releasing rehabbed babies?

[olorin19]

I have released boys and girls, and had some of each that have hung around or not.

Those that hang around are happy to climb on me, take nuts from my hand, perch on me to eat, hide the nuts they have just been given in my hoodie, etc. And this easy physical contact can persist for years if they stick around.

Most, however, have not wanted to be handled, petted, etc. past a certain age. Most of these have been overwintered squirrels, and many seem to move beyond wanting to be petted by about 6 months old, so before their release.

Enjoy them however they are, and do not be surprised if they change as they reach adulthood.

It is such a treat for you to have these guys stick around!

Also, my released squirrels tend to be quite happy to come back inside my house. In their case, it is where they grew up, so they are quite comfortable and like to visit and explore. I am fascinated that some of your guys who did not grow up indoors are doing so. I have found even my friendliest wild squirrels to be hesitant to come inside. A few have ventured onto my enclosed porch to be fed, but then quickly headed back outside.

[astrll]

today marks a month since release! which means today is also everyone’s day for their revolution.

we found fleas near our balcony door but can’t pinpoint where they’re coming from — most likely they’re coming from the rats that visit. can rats be dosed?

as far as we can tell, none of our regular visitors have fleas since we dosed them!

so far pichi, pochi, moo, and bunki got dosed. we’re using pecans that have the dosage dropped onto them. daisy ate half and hid the other half (naughty!) so he still needs to be fully dosed. bochi absolutely would not take a pecan so we’re going to try again later. and of course we can’t dose mooki and muko because they left

pichi’s had a good day today! zero tilts/tics! and she was very friendly today, climbing all over me like before

daisy and pochi have taken to spending the nights in the enclosure, especially on bad weather days. i’m so glad they’re all still visiting, even if it’s only for a moment

[astrll]

daisy got his full dose! now just bochi needs her dose. if mooki or muko ever come by the first thing they’re getting is a dose!!!

also unrelated but related, the canadavetexpress website where i bought revolution from has been down for a couple months apparently i tried a new place after digging around — sierrapetmeds.com. i saw it takes a little over a month to deliver to canada. i have enough until then thankfully!

can you store revolution in the fridge? our house is usually at 20° C with fall coming so we’ve been leaving it in a drawer.

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

daisy got his full dose! now just bochi needs her dose. if mooki or muko ever come by the first thing they’re getting is a dose!!!

also unrelated but related, the canadavetexpress website where i bought revolution from has been down for a couple months apparently i tried a new place after digging around — sierrapetmeds.com. i saw it takes a little over a month to deliver to canada. i have enough until then thankfully!

can you store revolution in the fridge? our house is usually at 20° C with fall coming so we’ve been leaving it in a drawer.

Hi Astril:
The manufacturer of Revolution states simply that the unopened containers should be stored below 30 degrees C so probably a refrigerator would also be an option. More to the practical side; I have used the refrigerator to store an already opened container for short periods as with Squirrels, we only use drops and do not use the full amount within each individual container and one container has enough medication to apply topically to a number of Squirrels.
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[astrll]

grrrrrr pichi got her first tick (the parasite, not the head tic). the tick is suuuuper small right now so she must have got it sometime this morning. too bad revolution doesn’t work on ticks.

it also looks like she got into a fight because her ear got scraped. poor girl i wish she’d understand that she can sleep here safely!!!!

today she sat in my lap for pets — first time in a while that she’s willingly wanted pets!

i am so sick of fleas and ticks and bot flies! i don’t know which is worse — predators or parasites

[astrll]

also! here’s a funny thing that moo has been doing every single day https://youtu.be/skCdtPXbcZQ

she comes to do some back flips and promptly leaves! i have no idea why

when she was still living in the enclosure, she never did backflips but her brother mooki LOVED doing the same backflips. when i first saw a back flipping grey squirrel i thought mooki had returned!!! but it was just moo

