southern flyer in nc

[ravenlaws32]

im rehabber here in nc . been for years , i have flier maybe 4 to 6 years old. no problems at all til tonight .
she was lathargic , her palms are red , and seems to drag her right front paws . never had any trouble
she was fine til tonight . got her when she was little someone sold her telling owner she was a sugarglider!!!
i got her and things been fine

no change in diet, male flyer in cage beside her is fine . they get same food .
took some karo syrup , little fox valley mix ,and syringe of pedialyte .

she peed and pooped normal . she is colder . just real lathargetic .

thru all my tries i dont know the symtoms . sometimes alert , then not .


ideas???

[ravenlaws32]

she is not postering . but i think she is hypogylcemic .

[SammysMom]

Do you have a heating pad that you can put her cage half on and half off? Skul and Mrs Skul are wonderful flyer peeps! I will send them the link to this thread.

[ravenlaws32]

yeah shes on heating pad and can get off easily . i took her from cage to aquarium as i dont want her to fall .
its weird last night fine . tonight i dunno , wife called me and said piper was acting weird so i left work early .
symptoms i have not seen .

checked her cage , and stashes , nothing out of ordinary . i turned a spare bedroom in a squirrel room . so no other animals
are in there ever .

[Skul]

With her age, MBD is quite possible. This would be especially true if she were fed an SG diet.
If you have any regular Tums tablets, crush one and add to a cup of warm water. (or break in half and add to half a cup)
You may need to force her to take a few drops. It must be done.
Since you do rehab, I'm sure you've already checked for signs of dehydration.
I kind of doubt hypoglysemia. Possible, I just don't see that.
With all that in mind, which FV formula are you using, and how do you mix it?
Diet will be an issue.

[ravenlaws32]

Hi everyone. This is Pipers mom..... Daddy is at work until around 3pm.

Piper is much better this morning, although not all better (yet!). She's still in the hospital cage (fish tank) with bedding, food & water and a heating pad under half of it.

We checked on her throughout the night, offered Pedialyte & FV formula & Kayro. She took a little of each but just wanted to sleep. She doesn't like the UV light shining on her, right now.

At 9am she willingly (wanted) about 2 ML of FV formula (it's the adult squirrel kind) and about 1/2 ML of Pedialyte and a good sized drop of Kayro. She normally has "Prime" added to her water but we did dilute some Tums late last night & added it to the Pedialyte she was then/is now getting.

Her eyes are much brighter this morning, she's much stronger, not dragging her front paws at all anymore, walking upright & hopping a bit. Her fur looks nicer and she's reacting to her name.

We're not sure how old she is.... guessing 3 to 5 years. Her previous people fed her Sugar Glider pellets only but she hasn't had any of them for almost 3 years. Like many of you would probably agree..... the squirrels eat a better diet than us humans do.

I'm sure Daddy will check here after he checks on Piper, later, and will be able to tell you more. I'm just so glad she's so much better. Thank you all so much..... we'll keep things posted here.

(PS.... for some reason I could not log in under my own user name (Maggie J).... it's been a long-long time since I have & it now tells me that my user name is not recognized, so I hijacked his password, for now)

[Skul]

Just a couple things. She doesn't need a UV light. Flyers are nocturnal.
If she is hydrated, you don't need pedialyte, and would just give the Tums water.
Her past diet was pretty bad, and I'm surprised she lived that long.
One thing obviously missing, is protein.
If you have mealworms or waxworms, start giving her some.
If not, try cooked egg white, cooked chicken and even the drumstick/thigh bone.
She desperately needs to get some protein in her as well as the calcium.
The link here ---> http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?37700-HEALTHY-DIET-for-PET-Flying-Squirrels ........
gives a pretty good idea of other dietary items that should be considered.

I presume the FV, is 32/40. It should be mixed 3:1 (water to powder), for the first few feedings, then go 2:1. We also mix in a little all natural yogurt to the mix.
After they get used to that, we add a little heavy cream.
Once her diet improves and she's eating normally, the FV formula feedings can be reduced to one a day, or even stopped.
You will need to continue with the Tums water for quite some time.

[ravenlaws32]

Thanks, Skul. I turned the UV light off just after 9am, if only to let her (and her room mate/not cage mate) have some darkness. She does get chicken quite often but won't touch a mealworm, ever. She does eat egg whites, too.
Mom

[Skul]

Just curious, how long have you been caring for her?

[ravenlaws32]

4 years, im a gray squirrel rehabber for 10 years . ive helped and released 40 to 50 fliers , i always build them homes and place in trees on our farm . i have bout 50 acres heavily wooded with creek and i use trail cams to monitor them .

she is not on a crap diet . shes picky but she gets calcium with her water also used prime to mix .
tonight is really perky and still little shakey , defiantely alert , clear eyes . paying attention , not doing
the famous squirrel stare . im really leaning toward a fall in cage to a possible head injury . ive seen MBD
and ive treated it , i dont have that gut feeling . i think a possible fall and hurt right hand .

doing alot better , drinking on her own . eating on her own .

will keep posted .

i was in a pet shop like 4 years ago . this family had piper in a birdcage , i just happened to listen in and i told them thats
a southern flying quirrel NOT sugar glider . they paid ike 300 bucks . i showed them my license and said i would take her and get her on right stuff. she had hardly any fur specially on tail , the spine of the tail underside was wore down to the vein thru the tail from piper doing loops in this tiny cage . it took long time to get her fluffy and her tail thick . she is not releaseable . we tried that . kept coming to the porch . id rather have her then her get killed . these people had her around cats and dogs . now she is in huge cage , and until last night happy as hell .

i will keep posted .ive spoken with island rehabber a few times , she knows the type of person i am .

[Skul]

OK, I'll stop worrying now. :grin2
I was under the impression that you had recently acquired her and hadn't had any real experience with the monsters.
I'll get off the diet wagon now. :rofl4

You might be right about a fall. Ours pull stunts like that, and scare the dickens out of us.
Keep in touch as to how she's doing.

[ravenlaws32]

doing alot better , not wobbly , wants out of her small confined area. i will give her few more days then possible to put back in her home. she wants to go back to her home so bad . eating good ,looks good . thanks for thoughts and info .