WICKEDZRUBY
08-24-2016, 11:37 PM
I would like to introduce myself, my name is Teri and I live in Crystal River, Florida. Recently a young man that lives in the apartments behind me was walking past my driveway as i was getting out of my car. He was holding something very tiny and walked over to me to show me what he had. It was a tiny baby squirrel. From what I have read he is probably about 2-4 weeks tho I am not positive. His eyes are closed and he has fur but he isn't "furry" and his tail is thin but does have short hair. He was extremely clean meaning he had no parasites or maggots or anything bug related on him but he was very dehydrated. The young man said he had just found him in the middle of the sidewalk and that he did not have the means to care for him and was going to lay him at the bottom of a tree, no where near where he found him and he was not very clear on exactly where the baby was, only that he was not in the shade and it was almost 100 degrees out that day. I asked him what he ate and he said rather quickly, warm milk. So I made a hasty decision and said i would take him instead of him taking him to a tree and dying there alone. I figured I would try to find a wildlife center like we had up in Connecticut. I did find something similar and was told to leave it alone or care for it but they were not going to take it in and that it would probably die. (These are the same people who said to let a turtle die that was hit on his hind end by a car but was still very much alive and suffering. They wouldn't even come to euthanize it! Now I am a animal lover and can't see ANY animal suffer whether it be wildlife or domesticate and will do my best to help the animal as much as I can. I am poor as dirt as well but feel where there is a will there is an absolute way for everything and anything. I read your first posts and almost felt as if I should throw it back outdoors and let the animals get it. Instead I will not and will continue to care for it as it should be cared for. YES I am ready and DOING everything you stated but I am also in a bit of a pickle about letting it go back out there or keeping it. The reason being is as you said, if the squirrel gets used to people or other animals it will not fear much of anything when it goes out there for good. The squirrels down here, or at least in my town are not afraid of much as it is and they are all wild. So I suspect this one will be more so because he is so very young, has no siblings and barely had his mother, and now is very dependent on me to care for it as the wildlife center did not leave me much of a choice. I cannot just throw it back out there and be mentally "okay" with it.
With that said, I have looked up various places on caring for a baby and yes it entails much but it isn't much different than a human baby (aside of going potty and pooping) I first put him on pedialyte to re-hydrate him and after he was back to normal, going to the bathroom well and was back to a good body temp I started him on formula, the recipe was to mix one part puppy powder formula, 2 parts purified water and 1/4 part plain yogurt giving him 1cc-to water he will take every 4-6 hours. I feed him this mixture every 4-5 hours (my oldest son still lives with me and is a night owl so he feeds him during the night or day, whichever one I have to stay awake for because my husband works 3rd shift so I stay up for him) or I do my sleeping by taking 4 hour naps and sleep when the baby sleeps, just like my own babies did when they were newborns. He gets so excited over eating he won't potty or poop until after he eats the 3rd to 3-1/2ccs and then he goes. it did not say how long to feed him this formula preparation and went on to state how to start the next formula preparation to introduce the formula slowly and without the yogurt. Does anyone know how long to do so? According to the pictures the only clue I could see was during the yogurt prep the baby's eyes were closed and during the intro of the formula slowly the baby's eyes were open. I am guessing to feed the yogurt one until his eyes open? I also seen in one your posts that you have to feed the baby goats milk. I have only had the baby for 6 days now and been feeding him the formula for 3 days and he seems perfectly fine. No diarrhea and he acts fine, like no indigestion, bloat or "crying". I don't want to hurt him either.
Today he pooed 3 times (is that normal) and he does potty a lot but its very light. He is very feisty during feeding time but then passes right out and I try to spend time with him massaging his body and making noises by his face and he really responds to that but keep a heating pad on my lap until I get him to his cage which is a huge bird cage. I DID have an auto shut-off pad for one day/night until I got another the following day and I can't say this enough how I hated that auto-shut off...that thing was horrid!!! This baby gets cold fast and I put a velvet cloth on top of it loosely and he loves to go under it and nudge around till he finds his sweet spot.
