new squirrel owner heather and polly

[Heather12]

sorry she is a fox squirrel not a red lol

[Heather12]

i have a problem and a question i clean out pollys cage every other day i dont use bedding i use newspaper she has no food in her cage cause she is still on formula well why the hell does she has hundreds of fruit flies in and around cage i even have fly strips up is there anything i can do about them????? HELP

[Mel1959]

I'm not sure why you would have fruit flies. Are you sure there isn't a piece of fruit stashed somewhere in the cage. Do you have a cube or some fleece for her to burrow down in? They love to be hidden!

[Scott]

I'm happy to help with a new cube or two ..... PM me and I will help ...

this is fruit fly season .. put a coaster over your wine glass or your Orange Juice ..

[Heather12]

actually she has a nest i bought and she loves it i also use newspaper on the bottom of her cage which she loves to play in and then hid in it lol im not sure if they are fruit flies or nats

[Heather12]

hello i was told oxbow zupreem and mazuri and some good rodent blocks but the pic ive seen online has a rat and mouse on it is that ok to give to polly??

[Scott]

You did good Heather

[Heather12]

Why is it on the rodent blocks there is a pic of rats is this ok to give to polly?? I dont want it to kill her

[Spanky]

hello i was told oxbow zupreem and mazuri and some good rodent blocks but the pic ive seen online has a rat and mouse on it is that ok to give to polly??

Yes!

[Heather12]

ok thank u so much spanky!!!!!

[Heather12]

Im so sorry for being a pain in the butt lol but is it also ok to give polly a sweet corn squirrel log my fiance bought her one and i wasnt sure if it was ok to give to her

[redwuff]

Heather,

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO FOR POLLY IS TO GIVE HER NOTHING EXCEPT HER FORMULA, BUT BLOCK UNTIL SHE EATS IT LIKE A CHAMP!

Once she is weaned off formula, rodent block should be 80% of her diet. Especially do not give her any nuts or seeds. Please know that we all know how hard that is. It is so cute to see them take that nut and chew it. Do not give in until she is eating block well. Then nuts are given occasionally as a treat. This is Especially true if you plan on keeping her.

SHE MUST HAVE THE CORRECT DIET OR SHE WILL DIE FROM MBD. Read the emergency section of this forum. Someone comes on and says their squirrel is paralyzed or having seizures. The first question we ask is "what are you feeding?" Sometimes we can coach the owner and the squirrel is saved, but sadly often it is too late. Correct diet in a squirrel is vital! Since thesquirrel is in the rodent family they eat the same type of blocks that mice and rats do. Kay tee rat and mice food is fine to feed. They do not eat guinea pig or hamster or chinchilla food.

Keeping a squirrel as a pet is VERY hard work. Their requirements are many and since the amt of exercise needed is ginormous and considering how many other commitments you have, I would strongly urge you to prepare your girl for release.
It sounds like Polly is a sweet girl now, but as they get older, they often choose one person in the family to bond with. Other people are fair game to bite.

Please know that this is not about judgement. I want you to be educated in your decisions. I have 3 non releasable squirrels. As a rehabber, I should have euthanized them because they could not safely make it as wild squirrels. The two boys have been loves, in fact we just lost our 8.8 year old to cancer. He never bit anyone. Our other boy Cecil is two and has not bit yet! But he has very sharp teeth, is a young hormonal squirrel and could at any time. My last squirrel is a 6.5 year old female and is a shark. It is not if she will bite, but when.

I hope this helps. I did not mean to write a book but there is so much to know in raising these guys. We would love to see pictures. I love foxers!

[Heather12]

thank u for the help i also have noticed when polly runs around her cage and plays with her toys if u stick your finger in her cage she will bite it hard she has only done it twice today and once the other day is this normal?? other than that she is sweet other than getting me with her nails by accident

[redwuff]

How is she doing with the change in her diet?

[Heather12]

she is doing fine the only problem is i cant get her to drink water so she is still drinking her formula even if i just put a little bit of formula in the water and fed it to her in her syringe she was out running around and playing at least i think its playing im pretty sure anyways she runs around runs up to me runs all over me the runs on the floor and continues then she will run up to me bounce back a little bit the run up me again i just dont understand why she would of bite me of all ppl im pretty sure each time shes biten which was three she was in the middle of playing but she bute hard the 3 times she is estimated at 12 to 13 weeks which is what we figure she found her on our porch and she was still little little and that was 3 months ago i did hear in there teenage yrs they do get aggressive at about what age is the teenage yrs?? and she gets the oxbow adult rat food for her food and i was told that was fine i just am not sure how much to give her so i give her a handful not sure if that is to much