Shenanigans at feeding time, help.

[cava]

My little man, Basil, is 9 weeks old this week. Is this the age where they wean themselves?

I don't know if he's just being an ADD toddler or is just blowing off steam but since yesterday feeding time has become a comedy routine. He eats one syringe then jumps on my head, a couple of bites of another and onto my head to jump onto the top of the cage. I stopped chasing him, he always comes back and eats a little more, but after a while I just put his syringes away and wrangle him up and put him back in cage and remind him where the block is because you may need a snack before next feeding.

Do you have any ideas for keeping him on the nipple for feeding or is it time for big boy food? He eats the Kaytee blocks and today they got HHB for the first time and ate them.

(Frances is a perfect cow and sits patiently while my hands switch to the next syringe and pop it in her mouth.)

I get that he wants to explore outside the cage but I'm walking that fine line between keeping it "professional wildlife care taker" and "I wanna squeeze them so hard their heads might pop off."

(Yesterday's weight 333. Today he ate 18 ml at breakfast, 8 at lunch, and 11 at dinner. His 5% amount is between 13.65-23.3)

[ALittleNutty]

Typical for that age. I'd keep trying the syringe but also offer formula in a dish. I give formula as long as they will drink it no matter how I get it in them. They can be such :Clowns.

[cava]

I don't know if you know this, but I discontinued milk bread when I found out about the risk for aspiration.

This brings me to water or milk in a dish. They have had a water bottle and dish with 1 cm of water in the bottom for weeks and weeks. It's used for peeing, pooping,dropping perfectly good blocks into and disintegrating toilet paper rolls.

Any ideas on luring them to drink. In kittens we would make them folow their syringe closer and closer to the dish of milk. Does that work for squirrels, or will they just hang off the butt of your sweat shorts and ignore you?

[ALittleNutty]

I don't know if you know this, but I discontinued milk bread when I found out about the risk for aspiration.

Does that work for squirrels, or will they just hang off the butt of your sweat shorts and ignore you?

I've never used milk bread and so I don't know anything about that.

As to the second part you are dead on. They pretty much have to figure it out for themselves. Have fun! :grin2

[synisterkat]

Does that work for squirrels, or will they just hang off the butt of your sweat shorts and ignore you?

:laugh2 I gave Percy a shallow saucer of formula ONCE and he sat in it and ate his block.

[CritterMom]

Try feeding him through the cage bars instead of taking him out and trying to hold him. When he is done, then take him out and love on him and let him play. They are pretty smart - he may settle down and eat if he knows he gets to play AFTER. Now he can play any darned time he wants to.

[cava]

:laugh2 I gave Percy a shallow saucer of formula ONCE and he sat in it and ate his block.

I can totally see it !



Try feeding him through the cage bars instead of taking him out and trying to hold him. When he is done, then take him out and love on him and let him play. They are pretty smart - he may settle down and eat if he knows he gets to play AFTER. Now he can play any darned time he wants to.

I will give this a try also. Thank you!

I've noticed that if I use a cupped hand over the top of his head it keeps him from climbing higher or jumping for a minute and one time something loud happened outside and I cupped Frances's head during a feeding to keep her from running away. Now she won't eat if she doesn't have her hand visor on. I'm going to make B wear a hand visor now too. :hidechair

[DaSquirrelMom]

Does he have a hanging water bottle? He needs one.

I've had red squirrels who were so hyperactive at 8 weeks of age that I started putting a small amount of formula in a hanging bottle near their hanging water bottle. I let their formula hang for 30 minutes every 4 hours. As they "flew" by it, they occasionally stopped to get a drink.

At 333 grams, he may be self weaning. Leave rodent blocks in his cage at all times. Also leave Rice or Corn Chex cereal squares and Cheerios in his cage. You can start eliminating one formula feeding per week and substitute a SMALL amount of fresh fruits and vegetables plus ONE nut (ONLY ONE like walnut or pecan) for the feeding you eliminated. You may have to crack the nut at first. (Small amount of fruit/veggies= 3 or 4 four pieces the size of a quarter. You don't want him to get diarrhea when he first starts eating fruits/veggies.)

