LuvKush
05-16-2021, 02:49 AM
I rescued two baby Indian Palm squirrels who were abandoned outside my house in November 2020. At the end of March, I began the process of soft release and started to give them access to the outdoors.
Initially they both used to spend the day outdoors and come home in the evening. However since last week, the dominant one, has now stopped coming back home after a week of coming home on alternate days to sleep for the night. The timid and slightly smaller one (probably female imo) still comes home every evening but yesterday she came back with wounds/bruises.
The only reason I noticed the wounds was because she woke up an hour later than usual in the morning when I open the access window for her and provide her food. And surprisingly after consuming the food she didn't leave as per usual but instead chose to rest. Yesterday, I only noticed a small bruise on the side of her belly but when she didn't leave in the morning today as well, I paid more attention and found a wound on her back as well.
This is an image that I managed to click of the wound on her back https://imgur.com/a/szpVTIL. The side of her belly where her hair are ruffled is where I had found the bruises initially yesterday. She had probably groomed her hair in the wounded area today which is why this bigger wound was visible.
318364
There are other squirrels in the area who I've seen chasing squirrels around but I always thought it was playful behavior and not serious since this species isn't known to be highly territorial. Is there any antibiotic or medicine I should provide her or should I let her rest/heal on her own? There's a lockdown where I live and no vets in this region have much knowledge about caring for squirrels hence this forumis probably my best bet to get her help.
Initially they both used to spend the day outdoors and come home in the evening. However since last week, the dominant one, has now stopped coming back home after a week of coming home on alternate days to sleep for the night. The timid and slightly smaller one (probably female imo) still comes home every evening but yesterday she came back with wounds/bruises.
The only reason I noticed the wounds was because she woke up an hour later than usual in the morning when I open the access window for her and provide her food. And surprisingly after consuming the food she didn't leave as per usual but instead chose to rest. Yesterday, I only noticed a small bruise on the side of her belly but when she didn't leave in the morning today as well, I paid more attention and found a wound on her back as well.
This is an image that I managed to click of the wound on her back https://imgur.com/a/szpVTIL. The side of her belly where her hair are ruffled is where I had found the bruises initially yesterday. She had probably groomed her hair in the wounded area today which is why this bigger wound was visible.
318364
There are other squirrels in the area who I've seen chasing squirrels around but I always thought it was playful behavior and not serious since this species isn't known to be highly territorial. Is there any antibiotic or medicine I should provide her or should I let her rest/heal on her own? There's a lockdown where I live and no vets in this region have much knowledge about caring for squirrels hence this forumis probably my best bet to get her help.