Very malnourished 6-7 week old squirrel

[Meems]

Hi, so I’ve posted on here before about needing help with my girl that I rescued a little over a month ago. She’s doing great btw. Super healthy weighs 250 grams. So I started a new thread because yesterday afternoon I rescued a second squirrel. It’s a boy but he is SEVERELY malnourished, I’m not sure if he is from the same litter as my girl but I doubt it because I’m 99% sure the girl I rescued’s mama got killed about a month ago. He looks to be about the same age ish as my girl (roughly 7 weeks) but maybe younger. He is TINY, about 1/4th the size of my girl. eyes open, bottom teeth have come in, top are in but not very long, he was trapped inbetween a screen door, I freed him and then left him for a couple of hours and watched from a distance to see if mama would come but she didn’t (even with him screaming for a few hours) it became dark so I took him in. He weighs maybe 60 grams if even that, just guessing (I havnt gotten a chance to weigh him yet) he will not eat or drink anything, he’s gotton maybe 2 tiny drops of honey water and he didn’t willingly drink it. I don’t know what to do. You can see his ribs. He still has energy thankfully but I know he can’t go much longer without water. He is fully haired but im still keeping him in a container with half of it heated to help him not burn excess calories. I tried offering him solids as well just to see if he would even be interested in that, even tho I know he needs water first I just wanted to see if he would even touch it, and he won’t, same with formula. I don’t know what else to do and I’m worried he’s not going to make it.

[CritterMom]

You have this and you learned from your other squirrel. He is an eyes open baby so he knows you aren't mom and it will take a bit for him to calm down.

You know the drill: You must get him thoroughly warmed up. He should be in a plastic baby tote with fleece half on a heating pad until he is thoroughly warm.

Then he must get hydrated. Take a fairly big piece of fleece, t-shirt and gently swaddle him leaving a big enough flap of material at the top so that you can flop it down over his head and cover his eyes when you give the syringe - so he isn't looking at you. You need to get him completely rehydrated before you feed him, as I am sure you remember. Use legit rehydration, not honey water:

1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon + 1/4 teaspoon sugar (3/4 teaspoon total)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat to 105-110 degrees

This is to be used for no longer than 24 hours. If continued additional hydration is needed between feedings, a pinch of sugar in water without the salt will be fine.

When he is thoroughly rehydrated, do you have any of the powdered puppy Esbilac left that has been kept in the freezer? Once he is completely hydrated, I would start him on 3 water /1 powder for the first few feedings and then gradually get him up to the full 2 water / 1 powder strength. If he does well on that you can then begin to phase in the Fox Valley 20/50.

Just remember, completely surround him with the soft fabric; he is used to siblings. Cover his eyes so he can't see you while you hydrate and feed until you don't have to anymore. And stay really calm and quiet while feeding him - don't talk much, your voice will frighten him.

You have this!

[Meems]

You have this and you learned from your other squirrel. He is an eyes open baby so he knows you aren't mom and it will take a bit for him to calm down.

You know the drill: You must get him thoroughly warmed up. He should be in a plastic baby tote with fleece half on a heating pad until he is thoroughly warm.

Then he must get hydrated. Take a fairly big piece of fleece, t-shirt and gently swaddle him leaving a big enough flap of material at the top so that you can flop it down over his head and cover his eyes when you give the syringe - so he isn't looking at you. You need to get him completely rehydrated before you feed him, as I am sure you remember. Use legit rehydration, not honey water:

1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon + 1/4 teaspoon sugar (3/4 teaspoon total)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat to 105-110 degrees

When he is thoroughly rehydrated, do you have any of the powdered puppy Esbilac left that has been kept in the freezer? Once he is completely hydrated, I would start him on 3 water /1 powder for the first few feedings and then gradually get him up to the full 2 water / 1 powder strength. If he does well on that you can then begin to phase in the Fox Valley 20/50.

Just remember, completely surround him with the soft fabric; he is used to siblings. Cover his eyes so he can't see you while you hydrate and feed until you don't have to anymore. And stay really calm and quiet while feeding him - don't talk much, your voice will frighten him.

You have this!

Thank you! I will try covering his eyes and see if that helps! I do have some esablic puppy formula left, I’ve been doing a 50/50 ratio of that and the fox valley for my girl but wondering if I should switch her to full fox valley now? She’s been eating the Henry’s healthy blocks for about a week now btw so she gets to start on her healthy vegetables today! I just wanted to update and let you know her hydration is good now, and she has solid poops with amazing energy!

And ok I’ll switch him to actual hydration!

[CritterMom]

Thank you! I will try covering his eyes and see if that helps! I do have some esablic puppy formula left, I’ve been doing a 50/50 ratio of that and the fox valley for my girl but wondering if I should switch her to full fox valley now? She’s been eating the Henry’s healthy blocks for about a week now btw so she gets to start on her healthy vegetables today! I just wanted to update and let you know her hydration is good now, and she has solid poops with amazing energy!

And ok I’ll switch him to actual hydration!

You probably can, but she is doing well where she is, given all the issues she had, I might just keep her where she is!

[Meems]

You probably can, but she is doing well where she is, given all the issues she had, I might just keep her where she is!

Ok, I was only wondering because I’m getting low on the esabalic, probably 12 or so batches left, and now with him using it as well (assuming and hoping he makes it) it’s closer to 6 batches left, and I got the huge 3.5 lb tub of the fox valley so I have a huge bucket of it. I’ll just start switching her slowly by diluting it when I only have one or two batches left, and if she doesn’t take to it well I’ll go to the store and pick up more esablic. Just trying to avoid spending extra money if I can!

[CritterMom]

Or you can go ahead an try, just do it really, really slowly and gradually. Since she is eating solids too she may be just fine.

[Meems]

Or you can go ahead an try, just do it really, really slowly and gradually. Since she is eating solids too she may be just fine.

Omg yay! I actually just started crying. I tried wrapping a blanket around his eyes and swaddling him and he was just not happy with that, he was thrashing and thrashing for about 10 minutes I couldn’t get him to calm down and I was really starting to feel helpless so I finally just let him crawl out and try to give him water without covering his eyes and he started drinking! He got 2ccs in!!! Gonna continue this every hour for the next few hours and hopefully I see a huge improvement on his dehydration and he can start on formula by tonight! Fingers crossed!

[Meems]

Is this bedding safe to use at the bottom of their cage? It’s just pine wood chopped up? It’s super cheap only $7 for a 40 lb bag so I can easily clean and replace any dirty bedding without killing my pocket and it does wonders for absorbing any smell, but I just don’t want it to hurt them in any way. Also is there any wood specifically that’s toxic for them that I should watch out for? I can’t find much online. I know artificial dyes are unsafe but more wondering for my wild trees outside if it’s safe to break off branches from them and put them in their cage.

[CritterMom]

I wouldn't. It is hard and looks remarkably like food - I would be very concerned about it being eaten.

I have always used folded up old sheets in the bottom of cages. Gather them in the morning, shake all the mess out, and replace, toss in washer when they smell. No mess, safe, and you aren't generating trash. You will fins that they like sheets, too. They are cool when you pancake on them, you can lift them up and go underneath and pop in the air and wrestle with them...old sheets rock!

[Meems]

Ok I switched the bedding to some blankets I had, going to good will to get some sheets later today because I don’t have any that arnt currently being used. Idk if you saw my previous question but is there any specific outdoor trees I should watch out for? I plan on buying some of those apple wood sticks from the pet store but if I can use alot of outdoor tree wood that would be cheeper. I just didn’t know if there where specific trees to watch out for that are toxic