[Gardentoes11]

When my Skipper & Tater started that nonsense (feeding time was more chasing than eating!), I burritoed them so they could focus, & they would really chow down! I knew they were hungry, but we're just too busy playing to eat. Once full, I'd let them out to play freely on the porch. This worked for awhile, until they ate less & less formula, already full from the HHB's, Mazuri rodent blocks, & veggies I had in their cage. They let me know when they didn't want formula anymore, but my intention is to keep them on it as long as they're willing to eat it!

[cava]

Thank you both very much for your advice. Yes I have an additional hanging water bottle. I also have a room mate who lets me know daily how stinky the formula smell is so I'm probably going to try to burrito first and see how that goes.

He ate everything, every feeding today with a "hand visor" over his head, so that kinda works too. But I kind of want to burrito him so I can snuggle him a bit!

[Lighten-Up]

I haven't read all the specifics of this thread, so forgive me if what I say is not relevant because I missed something. This was simply my experience.

With formula feeding when my girls got older, I noticed that often, when they began the shenanigans at feeding time, wanting to play more than eat, that that became a signal to me that it was getting close to the time to shift from 4 feedings a day to 3, or from 3 feeding to 2, or from 2 feedings to one. If I could not get them to focus using other means, and they were in the right age bracket for the "shift", I noticed that right after I reduced the feedings per day, they were all FOCUS and eating, because now, with less feedings a day, they were actually hungry come feeding time. Then of course the non-focus playing started when it was close time to shift down another level. I never tried the focus tricks mentioned here, as I had not heard of them.

I shifted to using a dish when my girls started breaking off the miracle nipple tips with their growing teeth. They shifted and led the way. One day I came in to try to feed them with the syringe, and they saw the dish that holds the formula, that I dip the syringes into, they went right for the cup of formula! That was a huge relief for me, because the damaged nipples were becoming a problem. So from then on, I put formula in two shallow dishes for them, and they did great that way.

One girl weaned herself, the other never stopped formula, She loved her once a day formula, so I gave it when she was in the RC, and even once after release, just as an experiment, she drank some formula after release, not all of it, but she still came and drank it. :-) She was one year old.

[Rebecca817]

My little guy is a goof-ball too! Sometimes I think, is *this* why you fell out of your nest?

:grin2

[cava]

I haven't read all the specifics of this thread, so forgive me if what I say is not relevant because I missed something. This was simply my experience.

With formula feeding when my girls got older, I noticed that often, when they began the shenanigans at feeding time, wanting to play more than eat, that that became a signal to me that it was getting close to the time to shift from 4 feedings a day to 3, or from 3 feeding to 2, or from 2 feedings to one. If I could not get them to focus using other means, and they were in the right age bracket for the "shift", I noticed that right after I reduced the feedings per day, they were all FOCUS and eating, because now, with less feedings a day, they were actually hungry come feeding time. Then of course the non-focus playing started when it was close time to shift down another level. I never tried the focus tricks mentioned here, as I had not heard of them.

I shifted to using a dish when my girls started breaking off the miracle nipple tips with their growing teeth. They shifted and led the way. One day I came in to try to feed them with the syringe, and they saw the dish that holds the formula, that I dip the syringes into, they went right for the cup of formula! That was a huge relief for me, because the damaged nipples were becoming a problem. So from then on, I put formula in two shallow dishes for them, and they did great that way.

One girl weaned herself, the other never stopped formula, She loved her once a day formula, so I gave it when she was in the RC, and even once after release, just as an experiment, she drank some formula after release, not all of it, but she still came and drank it. :-) She was one year old.

This makes a lot of sense, because he gobbles it down in the morning and if I go out and am an hour late for a feeding. I have a girl who is one week younger, may be more so I'm trying to do things in the middle of them, like she's not quite ready and he's been ready for a little bit. Does that make sense?

I have a hanging dish that locks into a thing that screws onto the cage. It's wide and only 1" deep. I think it might have been a bird bath (from the lady who sold me a bird cage). I may try this.