[astrll]

do siblings practice flirting through play? today we saw daisy and moo doing the little flirt chase. sometimes he did it with pochi in the enclosure so i assumed it was play since they were both young. but when we saw it today we were wondering if it’s real flirting or play flirting?

i don’t know daisy’s age since he was added to the litter but moo and the rest of muchi’s kids are about seven months old. do they start flirting that young?!

i know it doesn’t matter much for rodents but that squirrels don’t tend to mate with their siblings so this is more just out of curiosity. do litter mates who aren’t related by blood know they aren’t related? would daisy and moo know they aren’t related or? it would be really interesting if they thought they were siblings since they grew up together despite not having the same mom!

[olorin19]

do siblings practice flirting through play? today we saw daisy and moo doing the little flirt chase. sometimes he did it with pochi in the enclosure so i assumed it was play since they were both young. but when we saw it today we were wondering if it’s real flirting or play flirting?

i don’t know daisy’s age since he was added to the litter but moo and the rest of muchi’s kids are about seven months old. do they start flirting that young?!

i know it doesn’t matter much for rodents but that squirrels don’t tend to mate with their siblings so this is more just out of curiosity. do litter mates who aren’t related by blood know they aren’t related? would daisy and moo know they aren’t related or? it would be really interesting if they thought they were siblings since they grew up together despite not having the same mom!

I have only raIsed one female/male pair. And while they were overwintered, I had to put them in separate cages after about six months as the female Arya got way to territorial with the male Iggy.

I never interpreted the play fighting as flirting. If you have ever seen squirrel mating, it generally involves the female being followed by one or many males and eventually relenting.

They went outdoors at the same time in separate release cages, and once these were opened, they happily starting sharing the same nest box at night.

Arya had her first litter at about 53 weeks in July. Once these three pups (Lyle, Frick, Frack) got to about 3 months old and were out and about, more often than not all five (Mama Arya, Uncle Iggy, Lyle, Frick, and Frack) would all sleep in the same nest box. This was especially true when it was really cold. (Watching them emerge one after the other was like a clown car.)

Anyways, I think the play fighting is more about developing the skills to be able to deal with other squirrels as well as evading predators - agility, quick decisions, leaping, etc.

[astrll]

oh! they’re not play fighting, i meant to say that they were doing the chase where daisy follows moo. it looks a lot like the flirting i’ve seen the other wilds do!

[olorin19]

oh! they’re not play fighting, i meant to say that they were doing the chase where daisy follows moo. it looks a lot like the flirting i’ve seen the other wilds do!

Not sure what to make of that!

But these guys were only born in April, right? So not at puberty yet?

[astrll]

Not sure what to make of that!

But these guys were only born in April, right? So not at puberty yet?

they’re about seven months old! but sometimes i saw them doing the flirt chase inside the enclosure too. i thought maybe they were just practicing!

[astrll]

oh pichi! yesterday we noticed that her tail was dragging. did she break her tail? or is this something else? aside from her tail, everything seems normal! she’s been high energy and eating fine. the tick she had is gone too. she let me touch her tail and didn’t flinch in pain either so i don’t know what to make of it.

https://youtu.be/I-5mvR1lscg

it seems like there’s always something going on with this girl yet she refuses our help!!! they grow up too fast

[astrll]

hello again!

i’ve been noticing something weird with these kiddos in the last week or so — their paws have been losing fur, especially the front paws near the knuckles. it’s been very rainy here and the cold is starting to settle in so everyone has puffed up — it’s just their hands where the fur is thin.

aside from that, their behaviour and appearance seem normal. when i touch their hands, the beans are still warm and the skin doesn’t look inflamed. they’ve mostly been foraging and hiding nuts like crazy when they visit. i also don’t believe they have fleas — they’ve all been dosed with revolution.

is it because of how much digging they’re doing? or maybe parasites, moulting, the temperature, diet, or something else…? i’m stumped is it something to be concerned about?

it’s hard to grab a photo of their little paws but i tried my best! i’ll upload better ones if i can get them to sit still for a second haha

in the meantime we’re going to leave HHB’s out for them and some veggies.

