Squirrel eating its own tail

[Tim Moore]

I have notice that Noggin our 18 week old grey baby has been eating the hair at the top of her tail...only when she is alone ore at night in her cage..I was thinking it is because she is nervous or sad...not mange or any thing that I had read..She was hurt in the head when she was just born and then again in the shop by falling two stories.She is a great one ,,She will not go in the wild ,she will not make it far..We had released 28 of them but Noggin will not be released..She does need us around with us and when we are not around by working she had been eating her tail and eating pine cones..any help that has been dealing with this will be helpful and thanks..Tim Moore

[Spanky]

Sounds like she may be bored... this kind of over-grooming can happen with boredom. But at only 18 weeks seems young for that type of over-grooming, and the fall injuries certainly may contribute.

What are her surroundings like... her cage? Does she have toys and things to distract her? Does she get any out-of-cage time?

[Tim Moore]

Noggin Is let out of her cage at 6;20am and she runs till 9;30 in the morning and then she is taking out of our truck to the tree that we are working on at 1;00 untill 1;45 ang then back to her cage and then we are finish most of the time at 5 or 6 that evening and it is back to the shop until 10 pm and we open the cage that is small 2 feet by 2 feet and she is happy to go right to it and it is good night..It is makeing us sad about her tail...I can send a pic it I can do it..

[Tim Moore]

here is a picture of the tail

[Tim Moore]

she has balls and small stuffy animals for toys and all the food for life..but she may be bored when working...

[Spanky]

Noggin Is let out of her cage at 6;20am and she runs till 9;30 in the morning and then she is taking out of our truck to the tree that we are working on at 1;00 untill 1;45 ang then back to her cage and then we are finish most of the time at 5 or 6 that evening and it is back to the shop until 10 pm and we open the cage that is small 2 feet by 2 feet and she is happy to go right to it and it is good night..It is makeing us sad about her tail...I can send a pic it I can do it..

I am not sure what that means about the tree and where she is spending that time.. do you mean she is running free in the trees?

In that picture she looks like a big girl for 18 weeks old. When you say food for life, what is her diet.. does she get rodent blocks? Lots of problems (like 75% of them) are related to diet, so maybe we can start with that to try to work out what may be going on.

[Tim Moore]

We were trimming a 50 foot tall washingtonians she was about 5 days old and fell off and her sister did not make it..but her brother did not fell and stayed with mother..The mother came to Noggin and smelled her and never would take her back and we nurse her.She is diff.from all the other ones that we let them go..she have two head problems from falling.She eats fruits flowers nuts a corn seeds french fries She has a bunch of them..She is so sweet and fun..Me and My wife are worried becouse she does it at night..just very weird.We feed her maybe too much..we dont want to see her in the morning and a new spot on her tail..

[Spanky]

I cannot say I have ever heard of a squirrel eating the hair their tail, but a squirrel's tail tells the tale of their health.

She eats fruits flowers nuts a corn seeds french fries She has a bunch of them..She is so sweet and fun..Me and My wife are worried because she does it at night..just very weird.We feed her maybe too much..we dont want to see her in the morning and a new spot on her tail..

I worry about her diet because now that she is older and I assume no longer taking formula, it does not appear her diet has enough calcium to keep her from getting Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD). MBD can be fatal and is very painful. If they do not get enough calcium in the foods they eat, their bodies will start to "rob" calcium form their bones which eventually weakens their bones severely and they break very easily... a small fall from a foot or two can do it. The seeds, nuts, corn (and french fries) are all foods that actually have no calcium.. in fact, they are what we call "calcium depleting" foods (high Phosphorous to Calcium ratios).

Seeds, nuts and corn (especially dried corn) all should be considered occasional treats... like cotton candy, fried Oreos and gummy bears are for human children. A captive squirrel should be eating a rodent block, lots of fresh vegetables, a little bit of fruit and the concessional treat of nuts or seeds but like dessert after dinner, only give treats if they are eating healthy meals.

Here is the link to the healthy squirrel diet:
https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...-Pet-Squirrels

One of the most common early symtpoms of MBD is rear end paralysis... they begin losing control of their hind legs and tail. Many squirrels will chew at their feet and tail once they start getting numb / losing control of them (both from pain and aggravation).

I just wonder if tail chewing business this is very early signs of MBD... I hope others will weigh in with their thoughts.

