older flyer acting different

[marcm1]

Ok pippy is my 9 year old female that i have had since a baby, she eats good 2 picky blocks a day, nut treat in the morning, along with greens, dried blueberrys, apple pieces, loves orange pieces, zuccini, live meal worms 4 a day, once a week she gets a a small mix of 20/50 in a bowl which she licks on as a treat.

The last few weeks she is starting to act different just not herself not as chipper, seems kind of scared, doesn't seem to run around like she always has almost kind of like a lost acting deal.

I know shes old but has been in great health is this something that just comes with old age or something i need to have looked at?

Shes still eating good and is filled out not overly over weight seems about same as she has always been. Just concerned for my pippy in the way shes seems to be acting.

Any info would be great!!!

Thanks,

Marc

[island rehabber]

Hi Marc. I am going to let the flyer folk here on the Board weigh in on what could possibly be going on with your girl. Just wanted you to know that I deleted your other thread in Squirrel nutrition in order to keep all the responses to your questions in one place. This is really the best forum for your thread.

[marcm1]

Ok Thanks so much I didnt know which would be the best heading to post under.

Thanks again!

[CritterMom]

So this is kind of out there, but...
Some years ago, we had someone come on the board with similar issues - their flyer who had been living in her cage pretty much unchanged suddenly started appearing to be frightened and uneasy in her surroundings. After much speculation, the answer why came due to a full cage cleanout. A MOUSE had moved into the cage with her and built a nest in there! Now even if there is no mouse in the cage with her, if there is one that is either living in the room or living elsewhere in a wall or something but is able to access the room would do it. The smell of food would bring them in and even if they were unable to squeeze between the bars, they would be crawling all over the cage at night trying to get into it.

I would pick up one of the Hav-a-hart mouse live traps, and use this as bait - make yourself a BLT and steal a small piece of cooked bacon from your sandwich. Put a blob of peanut butter on it and glue it down to the little trip platform in the trap with the peanut butter. A mouse would kick down a cinderblock wall to get to peanut butter and bacon (apparently so would Elvis but he isn't the problem here). Set it right alongside the wall, not in the middle of the room, and see if you get anything in the trap.

We are also changing seasons and the longer day lengths, and the upcoming switch to Daylight Savings, can make some real changes to their behavior, too. The fact that she is eating well is a really good sign, it is the first thing to go when they feel sick.

[marcm1]

Ok will have a look!

Thanks

The other thing is we have our house and our property with a house, I have the large 50" x 24" flyer cages at both and we spend weekends there and she is acting the same at both places so I'm not sure this may be the case, Like i said its almost like she doesn't quite know where shes att sometimes, can they loose their eyesite or anything in older age??

Shes just part of our family and dont want to let anyhting get ahead of us for sure!

thanks

[CritterMom]

They certainly can lose their eyesight. You need to try to observe her while she moves around the cage. Does she run into new things that have been added to the cage?

Another question is whether some of these little animals can undergo age related cognitive issues like we do. It isn't something that would be seen in the wild because wild squirrels don't live long enough for that to happen, but what about those that live with us and have the benefit of good care, proper diet and total protection from predation and live many times their "normal" lifespan? Dogs certainly can have those problems.

Is she in with other flyers? If she is, watch her carefully, because they could begin to pick on her since she is acting "off,"

[marcm1]

hello,

No she is by herself, we didnt have anymore her nest was torn down during the winter at a construction site so she was the only one in the nest, someone had her and I took her off his hands, she get plenty of attention, my wife gets her every morning at 5:45 and brings her to me in bed where she cuddles with me and then runs around the room and then hangs out in a rob on the bathroom door, in afternoon she gets back out and spends time in living room and then in the evening she runs around my office while im doing work related thing ect since her cage is in there.

I will keep an eye on her she just hasent quite been herself, with godd diet etc what is the life span of a flyer like this regularly??

[marcm1]

her she is tonight waiting on me :)326817

[CritterMom]

It seems as if the flyers live a little longer than the eastern grays. My little Laz here showing off his Mona Lisa smile is going to be 11 in a couple monnths.