Sheetrock Eater???

[lindsaylbl]

My Rocky has decided that he has a taste for sheetrock. Whenever he is out of his cage he chews on the sheetrock corners of the walls. Sometimes he even gets chunks off and we have to wrestle the pieces away from him. I know it is not good for him to eat anything that isn't supposed to be food (and he is really damaging our walls) do you guys have any suggestions on how we can stop him from doing this? He gets lots of fruits, veggies, and nuts everyday so I don't think it has to do with him being hungry. He also has a deer antler and a cuttlebone in his cage that he loves to chew on as well as limbs and other things to chew on. What could be making him want to chew on sheetrock and not on cabinets or door casings made of wood? Is there anything in sheetrock that could really harm him? Thanks for your help.

[Critter_Queen]

You should devise a way to keep him from chewing the sheetrock. It's not good for him (for a lot of reasons) and can make him ill.

Squirrels chew. And chew and chew and chew. They don't seem to care if it tastes good...they just chew. :D You can't really stop him unless you police him closely or cover the sheetrock with wood when you let him out to roam.

Hope this helps!

PS- A nutrient imbalance can cause them to "eat" weird things, too. If you could give us a detailed description of his daily diet that would help. :)

[lindsaylbl]

Everyday he gets spinach, cherries, rutabega (sp?), sweet potato, grapes, artichoke, avacado, kale (although he rarely eats it), plums, and other things that I'm sure I'm forgetting. He also gets monkey biscuits and various nuts everyday. He has an oak limb and a maple limb for climbing on and right now he has a fresh branch off of the plum tree that he has loved tearing up. We are always bringing in something new to put in his cage so that he doesn't get tired of the same old same old. Is there anything that he could be missing?

[lindsaylbl]

Gammas Baby, I have looked for the sour apple spray, because you mentioned that in another post, but I can't find it. I think I would feel better about it if he would chew on something wood like the cabinets instead of sheetrock. Also forgot to mention that he has a squirrel feeder, like you put outside, with the ear of corn on it and it is attached to the wall but he rarely eats it. He prefers the sheetrock corner that is beside is.

[4skwerlz]

The males will shred the bark off branches of trees to mark their territory, especially during breeding season, which is now. Somehow they think this shows what big, bad skwerlz they are! After one squirrel chases another one away, he'll often pull off big shreds of bark as if to say, "And STAY out!" So maybe that's what he's doing. You can make a hot pepper spray by putting a few drops of super-hot tabasco in water in a spray bottle.

[Critter_Queen]

Hmmm...do you give him deer antlers or cuttlebone? What you listed doesn't have a whole lot of calcium in it (someone PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong :)) so maybe he's trying to get it from the drywall???????

Cuttlebone is cheap and available in the pet section of my local wal-mart for a buck. Just put the whole thing in the cage.

Another thought is sunlight. Does he ever get to be outside? If not, do you have a full spectrum light installed in his room? Lack of unfiltered sunlight can cause him to be unable to make his own Vitamin D...and if that happens, he can't absorb any calcium from his foods...

Thinking.....

Let me know about the above questions and we'll see if we can't track down an issue...or if he's just a drywall-munching 'quirrel! LOL! :D

[lindsaylbl]

He has a deer antler and a cuttlebone both in his cage and he chews on them all the time. We are in the process of making him an outside cage but for now we just put his cage by the open windows. We have an old house and have old windows that are really big. The window pains have been replaced so that it is just glass. I don't think it would filter out anything. But we are making him an outside cage to use during the day just in case.

[Critter_Queen]

He has a deer antler and a cuttlebone both in his cage and he chews on them all the time. We are in the process of making him an outside cage but for now we just put his cage by the open windows. We have an old house and have old windows that are really big. The window pains have been replaced so that it is just glass. I don't think it would filter out anything. But we are making him an outside cage to use during the day just in case.

Glass of any kind filters out UV rays that we can't see. Can you open the window to allow the sun to come in directly while he's in his cage? Is his cage close enough to the window for that? He absolutely MUST have full spectrum light because he is a dinural (sp?) creature. Humans are the same way. If you can't do the open window thing, you should buy a full-spectrum light bulb and install it in his room...without a shade.

You can give a squirrel all the calcium in the world, but without full-spectrum light it's useless to him. he can't absorb it.

[lindsaylbl]

I have looked for the full spectrum light bulbs at wal-mart and our local pet store but haven't found them. We are going to go to Pet Smart tonight and look for them. Is broad spectrum the same as full spectrum? Also are there any brand names that I could look for at Pet Smart? Are they with the reptile stuff? Sorry so many questions.

