Skinny squirrel

[Finley]

My baby squirrel is somewhere around 5 weeks old. I got him on September 4th. He has had a ton of trouble pooping, and it’s taken me this long to get him going regularly. He’s not alarmingly skinny, but I’m worried that he’s not gaining weight like he should. This is my first squirrel, and I just want to make sure I’m doing everything right. I feed him 4cc’s every three hours, and he has no trouble finishing it..but his belly gets super tight. I was gonna start feeding him every 4 hours, but I’m afraid he won’t be getting the nutrients he needs. Is there any way to make sure he’s a healthy weight or get him to gain weight without over feeding?

[cava]

Yes, buy a gram scale (kitchen scale, postage scale) and feed him 5-7% of his weight in grams. You must know how much his stomach capacity can hold and what to feed for proper growth and development.

Two ways, weight in grams x .05 = ml to feed at each feeding.

Weight in g divided by 20 = grams to feed at each feeding.

If he is tight after feeding, you may be overfeeding him. If he looks thin, you may be underfeeding him.

Here's a link with more helpful information: https://www.henryspets.com/baby-squirrel-care/

at five weeks you can feed every 4 hours with a sleep break at night and you can introduce him to a quality rodent block. No other foods until he is eating that for a few weeks.