Hi Spookley
to TheSquirrelBoard
We release babies at 16 weeks. Unfortunately it will be cold in your area by then. I’m afraid you will need to over winter them. That makes for a long winter with bored ‘teenage’ squirrels. It’s quite a challenge.
If you can post a pic of the babies and the pink/white eye we might be able to help.
5/6 week olds don’t need night feedings. Get some rest.
Feed them before you go to bed and first thing in the morning. Now that the eyes are open you can offer a rodent block. I give a commercial rodent block (Envigo Teklad 2018) and Henry’s Healthy Picky Eater block. The commercial block is free choice. The Henry’s block is a supplement so the amount received is limited. (1 per day each). After they are eating the block well you can start introducing heathy veggies.
I think you might be underfeeding them. We feed based on the weight. We feed 5-7% of the weight per feeding.
(Example .... a 100g baby would eat between 5-7ml per feeding) I’m guessing here but I bet a 5/6 week old squirrel in Illinois is at least 100g, maybe more.
You can use a small kitchen scale. You can go to 5 hr feedings. You’re actually getting close to 6 hr feedings.