I probably shouldn't have written all of this here but when I start to talk about him I just go on and on. I have even kept a daily journal about when he eats, what he eats, how many times he poohed, potties, everything about him. I have totally fallen for this little guy and I can't imagine just throwing him out there to die and I hope you all understand that I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I am damn if I do and damned if I don't. I have 4 rescue cats and one rescue dog. I am one cat past my limit as it is and now have a squirrel. I have never had one before so it isn't my usual rescue. I had a friend who had one that was much bigger but still very young that fell out of her tree and she built a huge cage in her living room and kept it for quite a few years before it passed. She had cats and two dogs as well. I figured if she could do it so can I but mine is so much younger than hers. If I release him I wouldn't know when to do so and will it know how to get food or will it just wait for someone to give it food. Will it know where to get water? I am afraid if I let him go when he grows up more he will die out there anyway. Can someone assure me he will be okay out there?? I feel like he is MY baby now and I care for him like he IS my baby now so I have many fears and many questions as well.
Okay I am going to get off the "box" now and close my thoughts/mouth. I am happy to be here as this is my first squirrel and my first squirrel forum. Thank you for accepting me:)
Teri
With that said, I have looked up various places on caring for a baby and yes it entails much but it isn't much different than a human baby (aside of going potty and pooping) I first put him on pedialyte to re-hydrate him and after he was back to normal, going to the bathroom well and was back to a good body temp I started him on formula, the recipe was to mix one part puppy powder formula, 2 parts purified water and 1/4 part plain yogurt giving him 1cc-to water he will take every 4-6 hours. I feed him this mixture every 4-5 hours (my oldest son still lives with me and is a night owl so he feeds him during the night or day, whichever one I have to stay awake for because my husband works 3rd shift so I stay up for him) or I do my sleeping by taking 4 hour naps and sleep when the baby sleeps, just like my own babies did when they were newborns. He gets so excited over eating he won't potty or poop until after he eats the 3rd to 3-1/2ccs and then he goes. it did not say how long to feed him this formula preparation and went on to state how to start the next formula preparation to introduce the formula slowly and without the yogurt. Does anyone know how long to do so? According to the pictures the only clue I could see was during the yogurt prep the baby's eyes were closed and during the intro of the formula slowly the baby's eyes were open. I am guessing to feed the yogurt one until his eyes open? I also seen in one your posts that you have to feed the baby goats milk. I have only had the baby for 6 days now and been feeding him the formula for 3 days and he seems perfectly fine. No diarrhea and he acts fine, like no indigestion, bloat or "crying". I don't want to hurt him either.
Today he pooed 3 times (is that normal) and he does potty a lot but its very light. He is very feisty during feeding time but then passes right out and I try to spend time with him massaging his body and making noises by his face and he really responds to that but keep a heating pad on my lap until I get him to his cage which is a huge bird cage. I DID have an auto shut-off pad for one day/night until I got another the following day and I can't say this enough how I hated that auto-shut off...that thing was horrid!!! This baby gets cold fast and I put a velvet cloth on top of it loosely and he loves to go under it and nudge around till he finds his sweet spot.
I probably shouldn't have written all of this here but when I start to talk about him I just go on and on. I have even kept a daily journal about when he eats, what he eats, how many times he poohed, potties, everything about him. I have totally fallen for this little guy and I can't imagine just throwing him out there to die and I hope you all understand that I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I am damn if I do and damned if I don't. I have 4 rescue cats and one rescue dog. I am one cat past my limit as it is and now have a squirrel. I have never had one before so it isn't my usual rescue. I had a friend who had one that was much bigger but still very young that fell out of her tree and she built a huge cage in her living room and kept it for quite a few years before it passed. She had cats and two dogs as well. I figured if she could do it so can I but mine is so much younger than hers. If I release him I wouldn't know when to do so and will it know how to get food or will it just wait for someone to give it food. Will it know where to get water? I am afraid if I let him go when he grows up more he will die out there anyway. Can someone assure me he will be okay out there?? I feel like he is MY baby now and I care for him like he IS my baby now so I have many fears and many questions as well.
Okay I am going to get off the "box" now and close my thoughts/mouth. I am happy to be here as this is my first squirrel and my first squirrel forum. Thank you for accepting me:)
Teri