New Squirrel Mom! Help appreciated!

[jaj67337]

Good morning everyone I am new to to this group and am in need of some advice. We found a baby squirrel at our fair a week and a half ago and I promptly got online and read about pinkies. I rehydrated her with pedialyte for about 12 hours e or so before trying formula. I got some esbilac puppy replacer at our feed store. I read initially 1 part formula to 2 parts distilled water but since have read that distilled is a no no so now I’m using tap water then also an 1/8 of a part HWC. She has always been hungry and very responsive however she only weighed 17 grams when o found her and now is still only up to 23 grams. Her skin looks a very dry despite applying and reapplying baby oil multiple times along with a mug of water in her enclosure. She has a heating pad on low and had been peeing and pooping well until a couple days ago now is not pooping and urine seems to be a little more colored. From reading development charts etc she looks to be between 2-3 weeks but only weighs 23 grams 🤷*♀️ I have ultraboost ordered and I have been stimulating her since day one. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Mel1959]

Try hydrating her with plain water sweetened slightly with some honey or sugar…just for taste. Offer the water BETWEEN feedings, NOT in place of a feeding. Dehydrated babies will not eat well. The lack of poop could be from not consuming enough food to generate poop.

When your Ultraboost arrives add it to the formula slowly. Mix up your formula using 25% Ultraboost to 75% Esbilac powder. Then add your hot water at the normal ratio which is 2:1 water to powder.

Go slow with giving the water as it’s a different consistency and you don’t want the baby to inhale it. Also, make sure your formula is warm enough. Most babies like their formula pretty warm but be careful to not have it too warm so that it won’t burn its mouth.

[CritterMom]

Is the baby in a cardboard box? If so, cardboard sucks water/moisture from the environment and may be responsible. A little sterlite container with holes plus your mug (don't just put water in it - loosly crumple a paper towel and saturate that in the mug - more surface area = more moisture in the air) should help.

You are doing well so far - have you read this? If not, do so - 6 pages, it is the best step by step I have seen: https://www.henryspets.com/1-baby-squirrel-care-guide/

Giving us a few pics would be very helpful.

[jaj67337]

Yes thank you I have read the 6 page information from Henry’s Pets and it was very informative! I will try the paper towel trick in the mug and yes I have her in a sterilite container. I will get a pic posted 😉

[jaj67337]

My Tilly girl

[Charley Chuckles]

Welcome glad your here and glad your getting the advice you need👍
Tilly is a dolly 💓

[CritterMom]

Need a side pic - or maybe from above - we want to assess him overall. He OBVIOUSLY passes the cute test!

How much does he eat per feeding? You know the 5-7% of body weight rule??

[jaj67337]

I am not good at uploading pictures 🙈

[jaj67337]

Ms. Tilly eats 1 ml every feeding 😊

[Spanky]

Ms. Tilly eats 1 ml every feeding 😊

1ml is not quite the bare minimum she should be eating and her weight gain (or lack thereof) is a concern.

Is the Esbilac being fed the powdered Esbilac?

How often is Ms Tilly being fed?

SquirrelBoard Feeding CheatSheet.pdf

[jaj67337]

She is being fed Esbilac powder with prebiotics and probiotics every 2 hours. I try to get her to take more but she starts getting full and falls asleep even though I try to get her to wake up.

[jaj67337]

She pooped multiple times yesterday and is up to 27 grams today !😊💖