Also, guys, not sure if you are aware, but papaya is an EXCELLENT choice to carry the eggshell calcium. Raw papaya is about 5 : 1` calcium : phosphorus. We TRY for 2 : 1 - this is much better when supplementing.
Also, guys, not sure if you are aware, but papaya is an EXCELLENT choice to carry the eggshell calcium. Raw papaya is about 5 : 1` calcium : phosphorus. We TRY for 2 : 1 - this is much better when supplementing.
I'm thrilled to be able to help out and pay forward the help I received with Naiki.
Papaya is brilliant. I chose it as a staple for Naiki and she has it every day with her vitamins and protein. It's nutritionally awesome, dissolves everything, keeps well in the fridge and is a plantain squirrel favourite from slightly underripe right through to mushy. You can buy a 40cm long papaya here for 90 cents. You just have to make sure you have room in the fridge even with 3 of us eating one a papaya lasts a week.
Highly recommended!
Naiki the plantain squirrel from Bali
Just updating for LS - Lambo has been getting her eggshell and is already much better - much more active. Apparently Lambo is even happy to eat ground eggshell by itself (unmixed)
Sasha, LS and I will work together on a Plantain cheat sheet, since both the squirrels and their location call for unique instructions. We have made a beginning here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...p=docslist_api
Naiki the plantain squirrel from Bali
harimau, this is AWESOME -- good job! And totally surprising to me, at least: most of our diet rules do not apply to plantain squirrels, I see, and we could easily have steered people in the completely wrong direction. (We advise against fruit, for example, for our North American tree squirrels in captivity ) THank you thank you thank you, for pulling this great information together.
When you feel it is complete, let me know and I will add it to Breed Specific/Plantain Squirrels as a sticky so that we can easily find it for the next adopting plantain parent who comes along .
Island Rehabber
NY State Licensed
Wildlife Rehabilitator
"Ancora Imparo" (I am still learning)
Michelangelo
*
If you can't afford the vet,
You can't afford a pet.
NEGLECT IS ABUSE.
"Better one day in the trees, than a lifetime in a cage."
'...and the greatest of these, is Love. '
Thanks IR It took a lot of reading to get the info about their wild diet and habits. Most of the material in English was written in the colonial era - I read as far back as Wallace and Raffles.
You'll note from looking at the pics of Lambo that there are big regional differences as well. Lambo comes from a genetic pool that is 1200 miles and quite a few sea journeys from here! She's chocolate coloured and has some morphological differences (eg her little legs seem thicker). The plantains in Singapore are significantly bigger, fluffier and more golden than the ones in Bali, who have less visible stripes and eye patches. If it weren't for Naiki I never would have educated myself about our little neighbours!
Sadly their fruit diet makes them very unpopular with farmers and gardeners
Naiki the plantain squirrel from Bali
Wow, this is just fantastic! Thanks so much for putting it together and helping this little guy and all who come after!