Squirrels Self Sucking

[remmy567]

Hello,

I work with a wildlife rehabilitator and we've got two squirrels that are almost weaned that are sucking on their own penises. This is going to the point where they suck on their anus and prolapse. The first one that did this has since stopped, gained weight, and is fine now. Still not solid stool but wating well and gaining weight. The other was fine until a couple days ago. I'm just wondering, what causes this? We've given dewormer. How do we stop this in the future?

They have been fed esbilac but I believe the cans are from before the issues.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Welcome to TheSquirrelBoard

We hear of all types of issues on this board but I have NEVER heard of suckling on the anus. Of course, genital suckling is common and it is often caused because they aren’t being fed often enough. The other is a new one for this board. Are you sure they’re suckling the anus? Could the prolapse be caused by something else?

Do the cans of Esbilac say Made in the USA or Crafted in the USA?
It appears that there are some cans of the ‘old’ Esbilac still on the shelves but IMO all of the new Esbilac cans are suspect. Did they have GI issues when they were younger? The problems with Esbilac are more than just MBD. There have been serious GI issues, diarrhea, bloat and failure to thrive.

If a baby displayed that behavior I ‘might’ understand but squirrels approaching weaning and doing it is pretty much unheard of. I would still question GI issues associated with the Esbilac. I will be curious to hear if anyone else has heard of this.

[remmy567]

Welcome to TheSquirrelBoard

We hear of all types of issues on this board but I have NEVER heard of suckling on the anus. Of course, genital suckling is common and it is often caused because they aren’t being fed often enough. The other is a new one for this board. Are you sure they’re suckling the anus? Could the prolapse be caused by something else?

Do the cans of Esbilac say Made in the USA or Crafted in the USA?
It appears that there are some cans of the ‘old’ Esbilac still on the shelves but IMO all of the new Esbilac cans are suspect. Did they have GI issues when they were younger? The problems with Esbilac are more than just MBD. There have been serious GI issues, diarrhea, bloat and failure to thrive.

If a baby displayed that behavior I ‘might’ understand but squirrels approaching weaning and doing it is pretty much unheard of. I would still question GI issues associated with the Esbilac. I will be curious to hear if anyone else has heard of this.

No. The second one JUST started displaying this behavior and the first one did for a long time and recently stopped. I joked that we switched them but we didn’t. And they have blood in and on their mouth so their they are sucking on their anuses or it’s getting in their mouth while they’re self sucking. The first squirrel prolapsed and had bloody diarrhea for a couple days and is now completely fine. The second seems to be in the bloody diarrhea phase. This has been a weird year for rehabers and the squirrels are just the beginning of it lol. It’s just a weird thing I’ve never seen before. We gave an anti parasitic to both and have been giving probiotic and pedialite.