6 week old gray squirrel with dry yellow crusty scabs. Help please!!!

[Luna87]

Has anyone experienced yellow crusty scabby areas on their baby squirrel? I’m not sure what it is, possibly fungal infection? They are all over her stomach and some on her legs and back. I am treating with colloidal silver spray and coconut oil but open to any other suggestions. [ATTACH]
Thank you!!!

[CritterMom]

Please forget the silver colloidal spray. Go to the drug store and get a bottle of Betadyne 10% povidone iodine - or instead, look next to that bottle and buy the store brand and save a couple $$. It looks like a bottle of blood! The nice thing is it takes care of things bacterial, fungal and viral so it covers almost everything.

Dilute at the rate of 1/2 teaspoon in 1/4 cup water and wipe all of the areas down with it. You will also dye him orange but it WILL wear off. Make sure you saturate everything, then wrap him up in a nice blankie and put him in his baby box on the heating pad so everything dries.

You can use the coconut oil after the betadyne dries. It keeps the scabs soft and makes it easier for them to slough away.

Have you had him for a while, and did this pop up after you had him or did he come that way? We have seen a lot of bad sunburn doing this to babies this year, but if he was fine when he came in, it sounds almost like cradle cap on a child. Regardless, the Betadyne should take care of it. It is almost like magic (that stains everything it touches)!

[Luna87]

Thank you so much! I will buy some betadyne today. She had this when I found her a little over a week ago. She looked about 5 weeks old because her eyes had just opened. These areas do look very similar to cradle cap.

[CritterMom]

Yeah, it could be the sunburn thing, too. At one point we had three people with little pinkies that were just a raw, oozing mess. They all healed up great. The heat this summer has affected so many things that people never think about.

The betadyne thing is good for you, too. Get a weird rash and don't know what it is? Skinned knees, cuts and scrapes, you run the gamut. Ever seen surgery on TV - not a drama, like something on one of the science shows? Wherever they are cutting has been completely wiped down with betadyne before they begin cutting. You can't miss it - it is bright orange. And as far as kids are concerned, it DOES NOT STING. At all. Plain water hurts more. I decided to hurl myself down on my blacktopped driveway a couple weeks ago and hurt myself in many, many ways, one of which was a lovely roadrashed knee. I figured I had admitted enough bacteria into it sliding along the asphalt so I went in, rinsed it in running water and then hit it with full strength - not diluted - betadyne. Nothing. No hurt at all (other than what I already had).

I also like the fact that diluted, it dries on the fur like water does, so there is no sticky residue left in the fur that will cause them to groom the area and make everything worse.