NR Fox Squirrel just started chirping at night

[Winston]

We have an 8 year old NR and he just started chirping from his bed. He has made two or 3 chirps at night before and we have assumed he was just dreaming. Tonight he has been chirping for over an hour. Just a couple of chirps every 5 minutes or so but he's been doing it for a while now. He's awake but not super alert like he would be if he was doing an alarm chirp. He seams uncomfortable. I'm concerned that he may be suffering some sort of pain or discomfort. He doesn't seem to be injured but his chirps sound sad. We are not in a 'squirrel friendly' area so we can't take him to the vet.
Have any of you experienced anything like this? He was working over a black walnut real good today. I usually crack them for him but today I let him work on it because he seemed to be really enjoying it and I thought it would be good for his teeth.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance

[Winston]

Update: He continued to make these intermittent chirps about 11:30 pm until after 2:00 am. I think he finally rested for a couple of hours and woke at 6:00 am. His chirps had become much softer (more like whistles, but very 'bird-like'). I was worried that he was becoming weak as these were softer than during the night. He was doing one, two, or three of these whistle/chirps every 30 to 45 seconds for two hours. At 8:00 am he stared moving around under his blanket and he got up and had a small drink and a small nibble of a Henrys He's resting and looking out the window now and is not making any sound.
For now I intend to watch him closely and try to keep him hydrated.

I checked his bedding after he got up and there is no sign of anything unusual. He is urinating but his appetite seems 'off'. I don't want to just start him on antibiotics when I don't know what's wrong with him but I don't want to ignore this if it could be something serious.

Thank you for reading this.

[stepnstone]

Sounds like he could have been "predator" alarming
Check out this forum and see if this sound is similar to what you were hearing....
https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...quirrel+sounds

[stepnstone]

Youtube also has good videos on squirrel calls and alarming...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b-2TFrx3fg

[Winston]

Definitely not a predator alarm. It sounded sad and painful. That's why I'm so concerned. He hasn't made that sound again since he got out of bed this morning. He's eating and peeing and just went back into his bed at 9:00 am. I'm going to let him rest but keep an eye (and an ear) on him.

[stepnstone]

He was working over a black walnut real good today. I usually crack them for him but today I let him work on it because he seemed to be really enjoying it and I thought it would be good for his teeth.

I would check his teeth to see if he could have possibly broken one?

[Rock Monkey]

You say that you normally break the black walnuts for him. Does this mean that you just crack it or that you completely separate the shell from the nutmeat? Black walnuts can be quite sharp. He might have cut his mouth or maybe swallowed a small piece of shell, though they are usually quite good at sorting things out.

I would watch him closely and pay attention to the outputs to make sure that everything is normal.

[Winston]

Yes, I typically only crack a black walnut just enough to give him an advantage to finish the job. This keeps him busy and happy, I think of it as 'squirrel enrichment' because it gives him something productive to occupy his time. The day before this issue started he had a black walnut that he had found in one of his caches and it wasn't cracked. He seemed to be having a good time with it so I just let him continue without cracking it for him.
Later that same night was when he started making the sounds. It sounded like he was in some real discomfort...possibly a real bad tummy-ache. This lasted all night and into the morning but once he got up and started moving around, we never heard this sound again. It was a very sad sound, hence our concern. It's been 40 hours since this first started and he's getting around and doing everything he is supposed to as far as input and output.
I'm assuming he may have been trying to pass something hard and/or jagged through his innards. Is there anything we should do if anything like this ever happens again in the future?
Thank you

[Diggie's Friend]

Is it like a bark? I ask, for we had a fox squirrel that lived over 10 years, which in the morning would bark and murmur (somewhat like a very soft version of Harley on idle) that follows the barking. This time of year is mating season, at least it is here in the West. Our male yard squirrel has been relentlessly chasing a smaller female this last week. If the testicles are dark and enlarged, this noise he is making may be from being in the rut.

