Babies Fell From Nest

[Pagewalkr]

Hello,

I'm desperate for help. Two tiny squirrels fell from their nest high up in a tree. They are so young that their eyes aren't open yet. One fell on the grass and doesn't seem as badly injured. He crawled up into my glove and snuggled in but he had some bloody mucus coming from his nose and a bit of blood at his mouth. Two hours later, he is moving around and he makes little sounds.
The second little guy wasn't so lucky as he hit on a concrete driveway and I thought he was dead. There was quite a bit of blood at his nose and he evacuated his bowels. However, he was still breathing so I put him on a heating pad with his sibling. He is starting to move around a little bit and I am much more optimistic about his chances.
Amazingly, if their movements are accurate indicators, neither baby has any broken bones.
I called my vet but in our state, Wyoming, vets evidently aren't allowed to treat wild animals and he was no help not even encouragement. Does anyone have some advice? Thanks!

[thundersquirrel]

for now, just keep the babies warm and covered. we need to know a few things, but gamma might beat me to it;

1. do they have fur?
2. are their eyes open?
3. has the bleeding stopped?
4. the one whose bowels evacuated- does it's rump look torn or sore?

answer these and we'll talk more. we'll get through this. :thumbsup

[island rehabber]

I have the names of 4 rehabbers in Wyoming -- I will PM them to you, OK? No way of knowing if the numbers are still good, but they are from the 2006 National directory. Good luck!!

[Apple Corps]

Thanks as well - the heating should be covered with a cloth and covering only half the bottom of the box they are in so they can crawl on and off as needed by THEM.

Cover the box to hold the light down - calm and quiet environment.

Feeding with Pedialyte from the grocery or drug store is a start. Most people use a syringe with NO needle and a push on nipple. Lacking a nipple, you can put the syringe at their mouth and let them suck out the Pedialyte as they can. Feedings every two - hours.

More to come.

[thundersquirrel]

They said the eyes are NOT open yet. :)

ahhh scratch that question. :)

i agree with gamma, pm someone. these two will probably need medical attention. that's SO ridiculous about the wildlife laws! i oughta....grr.

you're doing SO well for not having a vet though! good job!

[thundersquirrel]

don't forget to PM someone your location! or, we have a list in the "help needed" section in the "rehabber lists and locations" forum, click on the first sticky and follow the link. there are many, MANY lists out there just waitin for ya! ;)

[Pagewalkr]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the information, encouragement and the names of rehabbers. I'll call two of the rehabbers this morning as they are only an hour and a half north of me.

Yesterday I put the 2 babies on a heating pad. I was quite worried about the second one as he seemed so much worse than the first little guy. However, a couple of hours after my SOS to all of you, he began to move and it wasn't long before he made his way to his sibling and cuddled up beside him. A neighbor brought a small syringe from the hospital and one of her co-workers, Kimm, who has cottontail and raccoon experience, fed the little guys some pedialyte. They really woke up and took after the drinks. We think they were very dehydrated.

Kimm took the little guys home with her for the night. She was able to get some milk replacer for kittens, KMR, from the local Co-op and she fed them formula and pedialyte through the night. She called me a short while ago and the babies are doing fine and both are strong nursers. She gave them 2cc of pedialyte and 4cc of formula at their 6 a.m. feeding. She thinks they may have urinated in response to the warm wet cloth but no poop yet and we are concerned about that.

I have daycare duty so the babies, named Winken and Blinken, are back with me now.

I hope that kitten milk is okay for them. We live in a small town that is miles from anywhere so we did the best we could for the time being.

The tree they fell from is right outside my window and there is no sign of their mom; if she's alive she would certainly be looking for them, wouldn't she? The neighbors and I are wondering if the mom may have been killed as there is a dead squirrel just down the street. We suspect that the babies may have been on their own for a while.

[thundersquirrel]

hi page! glad to have you back with us.

can you examine the dead body down the street? if it's mom, you'll see two rows of nipples up and down her belly, and they should look swollen or have the fur around them missing.

if the body is not a nursing mother, i think you should at least try to reunite. it's not that hard to do, and if mom is alive and well, she is frantically searching for her precious babies right now.

you could just put the babies outside in a shoebox with a heat source and blankies, at the base of the tree nearest where you found them. give mom a few hours (while keeping an eye on the box yourself) and if she doesn't come you could bring them back in.

kitten milk replacer is, unfortunately, not appropriate. :( i don't think those first few feedings will do long-term damage, but i urge you to search for the proper stuff; powdered esbilac puppy formula. if there's no powdered, you could get liquid. just get out that phone book and call around the pet stores and vet offices. your friend can help you too (i understand why she thought KMR- that's what raccoons eat).

if you can't get the formula locally, try ordering it online. i'm not sure if chris's store has any, but i would assume so. there's often an ad link to her store in the upper right hand corner of the squirrel board.

other than that, keep the babies warm and quiet. i'm glad the worse one piped up a bit! congrats for that. :) ask kimm about hydration using pedialyte; i'm not sure how much she knows about squirrels, nor how similar squirrels are to cottontails and raccoons. in fact, it might be good for her to get on here too! :D

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Esbilac Puppy formula is the best thing for the baby squirrels. KMR is good for racoons and bunnies because they require more fat, but for squirrels Esbilac is best. Esbilac is a little lower in fat and higher in protein than kitten milk and is just right for squirrels.

