Flyer v. glue trap

[SammysMom]

Okay, I got this little one a little while ago. A local ACO took the time to seek me out and for that I am grateful. However, I am not sure I can really do what this guy needs done. I have gotten him off of the trap with vegetable oil (Thank-you Pappy!), but the glue is still all over him... I have washed him a little bit, but God I have to get this glue off of him! Anyone got any secrets to accomplishing this?

[CritterMom]

You are just going to have to divide him into "quadrants" and work on them one at a time with the oil. I have read that peanut butter will work too but what is causing that is the oil in the PB so I think just continuing with oil is your best bet and non toxic. When done, get as much of the oil off of him as you can so he doesn't groom it off and get the runs from too much oil. Poor, poor baby. God I hate those traps.

[megatronisabeast]

I read that if you use cooking oil and rub with a towel it can come off.

[SammysMom]

I will get to work on this poor guy in a few minutes. I am letting him warm up before I attack him AGAIN.
The manufacturing of these traps should be outlawed!

[stosh2010]

once you finally remove all the glue--Dawn and water will help to remove the oil.

[Sara in NW MS]

That poor baby. The image of him being stuck to that trap like that is going to haunt me. Bless you for putting all this time and effort into helping him. That's going to be a long process getting rid of the glue!
I'm going to say this for the little guy... thank you for saving him.

[stepnstone]

Poor little baby, this is so sad.
Heart wrenching to see his little body glued down like that.
It's going to take time and patience like you don't have anything
else to do but you are his only chance.
Thank you for being there.

[island rehabber]

IT will work, SM...we have freed countless little house mice and deer mice from those damn things, and once a sparrow too. Good old cheap corn oil (Wesson) works well.....patience and just keep telling the poor sweetie everything will be ok.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Oh dear God ... this makes me sick.

Gayle, page 145 in the WildMammalBaby book addresses this. It says that the oil that you're using can be warmed to 95-100* and working into the fur. That might make it come off easier. IDK.
I would use scissors also as needed.

This is so horrible.

[SammysMom]

Well, I will give this girl (I think) an "A" for effort! She is trying to bite me at every chance... Funny how that is a good thing when you are a rehabber. It means there is life left in them to fight. This is going to be a very long uphill fight too.
I don't see how the oil will ever come off... I still have glue on her, but it is getting better I think. Thanks for the thoughts and ideas to help her. I will definitely warm the oil next round. She quite literally looks like a drowned rat!

[Squirreleesi]

my mom's blind cat got herself tangled up in a Raid Fly Ribbon..She said swears by DAWN, the blue one, with warm water. It was able to get all of the gunk out of her fur

[SammysMom]

I now have a very angry, oily little flyer on my hands. She still has glue on her, but it is coming off. We both needed a break. On a really positive note, she took hydration willingly and seems a bit more active.
How far do I push this washing thing tonight? Is it more stressful for her to be greasy or to be washed? Since we are this far, I really don't want the anxiety to kill her at this point.

[pappy1264]

I would let her rest tonight, just keep pushing hydration, if it were me. She has been through alot.

[Fireweed]

Why are humans so freaking cruel?

Sounds like the glue is starting to come off. Good she's a fighter. She'll be loving you once she gets some food in her and is all squeaky clean.

[LaurelLynn]

I just don't understand how you could invent something like a glue trap, how you could ever USE one or why they are even allowed. ... what a horrible way that would be to die. It breaks my heart

[Monipenny]

OMG that poor baby! I am so glad that someone found her and got her to you. How wonderful of you to care so meticulously for this baby. She's confused about the whole ordeal now but soon I think she will be so grateful for all your efforts to free her from that awful trap and clean that glue off of her.

Do you think she has earned the name squeaky (for squeaky clean) when all this is done? You are the hero of the day!

[crazy4squirrels]

Poor little girl. Let her and you rest.
Dawn tomorrow...lol not at dawn but wash her tomorrow. Prayers

[Nancy in New York]

Take care of that little one, she/he is in the best of hands.
I cannot imagine an oily flyer, like they aren't hard enough to hold onto anyway.
That poor poor baby.
When you get a minute, probably sometime in November, can you give us the story?

[SammysMom]

No big story, just a sad one... An ACO from a couple of towns over called me this afternoon. He said he had a baby squirrel that someone brought in that was caught in a glue trap. Of course, you know me, too dumb to say I'm full...lol I told him to come along with her. I opened the door for him and there he was with that poor flyer in a HUGE glue trap. I tried to get him to take off without the grand tour, but that wasn't happening. So I apologized for the smell and mess and ushered him into the squirrel circus I live in. He was so fascinated by them that I thought he wouldn't ever leave.
As soon as he did I started putting oil on her and the trap since Pappy looked it up for me and said that was the suggestion. I got her face off and stuck a paper towel under it to get her off of the glue and not drown her in the oil I was pouring around her.
It looks like she probably tried to chew her own leg off to free herself, but her head must have gotten stuck and it prevented her from finishing the job (thank goodness!). I poured oil and worked her off a little at a time until she was freed. Crying all the while because it was so horrible...
I have since been using a towel with oil to try to clean her off a bit at a time. She looks horrible because of being drenched in oil. She didn't want hydration at first, but after a while she started to take it happily. She took several 3cc syringes of it and I was feeding babies so I offered her formula. She took 3cc once and 2.5cc the next time. That just thrilled me to no end! I have her in a tote in pillowcase material so as not to have her totally stuck on fuzz. I pray that I will find her alive in the morning. However, should she pass overnight, I will still be glad to have freed her. No living thing should know that terror EVER. I would love to get my hands on the idiots who did this to her and do it to them.
All in all, I am falling in love with flyers...
Thank-you all for the prayers and information to help me to help her.

[Nancy in New York]

No big story, just a sad one... An ACO from a couple of towns over called me this afternoon. He said he had a baby squirrel that someone brought in that was caught in a glue trap. Of course, you know me, too dumb to say I'm full...lol I told him to come along with her. I opened the door for him and there he was with that poor flyer in a HUGE glue trap. I tried to get him to take off without the grand tour, but that wasn't happening. So I apologized for the smell and mess and ushered him into the squirrel circus I live in. He was so fascinated by them that I thought he wouldn't ever leave.
As soon as he did I started putting oil on her and the trap since Pappy looked it up for me and said that was the suggestion. I got her face off and stuck a paper towel under it to get her off of the glue and not drown her in the oil I was pouring around her.
It looks like she probably tried to chew her own leg off to free herself, but her head must have gotten stuck and it prevented her from finishing the job (thank goodness!). I poured oil and worked her off a little at a time until she was freed. Crying all the while because it was so horrible...
I have since been using a towel with oil to try to clean her off a bit at a time. She looks horrible because of being drenched in oil. She didn't want hydration at first, but after a while she started to take it happily. She took several 3cc syringes of it and I was feeding babies so I offered her formula. She took 3cc once and 2.5cc the next time. That just thrilled me to no end! I have her in a tote in pillowcase material so as not to have her totally stuck on fuzz. I pray that I will find her alive in the morning. However, should she pass overnight, I will still be glad to have freed her. No living thing should know that terror EVER. I would love to get my hands on the idiots who did this to her and do it to them.
All in all, I am falling in love with flyers...
Thank-you all for the prayers and information to help me to help her.

WOW this is terribly sad Gayle. The thoughts of her trying to chew off her leg.
I too am glad she is free and I am praying big time that she makes it back to the trees.
She is loved and cared for, but we want more.
Prayes coming for your little one, and thank you again, you never cease to amaze me
with what you do, and all the difficult cases you have handled, this year alone!