Question about activity level

[macytree]

I got my baby from a friend who works at a vet last week. From what she said and the pictures listed here, she's between 3 and 4 weeks old. She seems healthy enough, and from what I can tell I'm doing everything right. I wish I'd found this board sooner, but I did do quite a bit of research on my own. What I want to know is how active she should be. I assume that she'll sleep the whole time she's in her nest but she used to be much more active during feeding sessions.

It took me awhile to get the hang of helping her express her bladder and defecate so I'm wondering if she was in more pain before and that's what made her so squirmy. I'm a pro at getting her to go now. Maybe she's just used to me now and doesn't feel the need to jerk all about during feeding and burrow into the couch when we're done. I can't help worrying though.

She eats two to three CCs at each feeding and she eats every 3 to 4 hours except during one 5 hour stretch a day, when we're at work- two days a week. I'd take her with me but it's a brand new job and I can't risk it. I think she's okay though. I'm just worried about her activity level. As soon as she's done eating now she just falls asleep in my hand in whatever position she's in, when before she used to climb all over me until she found the perfect spot to sleep, usually my neck or chest area. Any thoughts?

BTW we're not naming her, as I'm trying not to make her a pet. I love her to pieces though. I'm worried about releasing her as I live in an apartment complex so the soft release will be difficult.

[Mars]

Sounds like baby is warm, well fed, peed, pooped and pooped out:D Falling asleep in your hand is a sign that everything is all right. It's a sign of trust. Baby no long feels it needs to find a hiding place from you. Relax, you are doing fine. :thumbsup

[Momma Squirrel]

:Welcome your little baby sure did find a good home. Glad to have you both. Keep us posted on the progress and growth and if you can post some pictures.

Thank you so much for taking the time to care of this little one :thankyou

[macytree]

Thanks so much for the enthusiastic welcome. I got her from a friend who works for a vet. He's known for taking in injured wildlife so everyone brings the "orphans" to him. Apparently he's been slammed lately, I'm guessing it's because of all the development that's happening around here. So I volunteered to foster. If it goes well I'll try it again.

He's eating esbilac. Two parts water to one part powder. I realized I was doing something wrong because I was reheating the whole thing everytime I fed him. So I changed that yesterday. I syringe feed him. I tried bottle feeding because I thought he was having problems with the syringe. He was doing that fish mouth thing and falling asleep. I switched him back to the syringe because he couldn't get the hang of the bottle. Either he couldn't get enough or he was getting way too much. So we're back on the syringe and I see that the fish mouth thing is normal. I hold him upright when he's eating and help him potty before and after.

She's in a cardboard box on top of a heating pad right now. There's a folded towel under the pad and she can move off of it if she gets too hot. I have her on a shelf in the closet because it's the warmest place in my house. My husband likes it freezing in here. I have a cage for her but I think she's too little for it now. I thought I'd wait until her eyes open. Is that the right thing to do? I'm afraid to come home and find out she's crawled out of the box and hurt herself though. She changes so quickly, it could happen overnight.

Anyway, yes her eyes are still closed. Her ears were closed until Saturday. At least I think they were, they were pretty much glued to her head and then all the sudden they popped out and she looked like a squirrel and not an alien. She has fur every except her belly. It's still fine but definitely filling in. Her belly has a couple of strays here and there and I imagine it will catch up. Her tail gets fluffier everyday.

That's about all I can think of right now. We're trying not to spend too much time with her because we do want to release her, at least that's the plan. We hold her when we're feeding her and for about 20-30 minutes after, but that's it. I only let my husband and our pet sitter touch her, because I don't want her to get used to other people. I keep the dogs away from her although they don't realize she exists at all yet.

That's definitely all! Thanks for the help!

[macytree]

Ohh thank you so much for the reassurance! I feel a hundred times better now. I can stop worrying so much and start enjoying her more.

[macytree]

Thank you for the welcome. He did find his way to a good home. My husband was not overly happy with the prospect at first but now he worries more than I do. He's completely in love with the little thing.

I can't wait to sit down tonight and read all the posts here. I just wanted to check this thread and get some reassurance.

[Mars]

She's in a cardboard box on top of a heating pad right now. There's a folded towel under the pad and she can move off of it if she gets too hot. I have her on a shelf in the closet because it's the warmest place in my house. My husband likes it freezing in here. I have a cage for her but I think she's too little for it now. I thought I'd wait until her eyes open. Is that the right thing to do? I'm afraid to come home and find out she's crawled out of the box and hurt herself though. She changes so quickly, it could happen overnight. The box should be quite tall or have a cover of some sort to keep her from crawling out. She will start moving around more as she gets older but will not be ready for a cage until about a week or so after her eyes are open.

:thumbsup

[macytree]

well in that case, i'm doing everything right! she's not actually on towels, the box is resting on towels. she has cut up tee shirts in her box with her. i hope those are okay. as we don't have kids i don't have baby blankets sitting around. they're cheap enough i could buy some, but it didn't occur to me. ohh i guess i could take away one of the dog blankets but they'd have a big problem with that.

guess what i noticed tonight?? two teeny little TEETH! she's got teeth! so i'm off to search and see where teeth place her age wise. i'm kind of obsessed with her age right now.

thanks so much for all the help. the cage i got her is pretty big so i'm thinking about putting the box inside of the cage, that way she's used to the cage and should she escape the box she won't get hurt.