TubeDriver
02-15-2018, 08:48 AM
I copied a post about finding an intact squirrel tail on the ground and then finding Mia cowed, with dried blood under both nostrils. Plan now is to watch her carefully and confirm teeth are intact/undamaged. I do have questions about whether she might have some dwarf characteristics? See below.....
From Mia’s thread:
I went out in the dark to give Mia her nightly booball. A few feet from her release cage, under a good size oak tree was an entire, intact squirrel tail just lying on the grass. I opened her cage and noticed no sounds or response at all. I lightly tapped on her nest box and finally saw a little nose poke up in the window, but there was dried blood all around both nostrils! At this point, I am quietly freaking out and I try to coax her out to get her dinner. Mia would not come out, she stayed inside on the covered patio of her nest box. I shone my light through both holes trying to see as much of her as I could. Blood on both nostrils, sone snorting sounds with breathing every 3-4 respirations but no other injuries to her head, front legs, front paws, or parts of her hindlegs and backside. It looked to me like she DOES have her tail intact! I removed the food from the top of her nest box (usual place) and placed it on the patio ledge. She poked her head out, yawned (bottom teeth looked good, could not get enough of a glance to clearly see top teeth) and picked up the boo ball!
I decided to just let her sleep though the night and check on her first thing this morning. I went out and opened her cage and tapped on the nest box and nothing. I was wondering if I had made a terrible mistake in not capturing her last night and I imagined her dead in her nest box. I then saw two squirrels in a furious chase in some trees behind my yard. The squirrel being chased ended up on a tree branch and was watching me intently. I looked and saw what appeared to be dried blood under her nose, Mia? She actually came down and came up to me for a treat. She moved fine, no injuries and she had her complete tail!
No idea what happened but I think either a dog or a hawk got Mia’s sleeping buddy (a little squirrel that had been sharing her nest on cold days) and Mia got away but had a fall in the process? I carefully searched my yard and looked intently at my neighbor’s yards but saw nothing (no body, no tuffs of hair, nothing).
One more thing, I will post up photos of her but I wonder if Mia falls a bit on the squirrel dwarf spectrum? Not a full dwarf but with some of the characteristics? I remember when I first opened her release cage, she spent a lot of time on the ground and hiding under the release cage while other releases quickly went to trees. She has a sort of small, roundish appearing head compared to the rest of her body. She looks a little clumsy in comparison, sort of a little bumbling looking. Hard to describe how she moves but normal squirrel’s movements are sharp, quick, almost explosive. Mia’s movements are softer, less focused.
She was at the base of an oaktree and another wild came into the backyard over to the tree. Mia went around the base and peeked around at the squirrel with a curious look on her face. The wild chased her a couple feet but lost interest with me standibg there. Mia’s face looks a little bit like a younger squirrel, clearly not a dwarf but just a bit rounder looking than the angular lines on an adult squirrel.
Also, Mia has not transitioned from her release cage nest box to the trees. Could she fall somewhere in the dwarf spectrum?
From Mia’s thread:
I went out in the dark to give Mia her nightly booball. A few feet from her release cage, under a good size oak tree was an entire, intact squirrel tail just lying on the grass. I opened her cage and noticed no sounds or response at all. I lightly tapped on her nest box and finally saw a little nose poke up in the window, but there was dried blood all around both nostrils! At this point, I am quietly freaking out and I try to coax her out to get her dinner. Mia would not come out, she stayed inside on the covered patio of her nest box. I shone my light through both holes trying to see as much of her as I could. Blood on both nostrils, sone snorting sounds with breathing every 3-4 respirations but no other injuries to her head, front legs, front paws, or parts of her hindlegs and backside. It looked to me like she DOES have her tail intact! I removed the food from the top of her nest box (usual place) and placed it on the patio ledge. She poked her head out, yawned (bottom teeth looked good, could not get enough of a glance to clearly see top teeth) and picked up the boo ball!
I decided to just let her sleep though the night and check on her first thing this morning. I went out and opened her cage and tapped on the nest box and nothing. I was wondering if I had made a terrible mistake in not capturing her last night and I imagined her dead in her nest box. I then saw two squirrels in a furious chase in some trees behind my yard. The squirrel being chased ended up on a tree branch and was watching me intently. I looked and saw what appeared to be dried blood under her nose, Mia? She actually came down and came up to me for a treat. She moved fine, no injuries and she had her complete tail!
No idea what happened but I think either a dog or a hawk got Mia’s sleeping buddy (a little squirrel that had been sharing her nest on cold days) and Mia got away but had a fall in the process? I carefully searched my yard and looked intently at my neighbor’s yards but saw nothing (no body, no tuffs of hair, nothing).
One more thing, I will post up photos of her but I wonder if Mia falls a bit on the squirrel dwarf spectrum? Not a full dwarf but with some of the characteristics? I remember when I first opened her release cage, she spent a lot of time on the ground and hiding under the release cage while other releases quickly went to trees. She has a sort of small, roundish appearing head compared to the rest of her body. She looks a little clumsy in comparison, sort of a little bumbling looking. Hard to describe how she moves but normal squirrel’s movements are sharp, quick, almost explosive. Mia’s movements are softer, less focused.
She was at the base of an oaktree and another wild came into the backyard over to the tree. Mia went around the base and peeked around at the squirrel with a curious look on her face. The wild chased her a couple feet but lost interest with me standibg there. Mia’s face looks a little bit like a younger squirrel, clearly not a dwarf but just a bit rounder looking than the angular lines on an adult squirrel.
Also, Mia has not transitioned from her release cage nest box to the trees. Could she fall somewhere in the dwarf spectrum?