Just found a squirrel baby!! Worried it might be diseased...

[AnneMullins]

Two squirrel babies just fell out of a tree in my yard. Actually, my boyfriend saw it happen and he said it looked like the mother squirrel (we assume it's the mother squirrel) threw them out. She was scampering about the tree. One baby looked like it had been bleeding from its ears and bowels; it might have had a laceration. The other baby seemed fine, but shocked.

We placed the second baby in a small covered box with a towel, poked air-holes in the box, and placed it on a heating pad set on low. I have called a rescue.

My boyfriend called me less than hour later to report that a full grown squirrel was now lying dead beneath the tree in his yard, with bugs crawling in and out of its mouth. We don't know if it is the squirrel we saw just an hour before running about in the tree.

The rescue is closed for the night so I can't ask them this. I am VERY concerned that these squirrels might have some kind of disease that is causing them to die. 3 squirrels (2 babies, 1 adult) falling out of their tree within minutes of each other is unusual. I have two young dogs and am concerned about their health. Are squirrel disease transmittable to canines? Are there any airborne squirrel diseases I need to worry about? I haven't touched the squirrel (I'm letting it rest) and of course I won't let my dogs near it... do I have sufficient reason to be worried about my pups' health?

[LynninIN]

Where is the second baby?

It sounds to me that another animal attacked the mother and babies. Squirrel mommas are very good to the babies. Do the babies have fur, eyes open?

[LynninIN]

Can you pm (private message) me or 4skwerlz your general location in Florida so we find you a rehabber that's hopefully still open tonight?

[Mrs. Jack]

I cannot think of anything 'airborne' that would affect your pups. You want to keep them separated at any rate, for the safety of the squirrels as well as your own pets, and that should be well enough. Hang in there, I'm pming wise folks and some are already in this thread, we'll do what we can!

[AnneMullins]

The other baby was dead; it's likely that it was actually dead before it got kicked out of the tree. It was in pretty bad shape, rather mangled.

The baby we took in seems fine. No cuts or swellings. It has fur. It blinked its eyes, but for the most part they stayed shut. It was lying very still in the grass but was breathing. It only moved when we picked it up to put it in the box; it got frantic then for a few moments and ran about the box, but as soon as we shut the lid it became still again.

I am trying not to disturb it at all. It is in a separate room in a small square box (small, but big enough to fit, say, a full sized squirrel). I put a wash cloth in the box for it to lie on. I placed the box on a heating pad set on low.

I lived in Orlando, Florida. I'm pretty sure that the only wildlife rescue is Back-To-Nature. The local emergency vet gave me their telephone number, and luckily she actually gave me the woman's home phone number by accident, so I was able to contact someone. She told me not to feed it anything, and to put it on the heating pad. If it lives through the night, I'll bring it to the shelter in the morning.

I will have my boyfriend check for more babies. All of his cats were inside so they didn't attack the squirrels; plus, my boyfriend says he thinks that the tree is way too tall for cats to be up there. What would attack squirrels? No other animals were visible. I think we would have noticed a raccoon.

It's particularly unsettling that a full-grown squirrel fell out of the tree shortly after. Do squirrels fight each other for territory? Would another squirrel have attacked the mom and her babies?

Thank you everyone for replying. I've never dealt with squirrel babies before.

[Mars]

Okay, first insects are not that fast. If the dead adult had insects inside it's mouth it's been dead for a while. My guess she was poisoned and returned to her nest to die. The adult you saw was most likely a male attacking the nest. The dead adult can be removed using a shovel and a broom if you do not wish to handle it. Because I suppect poison I would either bury her very deep or double bag her and send her to the dump. Leaving her out endangers other critters who may also be poisoned by consuming her.

[AnneMullins]

Thanks, that makes sense. Especially since from what my boyfriend saw, it seemed to him like a mature squirrel was tossing the babies out of the nest. Would a male squirrel do that? I know that the males of some other animal species can be pretty nasty to young that aren't their own, or even sometimes to young that are their own.

He's out checking the yard now for more babies. It's very dark out now, and not well lit out there, but hopefully if anymore are on the ground, he'll find them.

[FLUFFYTAILNUT]

Aww..so, sad..that poor baby is missing it's ma, ma..I'm glad you picked it up..so, it couldnt be injured or mangled by what ever did it to its sibling...Good JOB!:thumbsup
I hope it makes it through the night..for the rehabbers so...they can do their thing..tomorrow...or when ever you can get it to them..asap..
Rachel..............

[Mrs. Jack]

Yes it's awesome that you got in touch with help so quickly, I hope she makes it through the night and you can hand her off tomorrow.. please will you come back and let us know? You and your bf get a quadruple :thumbsup for being such great people. :)

[Apple Corps]

Anne - in addition to the other 100 things to worry about - make sure that the heating pad covers only 1/2 the box bottom so the fuzzer can crawl on or off as needed for heat.

[AnneMullins]

I dropped the baby off to the animal rescue this morning. The woman said that it's very dehydrated and the first step is to rehydrate it, before they can even feed it. I hope it makes it! It seems like its a pretty hardy little squirrel.

Well thanks so much everyone for your help!

Oh if anyone is interested, here's a description of the rescue. It's in the Orlando, Fl area so you can recommend it to anyone in that vicinity:
The rescue is called Back-to-Nature, and it's very well kept, and open to the public. I got to see an owl for the first time in my life (there were actually three); what beautiful creatures they are! Unfortunately, the reason they are at the rescue is because some hunters shot at them, and two of the owls each lost one wing. The other lost one eye. Very sad. They do rescue lots of squirrels though! The morning after a hurricane, they were bombarded with 30 still-pink squirrel babies within four hours of being open (they saved them though).

[Apple Corps]

Anne - sounds encouraging & 30 PINKIES - :jump :jump :jump

[Mrs. Jack]

Thank you, Anne!! Pop back in and say hi now and again, if you'd like :D