Questions - Weaning, Dehydration and Overwintering

[Baby Brutus]

Writing regarding our singleton grey squirrel, Brutus. (who happens to be a girl, *sigh* so I'm pretending it's short for Brutessa!)

I'd like to ask for some feedback and answers to a few questions please. We are first time squirrel parents, and quickly realized that caring for a squirrel is not easy, and I can honestly say that if not for this forum Brutus would not have made it! I have HUGE respect for those of you that rehab!

I was unsure which forum to start this, so please feel free to move it to another one if you feel it's appropriate.

For any that may remember and might be interested - The abscess on her shoulder cleared up after a few weeks on the antibiotic. Yay! And her fur grew back where she lost it, and is starting to fill in better and look more sleek like the images of healthy squirrels I've seen here.

We believe she is roughly 12 weeks old now (found her Aug 3, and it was 10 days later when she opened her eyes) The last time we were able to weigh her she was 307 grams. She is perhaps a bit behind, as she only started actually eating the Henry blocks about a week and a half ago. Prior to that she had been eating her formula very well, and was taking around 7-9% of her weight four times a day, but the last several days she has only been taking 3-6cc a couple times a day. I was thinking that sounded fairly normal since she is around the age where they wean themselves; is that correct?

We've been trying to follow the pyramid from Henry's, giving her two blocks a day, one in the morning and one in the evening and she seems to be eating the majority of them. She prefers the picky ones and tends to leave more of the healthy ones. Around noon we have given her a small handful of mostly lettuces or an occasional floret of broccoli or cauliflower. Tried cabbage but she didn't seem interested. Every other day maybe a baby carrot, (which she only recently actually began to eat and not just shred) or a small sliver of tomato, or a leaf of kale. Tried a brussel sprout yesterday but she only nibbled.

As for wild foods, she chews on small oak twigs, chews the bark off the maple branch we have for her to climb on in the cage, has chewed on a couple of small pine cones, and she has an antler but doesn't seem to chew on it much. She also has a lava block square we got at a pet store that she chews on occasionally. She has been licking and chewing on the hardware cloth of her cage, which I worry about. She is outgrowing her environment and any time the cage is opened she uses us as a human tree and it is getting more difficult to get her back in. (This wouldn't be so much of an issue, but we have a jealous little jack russel terrier to keep her away from and we have limited space) We have a safe, blocked off space in the laundry room with things for her to climb and jump on and take her in there for an hour or so each day. Most of the feedings from syringes tend to be through the hardware cloth now, otherwise she wants to run and climb more than eat or drink.

My concern is that she seems dehydrated. She has a water bottle in her cage and uses it often. I wish I could get a picture, but gosh when they start jumping and scrabbling around it is so HARD! Every time I try I get a blur! But to explain, her skin seems a little bit loose on her frame, and a little wrinkled under her arms along her tummy. We have tried to give her pedialyte but she takes maybe half a 3cc syringe and then isn't interested. Same with diluted apple juice, and honey water. I've also noticed that her urine is REALLY strong the past couple days as well. How do we get her to drink more?

Is there something we are doing that we shouldn't be? (Please be nice, we are truly trying!) Or anything we are missing that we should be doing?

The other questions are regarding overwintering, which to be honest, I'm kinda freaking out about. We live in northern MN which sees temps in the double digits below zero in winter. The leaves are about half gone from the trees already, so from what I've read the safest thing is to keep and release in the spring. But it's usually late April to mid May before trees have leaves again, and that is a solid SEVEN months! *insert terrified emoji here* With temps so low, and snowfall that the past couple of years has been four feet or higher in our yard, I don't think we have any choice but to overwinter inside. My husband is trying to draft out a larger cage on wheels, roughly 6 ft long by 6 ft high with a width that can fit through a door so we can hopefully use it in the spring for a release cage. Any advice on design?? and my other question is how to keep it clean???

