jamgut
09-03-2020, 06:27 PM
My dad found two baby squirrels at the beginning of August and after trying everything we found in the guides, we ultimately decided we would just care for them. My boyfriend and I took them and have been caring for them for about a month. Based on all the timeline info online, I figured they were probably about 2 weeks old when they were found. It has seemed to check out since they're basically hitting each milestone as the timelines said they were. If the timing is right, I guess they're around 6 weeks old now. We are beginners and I naturally worry a lot, so this site has helped me chill out multiple times. If I'm not sure about something, there's usually something here to explain it or help me fix whatever it was. However, one of the two has developed a behavior that I haven't had a lot of luck finding threads about.
So my squirrels are Hazel and Pecan, both females. We noticed early on that Hazel is much smaller. I've raised a few litters of dogs thoughout my life and I know sometimes size can vary even between siblings. That's just nature. No big deal. Pecan has always slept more than Hazel. I know baby animals sleep a lot, so I was worried for Hazel during this time. There was also a huge difference in the amount of sleep they got. Pecan would always sleep right away after being fed, but Hazel would take a few minutes to sleep and explore in the mean time. Because of this, Hazel became pretty good at walking early on.
Here is where my current concern comes in. They just opened their eyes last week and have slightly longer periods of awake time. Hazel has already been strutting around for weeks, so she pretty much seems like a fully functioning squirrel already. She hasn't tried jumping yet, but she walks and climbs incredibly well. When she walks to the edge of the surface we put her on, she will stop and look over, realize it's high up, and then either back up or chill out. Pecan, on the other hand, is way different. She cannot walk in a straight line. When she tries, she just spins and falls down over and over again in a circular pattern. Sometimes she just looks straight up at the ceiling for minutes at a time and she randomly attempts to stand on her hind legs before falling down onto her back and laying there for a while before standing again. When she walks to the edge of something, she just keeps going. It's almost like she doesn't even see that there's a ledge there. We are always with them with hands out every time in case either of them fall, so we always catch her, but I've just gotten concerned about her motor skills and how she doesn't even seem to try to acknowledge where she is or what she's doing. The spinning is the most prominent of these behaviors, but I am concerned about them all if I'm being honest.
Because I'm a beginner, I have no clue if this is normal and Hazel is just a super squirrel who skipped all the horrible motor skill phases or if something is really wrong with Pecan. I dug around online and found only one thing about spinning, which was on a page about non-releasable squirrels and how spinning is grounds for euthanization. I'm getting really worried about this and I just wanted to see if anyone had any information or experience on this kind of thing. Literally any incite is appreciated.
So my squirrels are Hazel and Pecan, both females. We noticed early on that Hazel is much smaller. I've raised a few litters of dogs thoughout my life and I know sometimes size can vary even between siblings. That's just nature. No big deal. Pecan has always slept more than Hazel. I know baby animals sleep a lot, so I was worried for Hazel during this time. There was also a huge difference in the amount of sleep they got. Pecan would always sleep right away after being fed, but Hazel would take a few minutes to sleep and explore in the mean time. Because of this, Hazel became pretty good at walking early on.
Here is where my current concern comes in. They just opened their eyes last week and have slightly longer periods of awake time. Hazel has already been strutting around for weeks, so she pretty much seems like a fully functioning squirrel already. She hasn't tried jumping yet, but she walks and climbs incredibly well. When she walks to the edge of the surface we put her on, she will stop and look over, realize it's high up, and then either back up or chill out. Pecan, on the other hand, is way different. She cannot walk in a straight line. When she tries, she just spins and falls down over and over again in a circular pattern. Sometimes she just looks straight up at the ceiling for minutes at a time and she randomly attempts to stand on her hind legs before falling down onto her back and laying there for a while before standing again. When she walks to the edge of something, she just keeps going. It's almost like she doesn't even see that there's a ledge there. We are always with them with hands out every time in case either of them fall, so we always catch her, but I've just gotten concerned about her motor skills and how she doesn't even seem to try to acknowledge where she is or what she's doing. The spinning is the most prominent of these behaviors, but I am concerned about them all if I'm being honest.
Because I'm a beginner, I have no clue if this is normal and Hazel is just a super squirrel who skipped all the horrible motor skill phases or if something is really wrong with Pecan. I dug around online and found only one thing about spinning, which was on a page about non-releasable squirrels and how spinning is grounds for euthanization. I'm getting really worried about this and I just wanted to see if anyone had any information or experience on this kind of thing. Literally any incite is appreciated.