[photos] is this poison or normal?

[astrll]

hello everyone,

thank you for all your help with muchi and her babies. i know i say it a lot but i really can’t express how grateful i am. i am still trying to write about the rescue day but it’s hard. update will come soon though

today i went outside and found over 20 poops on my balcony. they look exactly like the poops i found near muchi when she passed so i’m really concerned. is there any known illnesses or poisons that can cause a squirrel to poop too much and pass away? or is this normal sometimes?

the poops are normal in shape but black and clumped together. i know it came from one squirrel because i check my cameras to see who came by when the poops appeared. it looks like it’s ruru. he’s at least 10-12 months old and healthy. he looked healthy today too but i’m scared because muchi looked healthy the morning we found her.

here are photos plus a walnut for scale. these were pooped about two to three hours ago if that helps. is it possible these are rat or mouse poops? raccoons?

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[astrll]

no poops today

i looked at the cameras more closely and now i think it was boots not ruru. they both chasing each other at the time the poops appeared.

boots is definitely at least two years old. she recently had a litter because she has nipples showing. she’s always seemed energetic and healthy to me too.

muchi was also nursing when i found her and all the poops around her. would it have anything to do with that?

[astrll]

oh and boots hasn’t come back today yet. usually she comes in the morning but she didn’t today. i really hope she comes by, i’m so nervous she’s passed away like muchi. i would be so heartbroken to lose another squirrel so soon.

[astrll]

ah my sister just told me that she did find poop. still black but not clumped. there was also really dark pee. but i don’t think it came from boots unless the cameras didn’t catch her.

[supersquirrelgirl]

Hi Astrll,

From what I know, ingested poison cause a squirrel to move unnaturally slow and stumbling (like a heavy intoxicated person).

Since you are playing detective and you have a camera on the balcony, you can determined the latest poops are from Boots. How was Boots acting on the video ?? I think you said 'acting normal, chasing ruru?" Do you have video of the day Muchi passed-away ?? Was she normal or acting off ??

Personally, I do not know is poison causes excessive or strange poop. Just a thought for the video correlation. I really hope there nothing but as you said Boots is now missing. "Things that make you go hmmmm....."

[JLM27]

The size of that poop definitely says female. I would worry that there are blood clots in there. Have you examined it to see if there is evidence of blood? The poisons used in rat traps is rodenticide. It is an anticoagulant like warfarin. You can test for blood using one of those fecal tests for colon cancer you get at the drugstore.