lynnesquared
08-05-2016, 04:35 PM
Hello everyone! just looking for some support and advice on my situation. forgive me for being long winded, I want to be thorough and provide all the information Im able to up front so that everyone is up to date and can advise accordingly.
Monday afternoon I was at the local park with the kids and the parks department was doing routine trail maintenance. on our walk down to the beach we noticed some fallen branches and a squirrel nest. there was one squirrel baby in the nest and no mom to be seen. I decided to check back on our way out of the park to see if Mom had come back for baby. Well two hours later not only had Mom not come back for baby but baby walked out of his nest right over to the kids and i (the fallen branches were near the play ground equipment). he looked thin and generally pathetic so I decided to take him home. My five year old daughter confidently named him Jeffery. He is fully furred and has his two bottom teeth but no others. he doesnt yet curl his tail. I would love age estimates. He’s a Douglas Squirrel and its so hard to find specific information about caring for them. they’re a small squirrel even full grown so i wonder if any of the “rules” differ as far as how old he may be and how much he should eat per feeding.
he’s currently housed in a medium size pet crate with flannel receiving blankets as bedding and a heating pad under one end of the crate. there is a rodent water bottle hanging there for him, though he doesnt use it, i assumed it was at least important he get used to it being around. he has a crockery dish with rodent block though he hasn’t shown interest and i didn’t expect him to, again i assume its important he get used to it. Ive placed an order with chris’s squirrels and more for a bag of Zupreem and Mazuri rodent block/monkey biscuit mix though i see from the forum folks seem to favor the Squirrel blocks from Henrys healthy pets. let me know if i should i order those instead.
when first brought home i followed the normal procedures, i warmed him, toileted him (poop was dark and dry, urine was a small amount at leas compared to his current output and was fairly dark) and i gave him pedialyte. after 24 hours i switched him over to Esbilac puppy formula, the powdered sort. i mix it 2:1 water:formula and add organic heavy cream that has 17% saturated fat. I have Fox’s Valley 20/50 on order for arrival tomorrow. currently i feed him out of 1cc o-ring syringes. i weigh him before feeding to make sure I’m sticking to the 5% minimum. he gets toileted after feeding though i have noticed he is starting to go on his own at non meal times.
lets see what else? he is kept in the spare bathroom, so its quiet and not high traffic, I’m keeping him away from other pets and the kids as much as is possible (kids always need something when youre in the middle of rubbing squirrel genitals). ive been in touch with a local vet that sees wildlife, just to be sure i have a back up if theres a medical issue. initially wildlife rehab place thats a couple hours away wasn’t accepting squirrels since they were full though i just checked their message and it sounds like they are accepting now. though i feel fairly devoted to him and his care at this point. as for his eventual release, my in laws live near by and have 12 acres, 10 of which are heavily wooded with just the sort of trees douglas squirrels love. Im curious if given his current estimated age he will need to be kept with us over winter and released in the spring time or if he will be ready to release in late fall. its been challenging to track down solid information on the appropriate release age.
My main concerns at this point are his lack of weight gain, and the fact that no joke, he spit up yesterday. he weighs 60 grams and i can’t seem to get him to gain so far. obviously i got him monday evening and he had 24 hours of pedialyte so really he’s only been taking in calories via formula since tuesday night, and here it is friday. but i would love to see him gaining. i assume he should be gaining at least 3-5 grams a day. advice on this would be appreciated. at this point he’s taking 3ccs every 3 hours. as for his spitting up yesterday, he was very frantic when “latching on” to eat and was obviously sucking in some air. i think it was just a squirrel burp. if thats possible. it was a small amount of spit up, looked just like the formula and he hasn’t done it since. should i be on the look out for anything? as in could this be an early symptom of anything else?
