ALL OPINIONS WELCOME.Wanting YES and NO's for foods

[lucygail]

Give me your experiences, likes, dislikes, positives and negatives of all the different foods your squirrels eat please! Pinecones as treats? Heard cranberries are good for them? What sortof twigs and branches? Just any sortof information you think is useful I will gladly accept!



Currently have a 7 week old grey squirrel and would like to have a game plan and backups introducing big girl foods! Shes still on formula, and is knawing on her HP blocks. Have put broccoli in to have something different to chew on, but she doesnt seems too interested. Is it still too early for her to be interested in much else? Should I start with fruits? Nuts? When do I introduce something to chew on for her teeth? Salt Lick?

[Nancy in New York]

Here's the best start ever. Follow this and you can't go wrong.
Never, never feed nuts in the beginning. Somewhere down the line you
can give maybe ONE daily as a treat. You will thank us later
for this advice.
The main diet right now should be formula. Give that as long as your
squirrel will take it.
Offer a healthy squirrel block as their first solid food. Most start with
Henry's blocks.

[lucygail]

Awesome! thank you!

A couple of odd questions:
1. Ive read about alot of instances of food aggression. Is there anything to do to help her not grow up and attack me one day over food?

2. She is a very enthusiastic eater, we have to hold the stopper back to keep her from sucking the whole thing down. Is this normal for them to eat so greedily? She weighs 137.3 now and has been getting 8.5 ml every 6 hours.

3. What is the normal weight gain for her? At 7 weeks old what should she weigh, and how much should she gain on average? Ive been looking and can only find posts of an UNhealthy amount of weight LOSS.
Ive gotten into the habit of weighing her daily and since switching her to a 50/50 FV/Espilac formula she has been gaining 3-5g a day

[Rhapsody]

I do have a pine tree in my back yard and often offer fresh dropped pine cones to my squirrels around 3 months of age...... these are given as treats in the middle of the day.

[lucygail]

Weighed Dot today before her lunch, and shes 143.5g now! Is 5g a day normal weight gain? Is most weight gain good? Just loss is bad? Whats the good rule of thumb here?

[Nancy in New York]

Weighed Dot today before her lunch, and shes 143.5g now! Is 5g a day normal weight gain? Is most weight gain good? Just loss is bad? Whats the good rule of thumb here?

Not sure if there is a rule of thumb for weight gain, but 5 grams is nice!
YES all weight gain is great, unless you are an older chubby squirrel.
Once in a while we may see a decrease and typically that's not a problem if
it's only for a day or two.
After that, we need to look for a cause if it persists.

[lucygail]

UPDATE: Dot is doing GREAT! I will try to get a pic or video link up.

At about 12 weeks old, she is impossible to weigh at this point, she is always in go mode. Last time I was able to weigh her she was about 300-320 grams, but it seemed to stress her out so much I'd rather not try again unless she calms down.

Shes still taking about 20ml's of formula, I offer it 3 x a day, but some days she only seems to want it once or twice, some days its all 3 times. Is this the normal age they would start to move away from formula? I read that I shouldnt try to wean her myself, to just let her decide when she doesnt want it anymore. So im wondering if thats whats happening?

She is eating her block well, she will nibble at broccoli and shave carrots down to little slivers, and she LOVES fresh corn off the cob. She doesnt seem to eat the green leaf lettuce we have gotten her, I think she just plays with it, maybe nibbles the edges and throws it to the floor of her cage when shes done with it. But we did find out this weekend that she LOVES baby zucchinis! She went nuts over them!
How much should she be eating in a day? She gets 2 HHB, floret of broccoli, a couple of baby carrots, and a baby zucchini and up to about 60 ml's of formula available to her daily. About every other day I add in a half a cob of corn as a kinda treat/mixing it up. Is this enough food? She doesnt usually finish all of it.

She has a water bottle, and she gets fresh water in it daily. Ive shown her how to use it, and have seen her do it by herself a few times after being shown but she doesnt seem interested in any water yet. Tried to put a few drops of honey mixed into the water to make it tasty, but still no dice. Got her to drink dome formula from a bowl (thinking I could maybe leave a bowl with water for her, if she'd like that better than the bottle) but she drank formula from the bowl ONCE and havent been able to encourage her to do it again.
Should I be worried about her drinking the water yet, or since she still takes formula thats her "water" for the time being?

