I have a few questions... Help needed!!

[Elise]

I am new to the squirrel board. This is my first post.

A few questions about my baby I'd like to see if someone could help me with:

1. What is the gender of this baby?

2. What type of squirrel is this? I think it's a fox squirrel but I'm not sure.

3. I've had this Baby for 4 days and have been following all advise found on this board. Does this baby look healthy?

Is this baby underweight? I think she is about 2 weeks old and she weights 22.3 grams.

I would really appreciate anyone's help with my questions.

Thank you.

[Monipenny]

Welcome. She looks like a girl to me. I can't tell what kind of squirrel she is though. Her weight looks good for her size, just watch for bloating belly.

[Elise]

Thank you so much. I thought she looked like a girl but wasn't 100% sure. Thank you.

[SammysMom]

Welcome! She looks happy and healthy from pics, but can you tell us what, how much and how often you are feeding? She is on low heat that is under half of her container?

[Elise]

I am feeding her the goats milk/full fat vanilla yogurt/ heavy cream mix until her Fox Valley 32/40 arrives in a few days.

I feed her every 2-3 hours (including during the night) 5% of her body weight. I've been giving her distilled water between feedings as she is still a little dehydrated.

She is on low heat under half of her container.

[Spanky]

I know a lot of members are avoiding the FV 32/40 until they are 4 weeks or older and using the Esbilac powder. Even then many have converted to using 50/50 of the FV and Esbilac.

Hopefully others will weigh in but if you do go to the FV, just keep a good eye on her for bloating or diarrhea issues....

[Elise]

Oh really?? Because I had been told to use FV 32/40 until they are 5 weeks then switching to FV 50/50. I am also really confused about the whole esbilac controversy. I have read conflicting advise about esbilac so I don't really know what to do now.

Any others' input would be helpful. Thank you.

[Spanky]

The confusion in part has to do with timeframes. The Esbilac issues occurred a few years ago but from what I have read here on TSB the newer Esbilac no longer is causing issues. Here are is the picture of the Esbilac and ingredient list; it seems they may have removed the "now with prebiotics and probiotics" blue banner, so we've been relying on the ingredient list (specifically the 3rd ingredient being dry whey protein concentrate):
257022257023

Its seems more recently there have been some bad experiences with the FV 32/40 in pinkies (basically before their eyes open) and I have read several that used FV 32/40 all the time either switch to Esbilac entirely or to the 50/50 mix.

[Elise]

Thanks for the info and pictures! Very helpful. Would you suggest trying the FV 32/40 and see how she does or just completely do the powered esbilac?

[Spanky]

Thanks for the info and pictures! Very helpful. Would you suggest trying the FV 32/40 and see how she does or just completely do the powered esbilac?

I am not a pinky expert by any means and I have not had a pinky since I have been seeing folks post issues with FV 32/40. I think maybe this goes back to spring of 2014 but I am not certain.

Hopefully some pinky experts will weigh in... just based completely on what I have been reading on TSB, I would stick to Esbilac.

[CritterMom]

I would NOT use the 32/40 on a pinky. I am so sorry that you need to go buy MORE formula... Here is the Reader's Digest version of what happened over a period of a couple years:

Esbilac was great.
Then babies started dying on it - diarrhea that would not go away.
Pet Ag admitted they had changed formula.
Everyone switched to Fox Valley - 32/40 for pinkies to eyes open and 20/50 for after.
Fox Valley was great.
Then particularly pinkies started dying on it - they could not digest it and it lay in their stomach like cement, undigested.
We panicked.
Then Pet Ag changed their formula of Esbilac again, and it was back to pretty much what it was before they changed it.

I would very, very strongly urge you to start the baby on Esbilac, not the 32/40. Best prices on it are at Tractor Supply if you have one. Get the powdered puppy formula.

At 3 or 4 weeks, you can add small amounts of the 32/40 to the formula but I would not go as high as 50/50. Or, you can just wait until eyes open and get a bag of the Fox Valley 20/50. Most folks are raising their older babies on a 50/50 mixture of Esbilac and FV 20/50 now.

Perhaps whoever you purchased it from would be willing to swap for 20/50?

[Elise]

Wow, ok thank you for the breakdown and the advise! I will exchange the FV 32/40 for 20/50 when it arrives and will go get some powered esbilac now. Thank you again so much!