on too fast, will cause tummy upset and you don't want to fill them so that they can't or won't take their formula. Formula and blocks are the MOST important at this phase. They're still growing!! By tiny tid bits, green pea size is what I'm still feeding. I try a new veggie with them every couple of days. So I've worked them up from 1 tid bit of broccoli, until now they get block, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, mushroom, sugar snap pea slice, and I added their first calcium coated meal worm yesterday. The exact everything we don't know, I've been meaning to talk to the board and my Vet about conducting a study. This is not firm, set in stone or anything like that. It's simply what I have done and it seems to be working wonderfully. They're growing, sweet and flying around like little bats! No tummy upset and still taking at least 2cc of formula per feeding which is exactly what the Dr (Mrs Skul) ordered! So do with that what you will!! Does that help at all or just confuse the issue?!? Oh and I added 2 pieces of granola yesterday too for a treat! By pieces of mean literally 2 oats :grin

[ALittleNutty]

My original problem has been solved, they are eating their formula again :) and I learned a lot of new things so thank you everyone.

Glad to hear it! Always here to help out. I found mine were doing the same thing until I stretched out the feeding times. Sometimes you just have to experiment a little to find what works the best.