Just checking back in and making sure shes getting what she needs. Any further suggestions? Anything I should be doing or do different? TIA

[lennysmom]

Her diet sounds great to me right now! Personally, I give formula for as long as they want it because it's healthy for them. Some rehabbers stop giving formula at a certain age, but most likely she is starting to self wean from your description. I had a little girl that weaned herself at about 12 weeks, though some will sooner. Since she is eating the blocks well that is most likely is the case. If she is still taking that much formula, I really would not worry too much about her not drinking much water.

[lucygail]

Ok, thats what I was thinking was going on since she was getting a little older. I plan on offering it to her until she absolutely doesnt want it anymore, someone told me that the longer they're taking formula, the healthier they will be in the long run


Will she know to drink the water from the bottle or should I give a "refresher course" on how to use it? Last time I did it, I took her formula and diluted it with some water to make about 30ml's of liquid, and let her drink it from that instead of the syringe. I just dont want to leave formula in there for the day and have it go bad, waste the formula and risk her drinking it after its spoiled.

[lennysmom]

Ok, thats what I was thinking was going on since she was getting a little older. I plan on offering it to her until she absolutely doesnt want it anymore, someone told me that the longer they're taking formula, the healthier they will be in the long run


Will she know to drink the water from the bottle or should I give a "refresher course" on how to use it? Last time I did it, I took her formula and diluted it with some water to make about 30ml's of liquid, and let her drink it from that instead of the syringe. I just dont want to leave formula in there for the day and have it go bad, waste the formula and risk her drinking it after its spoiled.

I would only leave the formula in there for a short time and if she doesn't drink it, take it out and dispose of it. You can put a water bottle in there with her if you don't have one already and if she gets thirsty, she probably will be able to figure it out on her own. I have had babies that never take to the water bottle and only drink from a bowl, and I have had babies that won't drink from a bowl and only from a water bottle. So at this point if you wanted to offer both, I think it would be fine.

[lucygail]

I would only leave the formula in there for a short time and if she doesn't drink it, take it out and dispose of it. You can put a water bottle in there with her if you don't have one already and if she gets thirsty, she probably will be able to figure it out on her own. I have had babies that never take to the water bottle and only drink from a bowl, and I have had babies that won't drink from a bowl and only from a water bottle. So at this point if you wanted to offer both, I think it would be fine.

I might start trying that when I get home from work. Leave the water bottle with water for the day and swap it out and see if she wants formula out of it at dinner time.

[lennysmom]

I might start trying that when I get home from work. Leave the water bottle with water for the day and swap it out and see if she wants formula out of it at dinner time.

To clarify, I was meaning to only leave the formula in a bowl in her cage for a short time. I'm not sure that I would put formula in a water bottle.

[lucygail]

To clarify, I was meaning to only leave the formula in a bowl in her cage for a short time. I'm not sure that I would put formula in a water bottle.

Ok thank you!

[Chirp]

I side with if the squirrel will keep eating formula i will keep giving it.
But my last one switched to blocks around 12 week mark and would only take little bit of formula.

One i have now is 6 to 6 week range and is doing well on formula.
Only treat he gets after he eats is to lick out bit of grape.

[lucygail]

Thats Dot!

[lennysmom]

What a beautiful little squirrelly girl Dot is!
She looks even better upright

[Cubby]

If I was a male squirrel I think I'd be a little bit in love with Dot.

[gunpackingrandma]

I side with if the squirrel will keep eating formula i will keep giving it.
But my last one switched to blocks around 12 week mark and would only take little bit of formula.

One i have now is 6 to 6 week range and is doing well on formula.
Only treat he gets after he eats is to lick out bit of grape.

My red is now ten months old and still gets formula twice a day....I tryed to drop it to once a day but he threw a fit!!! Lol!!!

[Space_It]

My Bug is a grey squirrel as well. She loves greens more then anything. Mainly dandelion greens. Iv added clover n some plantain n other greens from outside that i have done research on. When i acquired her i did a lot of research n compared a lot of squirrel diets together. I dont know exactly how old she is. When i got her she was still not able to eat foods but had fur and was sleeping constantly. She is now a sped that is literally tryin to eat my phone as i type this. Wanting me to play!!!

[Lighten-Up]

I had two squirrels, one stopped wanting formula at some point. But the other loved formula first thing in the morning until the time she was released. I would give her about 8 teaspoons of warmed formula in a dish every morning, and she usually drank about 4 TSP of it. Sometimes only 2 TSP, and many times 6 TSP. FYI