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Chris's squirrel store does have esbilac, so if you can't find it at the store, you can order it online.

[Pagewalkr]

Hi,

I wanted to post an update on my fallen babies. I've found out that I have two little girls instead of boys - not sure why I needed a squirrel tutorial to figure out which was which! I'm feeding 5cc Esbilac 5x per day with a syringe. In between feedings I'm giving them 2cc of Pedialyte.
I've ordered nipples from Chris and hope that they get here Monday as one baby seems to be very frustrated sucking from the end of the syringe. She sucks for awhile but then struggles and tries to get away - I'm not sure if I'm feeding too fast or not fast enough. Milk hasn't come out of her nose or dribbled down her chin so I may be too slow for her. This afternoon I put her in a fleece hat while I fed her and I thought that worked a little better than holding her in my hand.
The other baby is quite happy with her formula anyway I choose to present it, she's not fussy, just bring it on and plenty of it! They weigh 104 gr. and 94 gr. The difficult girl is the smaller and she actually lost 4 gr. They are pooping and peeing without any problems. I stimulate them after every feeding but they sometimes go by themselves. The difficult one will pee on me as she struggles to get away! Both girls now have their eyes open. I still have them in a box on a heating pad with a fleecy blanket to cuddle in.
I'm wondering how to proceed next. From reading, it sounds like I need to begin offering some other food. How do I do that? Put a little on my finger and rub it on their mouth? Should I keep them in their box for another week? With the heating pad or without?
I would be happy to turn these girls over to someone who knows for sure what they are doing. I want them to go back to the wild but the wild gets pretty cold in Wyoming. I was given the names of two rehabbers in Casper but one has a non-working number and the other hasn't called me back yet. So at the moment, it looks like I may have to come up to speed on squirrel care and culture.

[Buddy'sMom]

It sounds like you've come up to speed on Squirrel Baby pretty quickly! It's good that you were able to find the Esbilac formula for them.

Don't worry that you may be feeding them too slowly. Slow and steady is the key so they don't aspirate. Sometimes one is impatient like yours, but you still need to control it so she can drink safely.

They should still be on heat, although they start maintaining their heat after their eyes open. At least another week, especially at night. But make sure they can crawl off it in case they get too warm.

In case you haven't already found them (tho I think you have!) -- there are 3 good article links in the first thread (Nutrition) under Baby Squerrel Questions.

:grouphug :grouphug

[4skwerlz]

Hi,
From reading, it sounds like I need to begin offering some other food. How do I do that? Put a little on my finger and rub it on their mouth? Should I keep them in their box for another week? With the heating pad or without?


Hi Pagewalkr, I've been following your story. Congratulations on doing such a wonderful job with these babies. You were able to do just right with very little help. If babies just opened their eyes, then they are 5-6 weeks old. This a transition stage, from baby to weanling. They still need to stay in their box on heat for another week or so. You should also still offer Esbilac using the 5% rule as you've been doing. There's no hurry yet to introduce solid food but you can offer PEELED grapes, chunks of watermelon, and rodent block. Other "first foods" are listed in the threads. Just give them the food, in pieces large enough that they can't inhale them and choke. They will probably mouth, nibble, and shred but not eat much. Good luck and keep us posted.

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Here is the only person on the list for your state that I found. It's probably the person you tried but you never know.

Casper, WY
Merlyn Herold (307)234-0196

Permits: State/Federal/Possession/Endangered/RVS/Permits/ 2002
Species: small_mammals RVS birds waterfowl raptors reptiles_amph
Comments: Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation Inc. Wildlife Rescue and Education.

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Two more, may not even be near you.

Wyoming, Northwest

Wyoming, Northwest region (Cody)..... 307-527-7027

Susan Ahalt, Ironside Bird Rescue, Inc.
Wildlife Species: raptors


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Wyoming, Southeast

Wyoming, Southeast region (Laramie)..... 307-721-9841

Catherine Symchych, Laramie Raptor Refuge

There sure aren't many rehabbers in Wyoming!

[4skwerlz]

There sure aren't many rehabbers in Wyoming!

Hey SR&BT, maybe that's because there aren't many PEOPLE in Wyoming! :rotfl

[Pagewalkr]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions. Merlyn Herold's number is disconnected but Second Chance has a website that allowed me to send them an e-mail. There was another name that was given to me before, Rose-Mary King, and she works with the Herolds. She's the one I called and left a message with. Some of the others are too far away from me.

[thundersquirrel]

i'll keep my fingers crossed for them to call. :thumbsup

it sounds like you're doing a good job though! if you can't get a rehabber, we can help you with the babies for the rest of the way.

what's the weather like in wyoming right now? what's the usual temp near the end of october? you'd be surprised how well squirrels can do in the cold. also, if you're worried about your girls, there are ways you can help them through the winter.

keep us updated! :)

[Abacat]

:Welcome Pagewalkr! I'm so glad that if the girls had to lose their Mom, you were the one to find them.Thank you so much for caring for them. Any chance you could post some pics of the girls? We love pictures! Or have they been turned over to one of the rehabbers? Please keep us posted when you can.
I'm so jealous, I've always wanted to live out west...(Montana or Wyoming or thereabouts...)Anyway, Welcome to TSB. :)