Questions on housing, weaning, etc.

[blessedbeingmom]

I posted these questions in amongst a thread on the nursery that I started with pics for Miss Suzy, but thought I may be more likely to get answers/advice here.

Background Info:
Miss Suzy was estimated to be about 5 weeks old & 80 grams when we found her on March 16th. She is now double the size at 160 grams & around eight weeks old.
Last week we moved her from a box with holes in the lid to a new cage we bought at Petsmart. It has ½ inch bars & is 24” by 14” by 15”. New cage contains couple of limbs, one bird toy, one wooden hidey (although she spends more time on top of it than in it), one stuffed rat (companion), one sock buddy & one hammock. It’s kind of crowded. It has a heating pad under one side of it. She is being syringe-fed fox valley. We started giving rodent blocks a couple of weeks ago and she’s been nibbling on them only a bit.

Cage/housing/play questions:
1. How do you know what needs to be in the cage or not?
2. When should we stop using the heating pad and/or the rice sock buddy?
3. How much time outside of her cage does she need? How do you do this safely?
4. When do we consider it to be time to move on up in cage size? What would the next size up be?
5. At what age is it recommended to start having her spend some time outside (in a confined, safe area of course)?

Feeding/weaning questions:
1. How much and how often should a squirrel of her age and size be eating now anyway?
2. How do we know when it is time to start thinking about weaning?
3. When should we add a water bottle?
4. When should we start offering other foods? And what types of foods?
5. When should we stop feeding with the syringe/nipple?
6. Will she ever be able to drink formula out of a bowl?
7. Do we need to give her any more yogurt?
8. Do we need to add cream to the FV?

I am sure I will have more questions later, but this is all I can think about for now. Anything else you think I should know would be welcomed though! There may be more details on the other thread but I tried to consolidate this to the most important facts/questions.

[Sweet Simon's Mommy]

Cage/housing/play questions:
1. How do you know what needs to be in the cage or not? a bed ,water bottle, branches from outside stuffed toys
2. When should we stop using the heating pad and/or the rice sock buddy? she doesnt need it any more, usually when they open their eyes
3. How much time outside of her cage does she need? How do you do this safely? I just hold and play in the cage ,she is too small to climb well yet
4. When do we consider it to be time to move on up in cage size? What would the next size up be? when she gets more coorrdinated and can swing and climb well
5. At what age is it recommended to start having her spend some time outside (in a confined, safe area of course)? I take mine out now at 9/10 weeks in the cage with me for about 20 minutes just to hear the noises smell the breeze, I also take each one out and hold her for a few minutes ouside, but when they are very wriggly I dont, they are too young to get away from me

Feeding/weaning questions:
1. How much and how often should a squirrel of her age and size be eating now anyway? I give them each a small bowl of formula in the morning, bowl of veggies at lunch, bowl of wheat bread soaked in formula at night
2. How do we know when it is time to start thinking about weaning? Let them wean themselves
3. When should we add a water bottle? Now
4. When should we start offering other foods? And what types of foods? Now!! start with rodent block which has vitamins and calcium that is greatly needed in her diet http://www.henryspets.com/ has great ones , once they start eating these start with veggies like brussel sprouts, broccolli, small pieces of apple( no skin no seeds)NO GRAPES too mushy and could get stuck in their throats
5. When should we stop feeding with the syringe/nipple? try a small bowl that will not get tipped over
6. Will she ever be able to drink formula out of a bowl? mine did right away
7. Do we need to give her any more yogurt? If she likes it sure put it in a small bowl or mix with the formula
8. Do we need to add cream to the FV? No

[Anne]

Good answers Sweet Simon's Mommy!