?-Diet, biting, and other questions

[GuitarAAC]

Hello everyone,

I have a wonderful squirrel named Oscar that we are taking care of. We plan to release in Spring. I have a few questions. I am not sure how old he is. I am thinking about 12 weeks or so. He loves to hang out with us, and likes to play.

I have a couple questions:
1) I have been feeding him Ebsilac milk, TWO Henry Blocks, and 2 handfulls (unlimted, really) of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, romaine lettuce. I'll give him a piece of banana, avocado, or blueberry RARELY. He seems to want something harder to chew on. Should I be giving him NUTS at 12 weeks?? The HBB have nuts in them but I wonder if I should also be giving him 2 nuts a day at this age. The Henry feeding thing doesnt specify AGE. Also, can they have more than 2 HBB?

2) I am pretty sure he is weaning, because we offer him milk and he often rejects it. BUT... HE HAS BEEN CHEWING OFF THE END OF THE SYRINGES We immediately get him to drop the piece of plastic. But WHAT CAN I DO? I dont think there are steel syringes? He is also sucking a lot less.

3) We are planning to add much more chew stuff for him, because he has been biting much more. Is there anything I can do to prevent a hard bite? Do you think I should get some winter gloves for playing time?

Thanks so much. We love Oscar!

[HRT4SQRLS]

Hi Guitar, I have (4) 12 week old squirrels. They have reached the teenage stage. They can be quite naughty. I plan to release them on Thanksgiving week. Of course, I'm in FL so November releases are common. My girls have weaned. They were getting spotty with their willingness to take a syringe so I stopped. They also used it as an opportunity to escape and run like fools. I give them formula in a bowl and they are taking it from a bowl. If yours is chewing the nipple I would try the bowl.

Because the HHB are a supplement block I would only give 2 blocks to a 12 week old. You could give a rodent block but I doubt he would eat it after tasting the HHB. I start mine on Harlan Teklad block and they eat it fine when that's all they know. I have been adding the HHB's now.

The nut question is problematic. I suppose a single squirrel could have A single nut as a treat. I can't give mine nuts as the introduction of nuts to a group causes them to fight. I don't want to encourage that right now so I'm holding off until they get in the release cage. Squirrels get a little cuckoo when a nut is involved. Don't let him store them as he will get aggressive protecting his stash. You could give him an in shell nut to file the teeth. It will occupy his time, file the teeth and satisfy the chewing desire. Again, I'm holding off with my gang of 4. They also enjoy chewing small branches from safe trees. I give them oak branches.

[TamiKakes]

My lil girl is about 9 weeks/going on 10 weeks old. She has chewed the ever living #$÷* out of the syringe. She too, is not sucking but more lapping at it starting like 2 days ago. Got a new syringe thinking the sharp-ish edges was to blame....nope, still lapping and she wont go near a miracle nipple.
(I wasted a good $15 on sirynges and miracle nipples that have been rendered useless)

Grab some sticks/branches from the yard, or purchase some apple sticks for him to chew.

I bought a safe, untreated board of wood at home depot and had them cut it into diff. Lengths and then attached hanger bolts and wing nuts to them for ledges/perches in her cage to sit on and she loves to chew on those.

Heres a pic of the ledges I made. And I got that hang toy of wood from Petco for like $5

[Sottinger]

My lil girl is about 9 weeks/going on 10 weeks old. She has chewed the ever living #$÷* out of the syringe. She too, is not sucking but more lapping at it starting like 2 days ago. Got a new syringe thinking the sharp-ish edges was to blame....nope, still lapping and she wont go near a miracle nipple.
(I wasted a good $15 on sirynges and miracle nipples that have been rendered useless)

Grab some sticks/branches from the yard, or purchase some apple sticks for him to chew.

I bought a safe, untreated board of wood at home depot and had them cut it into diff. Lengths and then attached hanger bolts and wing nuts to them for ledges/perches in her cage to sit on and she loves to chew on those.

Heres a pic of the ledges I made. And I got that hang toy of wood from Petco for like $5

Amazing idea Tami. I purchased lava ledges for Nibbles to sit on and all sorts of wood chews. I never once thought of getting a custom wood perch. I spend loads of money on wood branch perches before it occurred to me to call a landscaper I knew.

[TamiKakes]

Amazing idea Tami. I purchased lava ledges for Nibbles to sit on and all sorts of wood chews. I never once thought of getting a custom wood perch. I spend loads of money on wood branch perches before it occurred to me to call a landscaper I knew.

I had chinchillas in the past and made all thier ledges and perches this way. Reading how bad any sort of plastic what so ever is bad for them, and the wire floors made me paranoid as all hell. So I made them ledges and shelves. Makes it easy to rearrange and move too.
This was thier cage.

[GuitarAAC]

Hi Guitar, I have (4) 12 week old squirrels. They have reached the teenage stage. They can be quite naughty. I plan to release them on Thanksgiving week. Of course, I'm in FL so November releases are common. My girls have weaned. They were getting spotty with their willingness to take a syringe so I stopped. They also used it as an opportunity to escape and run like fools. I give them formula in a bowl and they are taking it from a bowl. If yours is chewing the nipple I would try the bowl.

Because the HHB are a supplement block I would only give 2 blocks to a 12 week old. You could give a rodent block but I doubt he would eat it after tasting the HHB. I start mine on Harlan Teklad block and they eat it fine when that's all they know. I have been adding the HHB's now.

The nut question is problematic. I suppose a single squirrel could have A single nut as a treat. I can't give mine nuts as the introduction of nuts to a group causes them to fight. I don't want to encourage that right now so I'm holding off until they get in the release cage. Squirrels get a little cuckoo when a nut is involved. Don't let him store them as he will get aggressive protecting his stash. You could give him an in shell nut to file the teeth. It will occupy his time, file the teeth and satisfy the chewing desire. Again, I'm holding off with my gang of 4. They also enjoy chewing small branches from safe trees. I give them oak branches.

Thank you so much! This is all very helpful!! He loves his Henry block! Almost biting my finger to get it 😂. I’ll sit on the nuts. I think I want to find it from a good squirrel friendly source