In her current cage which is about 2ftx2ftx3ft we have a really big cookie sheet that we put a large dish drying mat on and stuffed in a pillow case to keep her from chewing on it, in the bottom of her cage that we clean out and change each night, but shes started doing more of a spraying stream when she pees that has been hitting the corner and soaking into the wood. Am trying to think of ways to make clean up easier in the new cage so that the whole house doesn't smell. I don't mean to sound awful, I really DO understand some things are unavoidable, but winter is SO long here and I want to do my best to try to make it bearable. What do you guys use to line the bottom of your indoor cages?? I was thinking maybe a kennel liner? but then wondered if it should be deeper?

Any suggestions/advice on how to help keep her occupied and not hating us by the end of winter would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!

[Baby Brutus]

[Mel1959]

I can tell by your post you are truly trying to do best for Baby Brutessa.

I’m not sure what to address first. Yes, being your location you will need to overwinter. It is stressful on all those involved. A larger cage will help through the long winter because you won’t feel compelled to get her out as often. Feeding through the cage bars is normal, or providing formula in a dish, is also normal at this age. Twelve weeks is an average age to begin weaning. As I said providing it in a dish may encourage her to continue to take the formula.

Regarding the water. Provide her with a shallow dish of water. I have used heavy ceramic or heavy hard plastic soap dishes for this. Others have put marbles in the bottom of a shallow dish so that their squirrels won’t stick their noses too far under the water when they drink. Providing both sources of water will allow her to choose which she is most comfortable with.

Continue to provide a variety of foods from the healthy food pyramid. One day she may turn her nose up at something and the next day eat it.

I will share my first experience rehabbing squirrels. I live in a Florida, so don’t overwinter, but just raising them to the point of going to the release cage was a challenge! My husband built a cage that was about 6 feet long by 3.5 feet wide and 5 feet tall. We kept it smack dab in the middle of our living area. I had a dog and multiple cats that were also inside but I didn’t know any better. Dumb me! The squirrels did fine and were released without incident, but we now know a better way of handling them.

We have built several release cages and the design that works best for us is to make it modular. You build an untreated pine frame out of 2.0” x 2.0” wood whatever the dimensions are of your finished cage size. Example if you want a cage that is 5 feet long and 3 feet wide and 5 feet tall then build two sides that dimension. The dimension of the depth of the cage should be no more that what can fit through a door opening. Staple your 1/2” hardware cloth to the frame then connect the wooden frames together with stainless screws. Don’t forget to allow a frame for the door. Once it’s put together with a roof and floor of hardware cloth you can put it on casters and roll it onto a sheet or old vinyl tablecloth that can be cleaned periodically. Assemble it so the stapled hardware cloth is on the INSIDE of the cage and the wood is inaccessible to chewing. When you have released Brutus the cage panels can be disassembled and stored until needed again. This design works perfectly for a release cage because the hardware cloth flooring can sit on the ground. You will need to provide a so,I’d roof when used as a release cage to keep the interior dry. We purchased heavy duty corrugated plastic roofing sheets from Home Depot and put them on top of the release cage and secured it with the special screws they sell that have a rubber gasket to prevent water infiltration.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions you can post them here or send me a private message. I can send you pics if you want me to.

[Buddy]

These are all relevant questions/concerns for me as well, so I'm listening here too. Thanks for posting and thanks for caring for your little squirrel with so much love!

[Buddy]

Bumping this for more ideas/recommendations on how successfully overwinter these babies...

Buddy has been really active and doesn't want to stay in the cage. My biggest concern is that he keeps chewing on the metal/cage. He has antler, branches, a clean stone.. Someone suggested pumice stones and I see this Amazon, is this and pumice stones are okay for squirrels?

https://www.amazon.com/Bwogue-Squirr...dp/B01NAQFWGE/

Anything else for him to stop chewing the cage? It breaks my heart (that I know he wants to be free and zooming around) and worries me (because he might hurt his teeth).

Also, he keeps pooping around everywhere when he is not in his cage, but I guess there's not much that can be done about it. I'm concerned about that, just because I have 2 young kids and I don't want them to get any kind of sickness etc. from the poop&pee.

[Mel1959]

How old is Buddy? Chewing the cage can lead to serious dental issues down the road.

