help needed

[Doug54]

A young adult (I think) was trapped in my attic for close to two weeks with no food or water. I continuously tried to lure it into a cage/trap with water and peanuts, but to no avail. Hadn't seen it for days, but knew it had gone for a long time without food or water. I found it today, in a severely weakened condition - could barely try to crawl under things to evade me. I finally caught it with a towel. It is in the cage now. I've offered it water and peanut hearts. Even tried sugar water, since our squirrels seem to like drinking from the hummingbird feeders. It doesn't seem to be able to eat or drink, or doesn't like what I'm offering. It is clearly too weak to set free at this point. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[CritterMom]

You were on the right track. You need a syringe - for an adult you could use a 3 or 5cc syringe which you can get at a drug store or pet store.

Mix up:

1 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 quart water

Keep it in the fridge but heat it to slightly more than your body temp to feed. Slip the syringe in his mouth and squeeze a few drops in and watch for him to swallow, then a few more. You will likely need to do this more or less drop by drop for a while.

Perhaps we have someone near you who can help.

[Nancy in New York]

Would you be willing to drive the squirrel somewhere?