Changing Eating/Activity in Fall

[<3MeSomeSquirrels]

Hi all, I have a three year-old SC eastern gray whom I love dearly. She is on the diet provided by this board - two HHB blocks daily, Oxbow Regal Rat as additional food source, approved veggies (mostly broccoli or cauliflower and kale, with varying other fruits/veggies in smaller quantities) occasional nuts as treats - not even daily.

Anyway, I have noticed that every year around fall, she loses a lot of weight. Last year she stopped eating much at all for a few weeks. Eventually I coaxed her back into eating and she ate voraciously. This year she didn't go through a spell of decreased appetite. But she is a lot more active; won't stop running around both in the cage and out. She is usually not a suuuuper active squirrel and I usually have to limit her diet to her activity level so she doesn't become too overweight. She's typically on the chunky side.

With the increased activity, I find I need to feed her a lot more so that she doesn't lose too much weight. So two questions:

1. So long as I am maintaining the proper diet but increasing her portion sides, that should be fine with no ill effects, right?
2. I also presume that during the fall, increased activity is normal because of food scarcity in the wild in fall?

[SammysMom]

I find that eating decreases quite a bit in the fall. They seem to become compulsive about gathering and burying just the way the squirrels outdoors do.
As long as diet is good your baby should be fine.

[Diggie's Friend]

As the saying goes, 'You can take the animal out of the wild (in this case tree squirrels), but not the wild out of the animal.' Save then for those squirrels with mobility issues, it is entirely normal for wilds in captivity to be more active from late summer throughout the fall, for their metabolic rate rises during this season of plenty to support them bringing in their harvest of nuts and seeds. If anything, inactivity during this season is perhaps a reason for concern, as that might be indicating a previously undiscovered ill health issue.

[Rexie]

last year my boy, 2 then.. paced like crazy for the whole month of October and lost alot of weight .. He did not eat much either. After all the leaves fell of the trees he stopped then became a eating machine. my theory is it was gathering instincts but nothing To gather so he paced. To my surprise he did not do it this year so far anyway. With these kids it seems we are always leaning new things about their behavior in our care. Just keep monitoring her for any other odd changes. Rexie and Walleys mom