I realize you are concerned for illness; save your squirrels diet is imbalanced, or your squirrel carries excess weight. Our former veterinarian explained how wild species cared for in captivity have been found to develop the same ill health conditions from a diet that isn't property balanced; this often from squirrels allowed to attain an obese weight like they are in the wild. For older squirrels, if plump like the wilds are this same time of year, yet not needing the extra calories, reducing the weight is important to support, otherwise obesity related conditions like diabetes can develop, as can arthritis from having to bear too much weight when approaching their first decade of life.

Of key importance for health, is to provide a diet that supports a positive (Calcium to Phosphorus) ratio to prevent the development of a painful condition known as Metabolic Bone Disease/ in rodents For reason that most all rodent block diets, save one I know of, are so close in ratio that adding any whole food to them without also adding additional calcium to the to the meal will lower the ratio noted for the rodent block to where it is too close or even inverted P:Ca ratio. In addition, at this age, the portion of block diet should be reduced and in it's place a small portion of a healthy filler source low in fat as old fashioned organic oatmeal added. To this adding extra calcium (citrate) as this form not calcium carbonate, was found to lengthen the lifetime function of the kidneys in rats.

Also, to support a diet that produces a mean urine pH found for tree squirrels in the wild in the mid to high 6 range of (6.4 to 6.9). For older squirrels this is twice as much an issue, for as they age they absorb less and less calcium along with other vital nutrients also. Concurrent with this gradual change, their kidneys progressively retain more an more phosphorus, effectually changing the in body Ca:P ratio. For this reason, reducing the amount of rodent block fed daily by at least one third to one half and adding a pre-determined milligram measure of Calcium citrate, known to be the form that supports the kidneys to last longer is advisable.

To determine the mean urine pH, using litmus testing strips, take three readings throughout the first day at least one hour after meals, and then one the next day prior to the first meal, total the values and divide by the number of reading taken, will give you the approx. mean urine pH that the diet you are feeding your squirrel is producing. If then found to be lower than 6.0 (highly acidic) then raising the amount of alkaline foods a bit will be needful. If though found to be higher than 7.0, then reduce the amount of alkaline promoting foods in the diet (raw greens and vegetables, OR boil the vegetables and blanch the baby greens) to reduce their alkaline pH to neutral.

https://www.labrat-supplies.com/prod...-of-100-strips

[Rock Monkey]

Yes, I typically only crack a black walnut just enough to give him an advantage to finish the job. This keeps him busy and happy, I think of it as 'squirrel enrichment' because it gives him something productive to occupy his time. The day before this issue started he had a black walnut that he had found in one of his caches and it wasn't cracked. He seemed to be having a good time with it so I just let him continue without cracking it for him.
Later that same night was when he started making the sounds. It sounded like he was in some real discomfort...possibly a real bad tummy-ache. This lasted all night and into the morning but once he got up and started moving around, we never heard this sound again. It was a very sad sound, hence our concern. It's been 40 hours since this first started and he's getting around and doing everything he is supposed to as far as input and output.
I'm assuming he may have been trying to pass something hard and/or jagged through his innards. Is there anything we should do if anything like this ever happens again in the future?
Thank you

I am glad to hear that he is doing better.

Yes, black walnuts are a lot of work for a squirrel, putting in a break or two in the shell makes it much easier, though there still remains a lot of work given that the thick shell runs throughout the nut.

It sounds like whatever the distress, it seems to have passed. You might have a look at his teeth, maybe just observing him eat to see if he is behaving any differently as he does so.

Toward issues of wider scope, I assume that he is being given some sort of supplementary calcium to offset the imbalance that giving a nut creates for captive squirrels.

My guess is that he may scraped the tissues of his mouth somewhere since chewing into a whole nut results in a more oblique angle of teeth to nut.

As far as future instances of similar behavior, I think you did the right thing by watching him closely once you noticed that he was in distress. Squirrels are bold critters and sometimes get themselves into trouble or it could have result from a mundane behavior that just went randomly awry. I would just look closely around his environment to see if he has started to chew on something that maybe previously he had left alone. Cleaning things up regularly is a good way of pinpointing where recent activity is being directed.