[Critter_Queen]

I ended up finding mine at Menards...buried in with the other energy-efficient bulbs. Just look really close at the label and find the one that says FULL SPECTRUM on it... a "sunlight" bulb isn't the same thing...so watch for that. Here in Iowa they run from $4-8 a pop.

[TexanSquirrel]

:dono Good luck!

[Secret Squirrel]

I had a simular problem...I used Bitter Lime by Four Paws. There is Bitter lime products in the bird section...DON'T USE THAT!!! It has less bitrex than the Bitter Lime in the dog section of the store.....believe I tasted it. LOL!!!! :yuck
I sprayed the corners every few days to keep it fresh. And keep your kid put up while you spray it. It has a high alcohol content and will make him ill if he gets the drift in his nasal passages.

Something that makes me go hummmmm.......have you ever tasted a ripe acorn ???? Yuck talk about bitter.....but the fuzzy ones still eat them!!! Just something to think about:wave123

Crap........ just handeling the bottle of Bitter lime...it must have leaked and dried on the outside of the bottle.....yuck!!!!
It dosen't go to well with White Merlot!!!!!:shakehead

[Lucysquirrel]

:Squirrel
I am not sure I am in the right place to ask this question.

My grey squirrel died today and I am devistated. I have hand raised just about everthing but this is the first time for squirrels.

I live in and illegal state. I received the squirrels by accident of a tree cutting kind. I did research on bottle feeding and everything went great. I started feeding them regular food and fed fruits, vegetables and nuts. I also bought a complete rodent diet. They did not like it though.

I lost my little "Ricky" squirrel last month and had a autopsy performed and they thought he had bit and electrical cord while I was away and he was with a sitter. He had been neutered about three weeks before he died. The surgery site had healed up great and he was doing fine.

I believed he had bit a cord. I was with him when he died. It was horrible. Blood came out of his nose. I tried to help him but he died so quickly. I had no time to get him anywhere.

These guys were estimated to be born in the middle of February by tooth eruptions when first aquired.

A little history on Lucy. She was spayed about 3-4 weeks ago not problems everything went great. She has always had this little twitchy thing happen sometimes almost like people with tiretz syndrome. It would happen at all different times last a few seconds and go away. She also broke a leg about 2 months ago it was healing fine we had more x-rays when she was spayed.

Apparently, I did not do enough research on these complex creatures. I did not take proper care of them and I am not sure what happened.

This morning July the 25th my little Lucy was fine. She hung out with me while I cooked breakfast and did laundry. We had a visitor so I got her out of the cage and she showed off a little for then around 12:30 she seemed fine at the time. My son called out to me around 1:15 he said Lucy was having a seizure. I ran down stairs and she was on her side in the cage. I picked her up and walked a few steps she was gasping. I turned her upside down in my hands and foamy blood came out of her nose. I tried to remove all I could and then wiped her mouth and tried to give her breaths over her mouth and nose. I gently compressed the sides of her chest. Blood had dripped all over the floor and me I was laying in the kitchen floor crying my eyes out with Lucy in my hand. What just happened???? She seemed fine. I have tried to find information on diseases that would possible have these symptoms and I stumbled on your board. I love it. I will not be an avid reader. I LOVED these squirrels. I have always released the wildlife I hand raised knowing it is best for them. These guys did not want to go. They clung to me as if to say don't leave us. They were happy and got plenty of exercise. They played with my dogs and cats. (always supervised) I bathed them regularly they had no external parasites and I had them wormed at the vet. I spoke with the vet about rabies vaccine and she expressed that it was not necessary under these circumstances.

I am heartbroken and blaming myself. I know I did not do something right. I have read many of the posting on your page. My squirrels did not get outside on a regular basis. They lived in a beautifully modified rabbit hutch in the living room with 3 sky-lights. I am finding out now this was not good. I had added a calcium block after Lucy's leg accident. Her foot got caught in the side of the cage and she freaked out and pulled before I could get to her she broke it.

Please help me. Could this be the bone disease????? Would they bleed out of their nose???? I am positive it was just the nose and not the mouth. No hemmoragh on any other part of the body.

Does anyone have any answers for me???? I will never forgive myself for this. They were my babies. I am sitting here holding the little toy I bought for my Lucy girl after Ricky died. I miss her!!
Please help!!!!! Lucysquirrel

[Mars]

I am so sorry for your loss. Please - how old were your babies? And how did they come to you? I'm thinking of a fall and head injury. This is very common in baby squirrels because of where their Mom's tend to nest. My guess is that Lucy have a brain hemerage. (sp?) This could be caused by scar tissue on the brain shifting.