Jungle Squirrels in Central America - No rehab nearby, I'm on my own with this baby..
Greetings, I live in Costa Rica and last week while my daughter was at school a squirrels nest with three babies fell out of a tree. No mother in sight, some teenage boys decided to duct tape the nest back to the tree in a different location with the baby squirrels inside. Despite their good intentions they put the nest in direct sunlight. For the remainder of the day my daughter worried and worried about those baby squirrels and after school she had a janitor climb up and get the nest down. Unfortunately by that time two of the babies were dead from sun exposure but one of the babies who was underneath the other two and shielded by their bodies was alive. So she put the nest with the lone survivor baby female squirrel inside a cardboard box and brought it home. That was last Wednesday, 5 days ago. From the very first day we went to the local vet and purchased some powdered puppy milk, but upon returning home and researching squirrel care on the internet, we realized we needed to rehydrate her first. I quickly assessed the was between 2-3 weeks old because her eyes were closed, she still had a pink little belly and there was a very fine layer of short downey fur covering her body. Because we literally live in the jungle on the top of a mountain, and most local establishments are several miles away, jumping in the car to run out to the grocery store is not an option. I attempted to make a home made solution of electrolytes with salt, sugar, and water which we fed her little by little during that first night. We didn't have a heating pad and so we mostly (I mostly) carried the little guy around in my warm hand or tucked under my shirt on my bare chest to keep her warm. Because the temperature here is warm year round, averaging between 75 - 95 degrees, I didn't really think it was that vitally important we find an external heat source at first. She lived through the first night and the second day I got out an old 10 gallon glass aquarium which I put the nest inside and some kitchen towels, as well as the one we'd been covering her and holding her with since the day before and covered the entire aquarium with two large beach towels (kind of like bird owners covering their bird cages) throughout the night. On Thursday and Friday during the days I mostly held her and carried her around with me warming her with my body heat, making sure not to turn on the Air Conditioner while I tried to figure out a feeding plan. The first day or two she was real wiggly and by Saturday (I still hadn't really gotten the feeding thing down to an exact science) I noticed she was dehydrated again so I bought some pedialyte at the pharmacy and attempted to rehydrate her. I bought fruit flavor Pedialyte and she really liked it so I just fed her about 3-5cc of the Pedialyte for a couple of feedings spaced 2-4 hours apart. On Friday night I felt her make a little pee pee (on her own) while I was holding her, but up until Saturday night she really hadn't urinated or pooped. When I was washing her after rehydrating her Saturday night she went pee pee and on Sunday morning I noticed a little dark brown/black tiny poop on her bottom. -So she CAN urinate + poop on her own a little bit... Even though there is ample information on feeding techniques, I am still a bit confused with how to determine whether she is rehydrated enough and whether to give her full strength formula, formula mixed with Pedialyte, formula mixed with water, diluted formula... or what? -I did the skin test before rehydrating her determining she was indeed very dehydrated and again after rehydrating her determining she was safely hydrated by the elasticity in her skin. The problem I am having is knowing whether to continually rehydrate her even after her skin elasticity returns to normal or to just rehydrate her once or twice and then proceeding to start feeding her full strength formula? -There are several conflicting opinions on whether to mix formula WITH Pedialyte or WITHOUT and I'm a bit confused whether or not to give her plain water as an added supplement in intervals with her feedings a few times per day or if she'll get her water from the formula alone, AND whether I should mix plain water with Pedialyte half and half or what? -It sounds so easy, but I haven't really gotten the knack of it yet and it's Monday already. One thing for sure is that she IS not dehydrated now and is being fed marginal amounts of formula every 2-4 hours, she is urinating a bit and a little poop comes out when stimulated, and she seems pretty healthy to me even though she sleeps most of the time. For the first couple days I would notice that her body temperature would fluctuate and sometimes she'd feel a little cold especially in the early morning when I'd wake her. So, on Saturday I also got some hot and cold gel packs out of the first aid kit and started boiling them and placing them underneath the glass on the bottom of the aquarium beneath the nest and towels at night and we also introduced a small "groovy girl doll brand" mini sleeping bag for Barbies that she likes to curl up and cuddle inside of which seems to be warm enough during the nights and help regulate her body temperature. For the most part, like right now for instance, we (mostly me, the Mom) holds her under my shirt and she cuddles up against my skin during the better part of the day stay warm and sleeping. Her eyes are still not open, I think she's gained a little bit of weight and she feels a little stronger when I am holding her by the strength of her grip on my fingers. She gets lots of loving care and soothing caresses with softly spoken words of encouragement mixed with sporadic typical noisy family chaos when kids get home, TV is on, dog is barking, etc... <--This she will have to get used to because obviously that's out of my control, however I do put her in her cage all snuggled up more often during the evenings when the house is alive instead of holding her like I do earlier in the day when it is quiet. So, given that our experience and geographical location is unique, the absence of any squirrel rehab, and the fact that she is a single orphaned lone female squirrel makes our situation different from that of our North American neighbors. Suffice it to say, we WILL be raising her on our own and most likely she will end up a family pet. (Re-introducing her into the wild a month or two from now would coincide with the onset of the rainy season and a death sentence for sure) -There are some advantages to our predicament such as... We live in a warm even temperate climate, we have a very large house with a very large yard on private property, we keep most of the windows and doors open, we have the capability to build her any type and any size cage(s) she might require, or none at all because.... We also have this 12 foot X 5 foot enclosed glass atrium room with 12 foot walls dead smack in the center of our house that has no ceiling or roof and is basically exposed to the natural elements allowing the rain water and semi-shaded sunshine to nurture the two trees and garden that grown inside, but secure enough that it would provide protection from any predators and preventing any unwanted guests (except maybe some birds and bugs from entering the enclosure... We always call this room "The Zoo" because all four walls surrounding it are glass and it looks like a little zoo enclosure that we can see into from every angle and even has a sliding glass door in which to enter. I'm thinking that after awhile this area would be perfect to put a squirrels nesting box inside of and reintroduce her to the wild/semi-wild/outdoors with nature in a gradual way... Eventually she will be able to climb out on her own but have the option to come back inside to her safe place whenever she wants, thus giving her the protection she needs while slowly introducing herself to the wild at her own pace. -So that's pretty much what I think is going to eventually happen hoping that she survives up until that point. Now that you have read my squirrel story, I would really love and appreciate any advice from the Squirrel forum readers who may have had a similar experience with sub-tropical jungle squirrels or to pass on useful information helping to care for this precious little orphaned baby girl. We decided to name her: 'Chick-A-Pea' ~As we say down here in Costa Rica, "Pura Vida!" Thanks.
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RamaMama and Stosh are Veriegated squirrel experts! 
Originally Posted by RamaMama
and you most certainly are not alone! Stosh, who is in Costa Rico also, probably has started more threads than anyone on this board!!!!!!!
Wow, that is awesome that you actually may be close to Stosh and RamaMama 
