9 week old grey - freezes/spaces out for over 90 secs at a time

[muggsy'sgm]

Hey all. "Muggsy," an approximately 9 week old grey squirrel, has had a rough time of weird issues. He was a self-suckler, had issues with constipation, has a slightly weird rear leg...but he is doing something more and more frequently that's concerning.
He will go into a weird, spaced-out state for a minute to a minute-and-a-half. He's received vet care for a belly abscess, so I know I could take him to her and see if there's anything she can spot. But, I figured TSB would be the place to go!

I know about milk trances, and he definitely had those when he was a lot younger. However, when he does the freeze thing now...he doesn't move even if I snap my fingers, tickle him, or say his name. I can even put strawberry slices under his nose...and he doesn't move. After a little while, he'll slowly refocus his eyes, and carry on...usually back to his hanging plush cube to rest.

Any ideas?

By the way, he gets as much formula as he wants three times a day, Henry's HiProtein Blocks, nut squares (from squirrel nutrition website), arugula, spinach, broccoli, strawberry, pear, sweet potato, mushrooms, squash, and other veggies and an occasional pecan (he's had two in his life!). Pee and poop are fine.

Thanks y'all.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Hey all. "Muggsy," an approximately 9 week old grey squirrel, has had a rough time of weird issues. He was a self-suckler, had issues with constipation, has a slightly weird rear leg...but he is doing something more and more frequently that's concerning.
He will go into a weird, spaced-out state for a minute to a minute-and-a-half. He's received vet care for a belly abscess, so I know I could take him to her and see if there's anything she can spot. But, I figured TSB would be the place to go!

I know about milk trances, and he definitely had those when he was a lot younger. However, when he does the freeze thing now...he doesn't move even if I snap my fingers, tickle him, or say his name. I can even put strawberry slices under his nose...and he doesn't move. After a little while, he'll slowly refocus his eyes, and carry on...usually back to his hanging plush cube to rest.

Any ideas?

By the way, he gets as much formula as he wants three times a day, Henry's HiProtein Blocks, nut squares (from squirrel nutrition website), arugula, spinach, broccoli, strawberry, pear, sweet potato, mushrooms, squash, and other veggies and an occasional pecan (he's had two in his life!). Pee and poop are fine.

Thanks y'all.

Muggsy'sgm
It hard to say what this means, if anything.
I could be anything from absence seizures as a worst case scenario all the way to absolutely nothing. There are seizures that are characterized as 'absence' where they zone out and stare blankly. That's a possibility but if head trauma wasn't involved, I doubt that's it. The diet is on track so diet related seizures isn't likely.

I could also be nothing. I have seen squirrels get the 'deer in the headlight' stare.
I took a squirrel to a veterinary ophthalmologist once. (Yeah, I know crazy... :tilt )
She got the deer in the headlight stare and couldn't even blink her eyes. I don't know if it was fear or what but it was sorta comical.

Baby squirrels have a stage soon after the eyes open (maybe 7-9 weeks) where they startle easily. It's the 'ghost' stage where they react to absolutely nothing that we see but apparently they do. :) Maybe it's related to that, don't know.

It's good to have another FL member. I'm sorry your post didn't get more attention. It's not because some posts aren't 'worthy', it's because there just aren't enough of us to answer questions. The biggest issue is that many of the rehabbers are up to their armpits in baby squirrels. There are some that have up to 40 squirrels so they can't possible spend time on TSB during baby season. My guess would be that at any one time there might be a dozen (if that) that will respond to posts. Emergency posts will be the priority for the handful of rehabbers that are online at any one time. Unfortunately, because of this some posts will go unanswered. We try... we really do. I've also noticed that other social media sites like Facebook have pulled away members. They are literally dozens and dozens of 'squirrel sites' on FB.
I sometimes wonder if forums like this will cease to exist in the future because of competition from social media.

We welcome you to contribute. If you can help a poster and you would like to... please do. Most posters come and go but a few stick around. We welcome you and hope you'll hang around.

[Lighten-Up]

Just for reference.

I raised two squirrels, and had this happen to one of them. In my case, nothing was ever wrong, but I did not know that at the time, they fell out of a nest that came down, so I always wondered if there might have been any head trauma.

When they were about the age you describe or older, and I would enter their enclosure inside the house to give them a nut treat. One would take the nut, the other would sit on a ledge, in a trance, I would hold the "nut" in front of it's nose and it would not move. This scared me, what squirrel would not take a nut, this was a squirrel who would growl and chase the other one if a nut was involved.

I posted my issue on TSB over two years ago, it was suggested that though it could be a really bad issue, most likely it was that the squirrel had heard or seen something that I was unaware of and was zoning out to concentrate on this all important mystery that it was sensing.

In my case, within a minute or two, the squirrel would come out of it, and come take a nut. This went on for months or more. It never developed into anything more, it just happened as I described it, not every time I went to in to see them, but often. It sure was odd.

Both were released and are doing just fine outside two years later.....