[astrll]

oh pichi! yesterday we noticed that her tail was dragging. did she break her tail? or is this something else?

oh! forgot to update about this — her tail is back to normal! i have no idea what was up but she’s not dragging it anymore

[Charley Chuckles]

They are adorable 🥰
I'm not sure why fur is missing, hopefully others will.
Glad the tail is normal again 👏

[olorin19]

I've seen a few squirrels where they injured a finger at some point, and subsequently that finger would be thicker, pink, and with less fur.

But what you have in these pictures I have never seen.

About ten years ago I had an overwintered release who his first summer lost all the fur along most of his tail. What was left was fur on the third closest to body then a little tuft at the end. At the time, I researched and given that it did not look inflamed, figured it was fungal rather than mange. In any case, fur group in late summer and problem never happened again.

I have no idea if this could be fungal (or even if I was correct in my assumption a decade ago), but that is one way to lose fur.

Is it just on front paws or also back paws?

[astrll]

I have no idea if this could be fungal (or even if I was correct in my assumption a decade ago), but that is one way to lose fur.

Is it just on front paws or also back paws?

fungal! i never thought of that, how would i know if it was?

it’s just on the front paws but for bunki (black squirrel in photos) it’s migrated to her back paws too. it started on her front paws and a couple weeks later we noticed the same thing on her back paws.

[olorin19]

fungal! i never thought of that, how would i know if it was?

it’s just on the front paws but for bunki (black squirrel in photos) it’s migrated to her back paws too. it started on her front paws and a couple weeks later we noticed the same thing on her back paws.

I would suggest using the TSB Advanced Search (on upper right) and searching for 'fungal' or maybe just 'fung', as well as stuff like 'fur loss'.

There is bound to be some good info and hopefully pictures.

[TubeDriver]

fungal! i never thought of that, how would i know if it was?

it’s just on the front paws but for bunki (black squirrel in photos) it’s migrated to her back paws too. it started on her front paws and a couple weeks later we noticed the same thing on her back paws.

Because this is on their paws and mainly on the front paws, I wonder about something in the dirt? Do any of your immediate neighbors apply pesticide to their lawns? I would not be too worried, but I would keep taking photos weekly so you will have a record of how this progresses. BTW, you've done a great job rescuing and releasing these little ones! When they stick around it's a ton of fun seeing them, but of course, as "parents", we all worry a lot too!

[astrll]

update time! first for the most recent thing i posted about, the fur loss on their hands is gone, same with the flea problem. i guess i was underestimating their revolution dose!

everyone is doing really well, not much has changed since the last update!

we still haven’t seen mooki since release we think we might’ve seen him a couple weeks ago but it’s a stretch. i’m maybe 40% sure it was him. i wish he’d come home! even muko came home for a bit, though he hasn’t been around for the past couple weeks.

speaking of muko! i don’t know if we ever mentioned but we’re 90% sure we know who the father is — boco! we’ve known boco since he was baby, he’s two years old now and still comes by.

when boco was a baby, we accidentally taught him to stand for nuts — he would stand a lot naturally when he was a baby and when we saw it we automatically gave him a treat (because it’s so stinking cute!!!). i guess he started associating standing with treats — once we realized and tried to get him to unlearn it, the habit had already set in. so he’s been standing all his life haha he can get really tall now!!! here’s a pic —



the funny thing is, muko inexplicably stands for treats too!!! i think he (along with the rest of the babies) must have been watching us interact with the wilds while they were in the enclosure and picked up a few things but it’s so funny that muko picked up a habit from his papa and he looks exactly like boco too! boco has always had this really distinct fur colour throughout the seasons and muko has it too.