Thanks for the advice. :dance

[Lighten-Up]

This makes a lot of sense, because he gobbles it down in the morning and if I go out and am an hour late for a feeding. I have a girl who is one week younger, may be more so I'm trying to do things in the middle of them, like she's not quite ready and he's been ready for a little bit. Does that make sense?

I have a hanging dish that locks into a thing that screws onto the cage. It's wide and only 1" deep. I think it might have been a bird bath (from the lady who sold me a bird cage). I may try this.

Thanks for the advice. :dance

Yes, what you say, having two who are a slight age apart, and yet you are trying to make them eat the same, that makes sense in light of what I experienced.

I'm glad what I said might have offered some light, and or help as to what you are experiencing. Enjoy the process of learning. :-)

Your hanging dish sounds like a good idea. My dishes were about 1 inch deep and that worked well for them. I set mine on a table that was in their enclosure. Mine were in a large enclosure, because I did not have a room that I could let them out to run in, so I had to make a cage that they could run in for their excercise, and I could enter.

[cava]

Oh jeez. Basil was a tasmanian devil this morning and not only could I not catch him, but he absolutely refused the formula the few times I got him to put it in his mouth and drink a tiny bit. I tried before play when it was still dawn and quiet and after he played for 30. (He did eat his milk yesterday and is still gaining)

So, I fed my sweet, docile, chilled out, hungry girl and let them play for a while.

I set up the shallow feeding bowl and put it up high next to one of the tree arms so they hopefully wouldn't sit in it. (Because the idea of giving him a bath is the stuff of my nightmares.) I put his formula in it. He is on Esb:20/50 (while she is weaning off Brac and is just Esb bc FV gives her loose stool.)

I just looked in to find hungry mungry Frances finishing off his milk. Cool Frances, now you're going to need a diaper.:tap

[HRT4SQRLS]

Perfect... Probably going to need a bath as well. :grin2

[cava]

LOL!

[UDoWhat]

Oh jeez. Basil was a tasmanian devil this morning and not only could I not catch him, but he absolutely refused the formula the few times I got him to put it in his mouth and drink a tiny bit. I tried before play when it was still dawn and quiet and after he played for 30. (He did eat his milk yesterday and is still gaining)

So, I fed my sweet, docile, chilled out, hungry girl and let them play for a while.

I set up the shallow feeding bowl and put it up high next to one of the tree arms so they hopefully wouldn't sit in it. (Because the idea of giving him a bath is the stuff of my nightmares.) I put his formula in it. He is on Esb:20/50 (while she is weaning off Brac and is just Esb bc FV gives her loose stool.)

I just looked in to find hungry mungry Frances finishing off his milk. Cool Frances, now you're going to need a diaper.:tap

:laugh2:laugh2:laugh2 Sweet little Frances!!! :Love_Icon I haven't stopped laughing from your first post in this thread yet. Oh the joys of feeding...:grin3

[cava]

So, after experimenting with the ideas you guys gave me here's how it went. Trying to burrito lead to the destruction of one layer of shoulder skin and getting yelled at. I put the formula bowls in three times and he never touched them but they were always licked dry because of Fat Frances. Finally I just sat looking at him, he wanted the milk but now he won't get on the place I feed them because he thinks I'm going to "catch" him and he hates it. So I fed between bars and he gobbled it all up.

YES! ​:bliss

HOWEVER, before this great revelation I was cleaning out the cage and they were running up and down the cage and on the table it sits on and Basil jumped on my back, no biggie, but decided to run head first down my back to my butt. I had on pj shorts people, and he ended up hanging off the shorts by one foot and I reached down to help and he ran up my shorts. I screamed and grabbed my crotch WHILE HE RAN AROUND MY UPPER THIGH AND BUTT before getting out and running up my back and away.

:get_em

I literally got jumped by a squirrel tonight.