well I’m guessing ive set some sort of record for longest first post. thanks for anyone who took the time to read to the end and thank in advance for any advice and support. forgive me if ive posted this in the wrong spot, first time on any forum at all! here are pictures of him. the first one is when he walked out of the woods over to us the second is him having a nap after his breakfast yesterday
276216276217
Monday afternoon I was at the local park with the kids and the parks department was doing routine trail maintenance. on our walk down to the beach we noticed some fallen branches and a squirrel nest. there was one squirrel baby in the nest and no mom to be seen. I decided to check back on our way out of the park to see if Mom had come back for baby. Well two hours later not only had Mom not come back for baby but baby walked out of his nest right over to the kids and i (the fallen branches were near the play ground equipment). he looked thin and generally pathetic so I decided to take him home. My five year old daughter confidently named him Jeffery. He is fully furred and has his two bottom teeth but no others. he doesnt yet curl his tail. I would love age estimates. He’s a Douglas Squirrel and its so hard to find specific information about caring for them. they’re a small squirrel even full grown so i wonder if any of the “rules” differ as far as how old he may be and how much he should eat per feeding.
he’s currently housed in a medium size pet crate with flannel receiving blankets as bedding and a heating pad under one end of the crate. there is a rodent water bottle hanging there for him, though he doesnt use it, i assumed it was at least important he get used to it being around. he has a crockery dish with rodent block though he hasn’t shown interest and i didn’t expect him to, again i assume its important he get used to it. Ive placed an order with chris’s squirrels and more for a bag of Zupreem and Mazuri rodent block/monkey biscuit mix though i see from the forum folks seem to favor the Squirrel blocks from Henrys healthy pets. let me know if i should i order those instead.
when first brought home i followed the normal procedures, i warmed him, toileted him (poop was dark and dry, urine was a small amount at leas compared to his current output and was fairly dark) and i gave him pedialyte. after 24 hours i switched him over to Esbilac puppy formula, the powdered sort. i mix it 2:1 water:formula and add organic heavy cream that has 17% saturated fat. I have Fox’s Valley 20/50 on order for arrival tomorrow. currently i feed him out of 1cc o-ring syringes. i weigh him before feeding to make sure I’m sticking to the 5% minimum. he gets toileted after feeding though i have noticed he is starting to go on his own at non meal times.
lets see what else? he is kept in the spare bathroom, so its quiet and not high traffic, I’m keeping him away from other pets and the kids as much as is possible (kids always need something when youre in the middle of rubbing squirrel genitals). ive been in touch with a local vet that sees wildlife, just to be sure i have a back up if theres a medical issue. initially wildlife rehab place thats a couple hours away wasn’t accepting squirrels since they were full though i just checked their message and it sounds like they are accepting now. though i feel fairly devoted to him and his care at this point. as for his eventual release, my in laws live near by and have 12 acres, 10 of which are heavily wooded with just the sort of trees douglas squirrels love. Im curious if given his current estimated age he will need to be kept with us over winter and released in the spring time or if he will be ready to release in late fall. its been challenging to track down solid information on the appropriate release age.
My main concerns at this point are his lack of weight gain, and the fact that no joke, he spit up yesterday. he weighs 60 grams and i can’t seem to get him to gain so far. obviously i got him monday evening and he had 24 hours of pedialyte so really he’s only been taking in calories via formula since tuesday night, and here it is friday. but i would love to see him gaining. i assume he should be gaining at least 3-5 grams a day. advice on this would be appreciated. at this point he’s taking 3ccs every 3 hours. as for his spitting up yesterday, he was very frantic when “latching on” to eat and was obviously sucking in some air. i think it was just a squirrel burp. if thats possible. it was a small amount of spit up, looked just like the formula and he hasn’t done it since. should i be on the look out for anything? as in could this be an early symptom of anything else?
well I’m guessing ive set some sort of record for longest first post. thanks for anyone who took the time to read to the end and thank in advance for any advice and support. forgive me if ive posted this in the wrong spot, first time on any forum at all! here are pictures of him. the first one is when he walked out of the woods over to us the second is him having a nap after his breakfast yesterday
276216276217