daisy is doing really well, he’s thoroughly claimed the inside of our house to the point that we’re finding nuts in random places — he’s so sneaky! he still climbs us and lets us cuddle him too. in fact he’s here in my lap stealing fruit off my plate i really wasn’t expecting him to stay, much less be so close with us. when he was still in the enclosure, he seemed like he was itching to get away from us

pichi is doing well too but she’s no longer our little baby girl she’ll hand feed but generally doesn’t stick around. she used to sit on our shoulders to eat but that stopped a couple weeks ago too. she’s all grown up!

her head tilt/ticking was doing really well, almost non-existent! at most she got it very slightly once every other week. but since the temperatures dropped this week, we’ve been seeing her tilt/tick more often, so far for four days in a row. it’s lasted as long as 30 minutes and as short as 5 minutes.

i don’t know what to do about it. she seems to feel better if we can get her to slow down but since she doesn’t really stick around, it’s harder to get her to take a break. we could trap her in her enclosure but i don’t think she’ll be happy with that — she really really really seems to enjoy her independence. it’s actually been really nice to see her have her freedom — she had it rough in the enclosure.

pochi, moo, and bochi are also doing well! moo looks and acts more and more like muchi everyday whereas bochi looks SO MUCH like her uncle blue. we really got lucky with these names. muko is named after his parents (MUchi + boCO), moo is named after muchi (MUchi), and bochi is named after muchi and muchi’s brothers (Blue, wObbles, and muCHI)!

another funny thing! we know boco’s mom as well — honey! we’ve known honey for a really long time, longer than muchi even. i think my first post on tsb was about her! here’s a pic —



the thing is our balcony was 100% muchi’s territory (and now we know it’s because she was raising her babies in our roof) and muchi hated honey — no matter what, muchi would chase her off on sight. it’s really funny that muchi then had babies with her sworn enemy’s son after muchi passed away and the balcony wasn’t being “protected” anymore, honey claimed it immediately. UNTIL we released muchi’s babies just like muchi, moo absolutely hates honey. honey will be okay though, she’s a tough mama!

it’s so surreal to see muchi living on in her babies and to see how generations of squirrels interact with each other!

pochi, moo, and daisy still use the enclosure to nap in but i’d say pochi has claimed it. she doesn’t like when she sees one of her siblings in the enclosure, she’ll only allow daisy in it. i’m glad her and daisy bonded so much! sometimes we’ll see them napping together or grooming each other, it’s so sweet.

i also have no idea what daisy is up to but sometimes he’ll come at 3/4am to sleep the rest of the night, usually on windy nights. i think maybe one of his dreys isn’t good in the wind. i wish he wouldn’t travel at night but i’m glad he chooses home to take shelter!

moo basically visits the enclosure to do a morning and evening backflip on the chicken wire it’s consistently everyday without fail! and bochi likes to leap for her treats! she looks like she’s doing a slam dunk i’d say that moo and bochi are fighting for dominance over our balcony — out of all the babies, moo, bochi, and daisy are the most aggressive.

and finally our sweet, shy bunki isn’t so shy anymore! we’ve gotten to know her MUCH more than when she was in the enclosure. we rarely saw her when she was in the enclosure — she’d always hide. we had to give her milk through a hole in her nest box and now she happily hand feeds from us! they all hand feed from us but i was most shocked by bunki. i thought we scared her for the rest of her life, but she trusts us now.

they’re all getting their winter coats in and caching food like crazy. i hope they stay for the winter and i really hope mooki and muko come back!

that’s a longer update than i expected but i wanted to share with everyone as much as i can everyday i’m shocked that we took care of eight squirrels and absolutely floored by the overwhelming amount of support we received from tsb. we’ve been watching videos of when we were still taking care of them and it was hard work! it would have been impossible without tsb, especially olorin, samthesquirrel, and tomahawkflyers!

finally here’s a pic of our sweet muchi mama before she was laid to rest. i still miss her so so much