[redwuff]

HOWEVER, before this great revelation I was cleaning out the cage and they were running up and down the cage and on the table it sits on and Basil jumped on my back, no biggie, but decided to run head first down my back to my butt. I had on pj shorts people, and he ended up hanging off the shorts by one foot and I reached down to help and he ran up my shorts. I screamed and grabbed my crotch WHILE HE RAN AROUND MY UPPER THIGH AND BUTT before getting out and running up my back and away.

:get_em

I literally got jumped by a squirrel tonight.

,And your point is.........?

[Mel1959]

,And your point is.........?

......To provide us an opportunity to laugh our a-- off!!!

Seriously, though, I'm with you on this one! My boy decided to hide a hazelnut up the leg of my gym shorts...that was fine, sorta. Then as he was crawling around on me he could smell it and started growling at me! :eek:eek. I grabbed the hazelnut out of my shorts and threw it on the other side of the cage before he had a chance to get it on his own. No telling what he would have done. :dono It was a side of him I'd never seen before.

[cava]

Mel1959--Too funny!!

Yeah, since he's doesn't like to be held he perches on my shoulder, plays with my hair, licks my arms and tries to steal my necklace. Most action takes place above the waist. I wasn't ready for him to hit me below the belt!:grin2

[Mel1959]

Mel1959--Too funny!!

Yeah, since he's doesn't like to be held he perches on my shoulder, plays with my hair, licks my arms and tries to steal my necklace. Most action takes place above the waist. I wasn't ready for him to hit me below the belt!:grin2


He's a sneaky one...fighting below the belt! :nutkick

[cava]

,And your point is.........?

I know I'm not the first gal to have a squirrel in her pants but I'm still getting to know how they move around, and damnit I'm learning the hard way. I have never worked with something so darn FAST!! :grin3

[Shewhosweptforest]

Oh my gosh...this thread should be titled "Shenanigans" :laugh2 no feeding time needed....you guys had me chuckling :serene the closest I've gotten to the pants predicament was when I was outside feeding my releases and came back inside with a nut still in my pocket....well it took Baby (my NR) a matter of seconds to sniff it out...mind you I had jeans on....she was frantically pawing and chewing at the nut in my pocket...to the point it was hurting...when I tried to reach in my pocket to get it...she slapped my hand and growled....jumping between the nut in my pants and my hand :eek finally had to grab her....let the squealing commence...she was happy in the end because I surrendered the nut :facepalm

I love Basil (and especially his name) and Francis...no fat :nono we don't want to give her a complex :laugh2

[cava]

Oh my gosh...this thread should be titled "Shenanigans" :laugh2 no feeding time needed....you guys had me chuckling :serene the closest I've gotten to the pants predicament was when I was outside feeding my releases and came back inside with a nut still in my pocket....well it took Baby (my NR) a matter of seconds to sniff it out...mind you I had jeans on....she was frantically pawing and chewing at the nut in my pocket...to the point it was hurting...when I tried to reach in my pocket to get it...she slapped my hand and growled....jumping between the nut in my pants and my hand :eek finally had to grab her....let the squealing commence...she was happy in the end because I surrendered the nut :facepalm

I love Basil (and especially his name) and Francis...no fat :nono we don't want to give her a complex :laugh2

OMG, I can picture it, totally!

I love Basil because he is a handful. I can appreciate his spunk and he keeps me on his feet. And I know he likes me because he wants to be on me, lick me, punch my curly hair and entice me to chase him. He just DOESN'T want to be held, and I totally respect that, which is why I am using food to lure him back into the cage, and it's working. Today he got ONE cheerio when he got in. (My ferrets get a treat when I ask them to get back in their cage, I don't know why I didn't think of this with Basil sooner.) Thankfully he's food motivated!

Frances, oh Frances. I'm really falling for her. She couldn't be any sweeter. When I put my arm in the top door she runs to my face and back over and over, hopping and playing. And I love that she's a hungry mungry because it's when I get to really snuggle her. :Love_Icon

[music01]

when lulu got to that age i would pretend like i was leaving to go put the milk up and she would see that she wasnt going to get anymore and after a couple of time she sat down like a good girl and ate all her food before she went to play. and now she freaks out like its crack amd tries to steal the bottle out of my hand. we call it her crack juice.