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Thread: Odd behavior in male adult squirrel

  1. #41
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    Default Re: Odd behavior in male adult squirrel

    Quote Originally Posted by CritterMom View Post
    Hopefully he will like the Henry's food. A lot of folks have gotten their squirrels over this issue with short term feeding of Ensure - the food replacement shakes for people. They even have butter pecan flavor, though any of them will help because they are really nutrient and calorie dense - you get a lot from a small amount. Try warming it up a bit - like formula.
    Just wanted to post on my little guys progress. Thanks to the wonderful guidance and knowledge my boy is now climbing up the sides of his small cage. He is eating 2 picky blocks in the AM before anything else. Once he has consumed the picky blocks he gets corn on the cob, bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, lettuce & apples. Not all at once, but when he eats one thing he gets another in a bit. He is getting 165 mg of elemental calcium divided into two feedings in a syringe of Boost. He is wrestling with me and trying to escape the cage every time the door is opened.
    Im wondering how long I should keep giving him the calcium and at what dosage? And when is it a good time to put him back into his big boy cage. Keep in mind as long as Im going to have to keep giving him the calcium it is much easier to get him out of the small cage rather than the big one. I have many videosof him being his old crazy self but I dont know how to upload them. I added a video but Im not sure where it went...

  2. #42
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    Default Re: Odd behavior in male adult squirrel

    Quote Originally Posted by Hilbillygirl View Post
    Just wanted to post on my little guys progress. Thanks to the wonderful guidance and knowledge my boy is now climbing up the sides of his small cage. He is eating 2 picky blocks in the AM before anything else. Once he has consumed the picky blocks he gets corn on the cob, bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, lettuce & apples. Not all at once, but when he eats one thing he gets another in a bit. He is getting 165 mg of elemental calcium divided into two feedings in a syringe of Boost. He is wrestling with me and trying to escape the cage every time the door is opened.
    Im wondering how long I should keep giving him the calcium and at what dosage? And when is it a good time to put him back into his big boy cage. Keep in mind as long as Im going to have to keep giving him the calcium it is much easier to get him out of the small cage rather than the big one. I have many videosof him being his old crazy self but I dont know how to upload them. I added a video but Im not sure where it went...
    This is good progress. You can begin reducing the calcium at this point. Don't stop all at once; you can either start cutting out the number of times a day you give it, or the amount you give.

    Note: Corn is bad, bad, bad, which stinks because they love it. MBD is not so much caused by a shortage of calcium - it is actually caused because the ratio of calcium and phosphorus in the diet is out of whack. Ideal is 2 parts calcium to 1 part phosphorus overall in the diet. That means that if you feed high phosphorus foods, you would have to increase the calcium they get to compensate for it. Corn is EXTREMELY high in phophorus. It has 1 part calcium to 45 parts phosphorus. So continuing to feed it is sabotaging your efforts...

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    stepnstone (08-28-2019)

  4. #43
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    Default Re: Odd behavior in male adult squirrel

    Quote Originally Posted by CritterMom View Post
    This is good progress. You can begin reducing the calcium at this point. Don't stop all at once; you can either start cutting out the number of times a day you give it, or the amount you give.

    Note: Corn is bad, bad, bad, which stinks because they love it. MBD is not so much caused by a shortage of calcium - it is actually caused because the ratio of calcium and phosphorus in the diet is out of whack. Ideal is 2 parts calcium to 1 part phosphorus overall in the diet. That means that if you feed high phosphorus foods, you would have to increase the calcium they get to compensate for it. Corn is EXTREMELY high in phophorus. It has 1 part calcium to 45 parts phosphorus. So continuing to feed it is sabotaging your efforts...
    Oh wow. Then what other foods on the list are bad. What can I go by that is reliable and good to feed him?

  5. #44
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    Default Re: Odd behavior in male adult squirrel

    Quote Originally Posted by Hilbillygirl View Post
    Oh wow. Then what other foods on the list are bad. What can I go by that is reliable and good to feed him?
    Calcium to Phosphorus levels in TONS of food can be found here: https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...sphorus-Ratios Go to post #17 on the thread for downloadable .pdf files (the ones in the first post got corrupted). We all have this thing printed out somewhere in our house!

    We also have a Healthy Diet pyramid here.

    These two guides are addressing the calcium issue for the most part, Obviously squirrels need other vitamins and minerals! The Henry's blocks were designed to be fed along with the Healthy diet and they address all of those other nutritional things.