[Buddy]

How old is Buddy? Chewing the cage can lead to serious dental issues down the road.

He is almost 12 weeks. We live in Chicago and our winters are pretty cold and he is a singleton, so I'm advised to overwinter him... and I'm concerned that he is already hard to keep in the cage.

[Baby Brutus]

New question, and boosting for additional input on old questions.

I found a small piece of what looks like a cross between driftwood and a loofah at hobby lobby but wanted to ask if it is a safe wood before making a toy out of it. The tag says “cholla wood”. Is it safe?

Tis the season of pumpkins and so wanted to ask about that for him as well - it isn’t on the Henry’s list, so first, can they have it? If so, which parts?


Also - For other newbies like me that may be looking for play ideas:

TJ Maxx is an inexpensive resource for toys. I found a three ring dog toy made of thick rope that Brutus loves to climb and swing on. It’s actually quite large, like a tug of war rope for a Big dog. Best $4.99 I’ve spent in a long time. �� I also got some plushie type toys for small dogs, 3 for $5.99. And some other bigger ones for $3-5 that you’d normally find in pet stores for over $10.

Another place is pet zone’s clearance bin. (or pet smart? Can’t remember which but I think both have them) usually two for $5. We live in a remote area so I usually stick up on these for our little dog, but found several that work for Brutus. Got several little plushies for him to wrestle with and if they get smelly I throw them in the wash with his bedding. I take pieces of fleece and hang them from the top of the cage and he likes to swing and kick at them. Most have a small squeaker in them, and goodness it would be quite the scene the day he accidentally squeezes it. I make sure they don’t have any kind of plastic eyes or nose that he could chew off.

Something I do with Brutus’s cage the last month or so is I rearrange it every night after I clean. (He sleeps in a tote with the heating pad under half.) So each morning he goes into his change and spends a good hour or so finding the new toys, hidden treasures. I try to change things up and offer different toys, change the direction of the stick, put tissue paper in various places for him to take to his nest. It’s all still familiar but different and he seems to enjoy it. Also let’s me find any stashes of things “Saved for later” too. Not sure how I’m going to do this once he goes into his big cage when we get it built, but thought I’d mention something he likes in case it helps others.

Again any advice and info on overwintering idea is greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you

[Mel1959]

My google search showed that cholla wood is non toxic to Pets. It also said that it’s a soft wood so it probably won’t do much for wearing his teeth down, but he might have fun shredding it.

All parts of the pumpkin are edible. Since Brutus is captive I’d go easy on the seeds for him, but any wild squirrels can have them. Many folks cut pumpkins in half or quarters and treat their wilds to it.

[Baby Brutus]

Thank you Mel. I’d googled it too, but wasn’t sure about squirrels since they have some odd restrictions. Thanks for confirming about the pumpkin.

[Rock Monkey]

Also, he keeps pooping around everywhere when he is not in his cage, but I guess there's not much that can be done about it. I'm concerned about that, just because I have 2 young kids and I don't want them to get any kind of sickness etc. from the poop&pee.

Pooping and peeing are how they mark their territory. Shrug. The poop dries pretty quickly and becomes hard. I have a brown Easter egg hunt every morning. It is just part of the burden I decided to take on in order to prevent her from becoming miserable and destroying all sorts of things. They do develop regular spots.

I go around with a damp rag and a small garbage can and then flush the sum total down the toilet. No need to disinfect each location. (It's a daily check about her health. So that way I stay on top of any issues.)

I wouldn't worry about your girls getting sick. I haven't noticed any adverse effects. I always scrub my hands after the hunt.

I think they poop they most in the morning. I let her get it ought of her system before I feed her.

[Buddy]

Pooping and peeing are how they mark their territory. Shrug. The poop dries pretty quickly and becomes hard. I have a brown Easter egg hunt every morning. It is just part of the burden I decided to take on in order to prevent her from becoming miserable and destroying all sorts of things. They do develop regular spots.

Yes, same... It's funny to see this little 12 grams of worm/alien looking thing turning into an almost full grown squirrel who thinks he is the boss!!