In case it is, here is the link to the MBD treatment.... know that if a squirrel is treated for MBD it will not harm them, it can only help them and potentially save their lives.
https://www.henryspets.com/emergency-treatment-for-mbd/

[Tim Moore]

Noggin is only pulling hair,not really biting the tail.I have maybe messed up with what I was talking about..But last night she did not bite and took hair from her tail, she did have more time to play.When it is hot around a three, before we are finished working she gets moody and angry like I wanna go home to play, at that time she is in her cage by 2 ft by 2 ft with toys and food and water..She does not bite but she is mad in the shade. she whats us around her all the time that's hard ,,but we got to keep working..then we are done and we are hers..We are on our way now to get her a block. We did gave her a yellow flower a week ago and she puked and she was sick for a hour and came back and ready to play and run. Noggin is just not like the other ones that wanted to leave.Noggin We let her to leave and she would come right back,,sitting in our truck or chasing the truck down the street and she is a hugging loving little animal that ,well she is just staying and we love her and what to make her life great!!

[Tim Moore]

We now printed the pyramid on the food and Thanks and helpful..it is in the shop and we now have a block for her,,,she does not like it now but we think she will like it after all of us watching her..thanks Tim

[Spanky]

We now printed the pyramid on the food and Thanks and helpful..it is in the shop and we now have a block for her,,,she does not like it now but we think she will like it after all of us watching her..thanks Tim

Maybe I should have been more clear about the rodent block. It sounds like maybe you got her a mineral block, which is entirely different. Rodent block is food for rodents. It is not a mineral block.

The very best is Henry's Healthy Block which is made specifically for squirrels. She'd need to eat about 2 of Henry's block each day. Here is the link to Henry's:

https://www.henryspets.com/squirrel-diet/

The other rodent block are all basically rat food. I put a few of them below, but she'd need to eat a lot of these each day.. about 75% - 80% of everything she eats to be the same as Henry's block.

[Tim Moore]

awesome we will grab them after work is it at pet smart?? I think or close..she does eat all day and very fat..We are looking for calcium and trying to make her happy..thanks for giving us more knowledge and we are working on it in the morning..thanksl give you more what we get in the evening..thanks

[Spanky]

awesome we will grab them after work is it at pet smart?? I think or close..she does eat all day and very fat..We are looking for calcium and trying to make her happy..thanks for giving us more knowledge and we are working on it in the morning..thanksl give you more what we get in the evening..thanks

The Harland or the Mazuri are better than the Kaytee (in that order).

[Mel1959]

Your best bet at her willingly eating a block is to purchase a bag of Henry's Hazelnut or Picky Eater blocks. They are much tastier than any of the hard rodent blocks you can buy at the pet stores. I know they are a little expensive, but she only needs to eat a couple a day with her healthy veggies to get balanced nutrition.

There are recipes in the squirrel nutrition section on this forum for making boo balls. Boo balls use the hard block, grind it into a powder and then add some healthy items to make it taste better and therefore more likely to be eaten.

[Tim Moore]

OK...We have GOT THIS CASE SOLVED.....Noggin was not eating her tail hair,we just found under our wicker table, the evidence,her hair in between the wicker meets.While climbing and running she got her tail stuck and ribbed the hair out and now we know..We will find a way to protect her from doing is again..three places of a lot of hair from the tail..We were worried of her bored and sad or her being sick..We love her and was lost untill now,,but THANKS SO MUCH AND SHE LOVES THE PALLETS>>Tim

[Tim Moore]

The stuff I brought was exotic nutrition squirrel starter package for 35 bucks now waiting from the mail with calcium for her. exoticnutrition.com is where I found it..I will let you know,,I bought mazuri blocks and she does like them so far.Everybody said she is fat but I not see it..

[Spanky]

The stuff I brought was exotic nutrition squirrel starter package for 35 bucks now waiting from the mail with calcium for her. exoticnutrition.com is where I found it..I will let you know,,I bought mazuri blocks and she does like them so far.Everybody said she is fat but I not see it..

I can only once again encourage you to go to Henry's Healthy Pets and purchase squirrel block from there... the exotic nutrition is CRAP IMO. You need only feed 2 Henry blocks a day along with a healthy diet from the pyramid. So a bag of Henry's lasts about 1 month.

https://www.henryspets.com/squirrel-diet/