    Mostly, you want to really limit the high phosphorus stuff, especially with a squirrel that has or has had MBD. There are a few foods like corn, sunflower seeds, pine nuts that are just SO high in phosphorus that simply eliminating them is best.

  6. #45
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    Default Re: Odd behavior in male adult squirrel

    Quote Originally Posted by CritterMom View Post
    Calcium to Phosphorus levels in TONS of food can be found here: https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...sphorus-Ratios Go to post #17 on the thread for downloadable .pdf files (the ones in the first post got corrupted). We all have this thing printed out somewhere in our house!

    We also have a Healthy Diet pyramid here.

    These two guides are addressing the calcium issue for the most part, Obviously squirrels need other vitamins and minerals! The Henry's blocks were designed to be fed along with the Healthy diet and they address all of those other nutritional things.

    Mostly, you want to really limit the high phosphorus stuff, especially with a squirrel that has or has had MBD. There are a few foods like corn, sunflower seeds, pine nuts that are just SO high in phosphorus that simply eliminating them is best.
    Ok Ill take your advice. To be clear tho he only gets a piece of an ear of corn about an inch wide and not even every day. I will check out the link in the forum because like you said I do not want to reverse all the good things we have accomplished. Many thanks

  7. #46
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    Default Re: Odd behavior in male adult squirrel

    Quote Originally Posted by Hilbillygirl View Post
    Ok Ill take your advice. To be clear tho he only gets a piece of an ear of corn about an inch wide and not even every day. I will check out the link in the forum because like you said I do not want to reverse all the good things we have accomplished. Many thanks
    Also. I have a sun lamp( like a grow lamp for plants) for vitamin D. Should I be doing something else?

  8. #47
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    Default Re: Odd behavior in male adult squirrel

    Quote Originally Posted by Hilbillygirl View Post
    Also. I have a sun lamp( like a grow lamp for plants) for vitamin D. Should I be doing something else?
    It probably isn't doing anything. The only lights that actually help with calcium metabolizing are the ones made for reptiles, which are extremely prone to MBD too. Sun lamps, grow lamps, "full spectrum" lights, Ott lights - NONE of those will do what it sounds like they should do. You are simply looking at different visible colors. The reptile lights are coated with something that emits UV when used, and UV is what is doing the vitamin D thing.

  9. #48
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    Default Re: Odd behavior in male adult squirrel

    Quote Originally Posted by CritterMom View Post
    It probably isn't doing anything. The only lights that actually help with calcium metabolizing are the ones made for reptiles, which are extremely prone to MBD too. Sun lamps, grow lamps, "full spectrum" lights, Ott lights - NONE of those will do what it sounds like they should do. You are simply looking at different visible colors. The reptile lights are coated with something that emits UV when used, and UV is what is doing the vitamin D thing.
    Ok I found this.... what do you think?
    QSLQYB UVA + UVB Full Spectrum Sun Lamp Sunbathe Reptile Lizard ...

  10. #49
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    Default Re: Odd behavior in male adult squirrel

    [QUOTE=Hilbillygirl;1299304]Ok I found one ordering right now. Tried to put him in his big cage tonight he flipped out......to day I started one half of 1/8 t of the calcium once a day. He loves the picky blocks and the Healthy Blocks. I make sure he eats 2 picky blocks i. The AM then around noon I start him on his regular food. How long do I continue with the calcium? I dont want to cause kidney stones for him. I want to get this right....

  11. #50
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    Default Re: Odd behavior in male adult squirrel

    Well first, I managed to not do the link for the healthy diet - sorry; here it is: https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...-Pet-Squirrels

    What you are doing and have done is just about right - slowly reducing the calcium as he appears to be better and better. The Henry's food is formulated a bit differently than other commercial diets. They don't TELL you this, but these diets are designed to be the only thing consumed by the animal, and they supply proper nutrition if used that way. Start adding in veggies and fruit and it skews the nutrition. Henrys realized that a lot of the otherwise healthy stuff they should be eating was also a little high in phosphorus, so there is additional calcium in the blocks to counter that, and it is meant to be fed with other healthy foods. That is why feeding it to MBD squirrels is so important. Once you get him off the additional calcium entirely, he will still be getting plenty from the Henrys food providing you don't start feeding lots of high phosphorus food.

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