My eastern grey friend

[Andy]

Hi folks,

I just signed up today after stumbling upon this forum while searching for answers about my squirrel issue. I recognize the vBulletin forum software because I run a forum as well, though my site is just airline worker related and has nothing to do with squirrels (though there are plenty of nuts).

I had raised abandoned squirrels in the past but I have never had to deal with one as young as this fella. We had the tail-end of a hurricane come though about 6 months ago and there were branches down everywhere. The partial nest that I found in the yard was at least 100' from the closest trees and didn't look much different than all the other debris in the yard after the storm. There were 2 babies when I found them - they were out in freezing rain for hours and were not moving and barely breathing. One died minutes after he was found but the other is alive and well.

How old do you thing he was when I found him? I've attached a picture to this posting. This was a day after he was picked up out of the yard after being out there most of the day.

[Chirps]

Hi, and thanks for caring for this baby! I guess you don't mean six months ago since this is a new baby, right?

The experts will help, but for now, since you've done this before I guess you know about keeping him warm. Fleece or a tshirt, heating pad under half of whatever you have him in so he can move to or away from the heat as needed. What a chunky monkey!

If you look at my sig it's a link to the baby squirrel care guidelines. I think one page has an age chart. If you don't have formula yet you can make the temporary goat's milk one from the link. You'll need to weigh the baby so you know how much formula to give. Read the info from the link and check back with any questions. Someone will help you soon!

EDIT: Hang on, are you asking for help or just an age? Either way the link can help or one of the experts will know. Cheers!

[Andy]

I was hoping someone would know his age when we a baby in the picture. I guessed that he was only a few days old based on the weight and how many weeks it took before he opened his eyes. The first image was taken in early February. - sorry about the confusion in my original post.

The fella is still here and strong. I rescued baby squirrels in the past but never one this young. I guessed him at a week or less. I kept a daily weight log and he was 23g after surviving the storm. He's six months old now and I take him outside daily to let him climb the trees and to see if he will socialize with the other squirrels in the area but the others are very cautious of people so they usually scatter when someone goes outside. "Squirrely Squirrel" seems to get aggressive with his wild relatives and chases them all over the place. Between the stray cats and hawks in the area I don't think he would do well out in the wild and he still thinks I'm the parent. He is leaning to bury things out in the yard but after 30-60 minutes outside he wants in and comes running to me. He's also terrified of the rain.

But, for a wild squirrel I was surprised how well he listens. He knows his name, he know what NO means, and he's even litter trained. I bought him a huge cage at Exotic Nutrition but he started losing his hair on the back a week or two ago which is how I found this board. I started him out on Esbilac and tried going to Fox Valley but their Day One 32/40 formula did not agree with him and the formula would turn solid after mixing one day's worth. I ended up having to go back to Esbilac.

Now he gets a daily menu of rodent blocks, nuts in shells and fruits - mainly an apple slice and usually a plum or peach slice and sometimes grapes or berries. He also likes the green leaf bottoms off of cauliflower or brussel sprout and store bought white mushrooms.

I also have a 12' ceiling in my home office so I brought in some giant branches and he bounces around on them all day before wanting to crawl inside my shirt for a nap.

He also is a ham for the camera. When I try and take pictures for the books I'm listing he usually wants to be in the spotlight. Here's an example of a WWI RedCross book I was trying to list which I thought was a cute picture:

[Chirps]

Oooooh, okay. Hmm, people must be really busy since no one has replied. Aww, that pic of him snoopervising is adorable! Yikes, does he ever sample (nibble) the merch? :eek:nono

Did you check out that link? I thought they had a bunch of pics of different ages there.

That is so special if he has chosen life with you over life in the trees. Must admit I'm a tad jealous. My baby lived in my yard after release but last August was possibly chased away by a dominant mother. No idea if she was taken or is still out there somewhere. It's nice to know your boy is safe and WANTS to be with you.

As to formula, I believe the FV 32/40 was not recommended for very young squirrels because it did just what you describe-- turned into cement gut. Good on you you got him past that! There were also nightmares with Esbilac last year. I guess you lucked out with one of the good batches that are?/were still out there.

Please check out the squirrel food pyramid in the nutrition forum. It sounds like Squirrely Squirrel needs a LOT more greens/veggies in his diet.

And PLEASE post as many pics as possible of your beautiful boy!

[island rehabber]

Andy that pic is SO cute! Yes, diet is Job One through Ten with squirrels, and their health is evident in their fur and especially their tails. Although squirrels will molt naturally according to change of seasons, a healthy squirrel has a fat fluffy tail. If you want to add Fox Valley Ultra Boost to the Esbilac you are giving him, I highly recommend it. You could mix it one part FV Ultra Boost to three parts Esbilac and I'll be you see his fur quality improve. :great

[Andy]

He does have quite the fluffy tail - better than the ones here in the wild. I hear that's a status symbol for squirrels so he's got the others beat there. The hawk is the biggest scare for me though. My squirrel knows to avoid my dog and cats but he's too clueless to the hawks and he always like to chase the birds in the yard and trees - so he is a pet squirrel for now and always comes down from the trees and jumps up on me to go inside. All this guy wants is attention and to be petted... and wrestle.

He did bite on the books when he got wound up but he now knows not to do that. Instead he loves to try and steal my pencils and pens and camera SD cards. I get him a lot of chew toys as well.
He's more interested in the bamboo sticks I use to hold the pages when I take pictures now. Old pine clothespins are a favorite toy as well. I use clothespins to hold the food and treat bags shut and those usually end up stashed in one of his beds or forts.

I also uploaded a quick video of him on YouTube for a friend to see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvlxTZ7XilY

[RockyPops]

As far as his age, if you have a dated photo of the day he opened his eyes you could probably put him at five weeks that day and count backwards to get his birthday.

And don't be surprised if he takes his leave one day when he's free in the trees. Hopefully he will hang around for a long time.

[Andy]

As far as his age, if you have a dated photo of the day he opened his eyes you could probably put him at five weeks that day and count backwards to get his birthday.

And don't be surprised if he takes his leave one day when he's free in the trees. Hopefully he will hang around for a long time.

He didn't open his eyes until March 10th and he was picked up from the yard the beginning of February. I looked at my weight chart I kept and his eyes started to open over 5 weeks after I found him.

I figure that one day he'll not want to come back. He'll catch a wink from a female squirrel and that might be the last I see of him - that's how it goes and it would probably be for the best. I think about that every time I take him outside but he needs to be out so he can learn to jump from tree to tree like the other squirrels do.

Unfortunately, this fella has zero fear of humans. He was up in a tree when the mailman was delivering a package the other week and the dang squirrel ran up his leg and wanted to be petted. Luckily the mailman knew he was a critter I raised from a baby so he got a kick out of it, even though he was wearing shorts. Ouch ouch ouch.

[RockyPops]

That would put his birthday at +- Feb. 4th. Close enough for age related calculations I would think.