Baby flying squirrel found

I rescued a baby flying squirrel that was being attacked by a neighbor dog. I brought it inside and looked it over, and its tail is the only thing that was scraped. Otherwise it looks normal. I weight it and it’s 26.7 grams, so estimates around 4 weeks from what I’ve read. I rehydrated him with a small amount of pedialyte and he responded well. Very active within 30 min! Now I’ve been giving him 1/2 fox valley 33/30 white tail deer formula and 1/2 water. I haven’t been able to find a feeding schedule with amount specifically for flying squirrels. Should I be using an overall squirrel feeding schedule? Also I have Mazuri rodent blocks on hand, but am wondering if anything else is recommended to introduce at this age as a soft diet? I was planning to get dried insects today. Thank you in advance!

Hi Kayla_k_22!
I'm sorry that you have not yet had a response! I am at work and noticed your thread and this will BUMP it back into view for others to see! I have little experience with Flyers but a number of our members have extensive experience with them!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

OK, so first, you need to replace the deer formula with something more appropriate for this teeny little one. Normally I would steer you to Fox Valley 20/50 squirrel formula but there is something weird going on and it is harder to get than Taylor Swift concert tickets. They actually need a pretty robust formula because they grow pretty fast. So my suggestion is to head to pet store or Tractor Supply and get some of the Esbilac POWDERED Puppy Formula. Don't get the goats milk formula, don't get the liquid formula in a can, don't get other brands. What you want will have a pic of the face of either a little fluffy white puppy or a little black, tan and white puppy (they had a label change). Mix it up full strength - 1 part powder to 2 parts water - and spend the next 24 hours slowly transitioning him from the whitetail formula to the Esbilac. While you are out buying Esbilac, stop at the grocery and get a little carton of heavy cream or heavy whipping cream (read the labels and get the one with the highest milkfat percentage), and a container of whole milk/full fat yogurt. If you like yogurt, Stoneyfield makes a nice vanilla but it is in a BIG container. But they also make Yobaby which is for very young infants, has full fat, and comes in yummy fruit flavors. Flavors are fine - they will boost the taste of the formula and encourage them to eat better.

When he is eating the full strength Esbilac only and you aren't seeing poop issues, start to transition in the heavy cream and yogurt. Ultimately, the limit for the additional ingredients will be 1 part Esbilac powder, 2 parts water, 1 part heavy cream, and 1/2 part yogurt, but you want to add the cream and yogurt in a little at a time, slowly conditioning their system to the new formula. They REALLY like the boosted formula!

You want to stick to the same 5-7% of body weight rule that applies to tree squirrels and I used visual inspection of the tummy to decide how far to space the feedings. I found it very easy to see a milk line in my flyer baby.

It is a bear getting these little guys on a good diet. I buy the Mazuri blocks in 50# bags for my outdoor squirrels but it honestly would be considered a sort of sub par block. They don't eat a whole lot - a bag of the Henry's food would be your best bet: https://henryspets.com/squirrel-blocks/ My flyer prefers the hazelnut blocks. An adult will eat 1 a day, max. The 2-3 per day instructions are based on tree squirrels including the very chunky fox squirrels, and this little guy is going to be the size of their HEAD! Fresh veggies, moderate fruit, a nut treat OCCASIONALLY. Live waxworms are a wonderful treat - they would kill you for a waxworm!

They need to be released with a group. Singletons don't do well in the wild - they live in colonies. They DO make awesome little pets if you are a night owl, though!

Just want to say Hi and welcome. A baby flyer found it’s way to me in pretty bad shape 4wks ago. He was around 3wks old when I got him.

It took a bit to turn things around but he’s really doing well and getting fun!

One thing I thought to mention is to make sure you’re keeping him warm. A heating pad on the lowest setting (one that you can set to not auto turn off) works great. I cover the heating pad with a kitchen towel and fold another towel and place next to it and then put its box (whatever you’re keeping it in) half on and half off the heating pad. That way the little guy can move away from the heat if he needs to. Whatever you put in the box with it needs to be something it’s claws won’t get stuck in… fleece type fabric works well.

I have been following the 5-7% rule for feeding amounts and then feeding every 4hrs during the day. I have the Henry’s blocks and ENVIGO-Harlan Teklad Pellets 2018. I give him one of each, each day… and replace with fresh the next day. I just started introducing fresh fruits/veggies this week because he’s starting to explore his cage on his own in the evenings.

We named our little guy Jet and it looks like we’re going to keep him as a pet. The people on here have been so helpful helping me learn the ropes!