Age and Questions

[DoubleGi]

Hey guys, first time posting on here.

I’ve rehabbed a ton of animals before, but I’ve only done one squirrel previously and it was much older with just an injury so it was completely different.

I have two baby squirrels that I have been caring for since Friday. We were doing yard work and the guys cut down some dead trees and ended up finding the two. One boy one girl.

Mom had no interest in coming back (probably because we took her home and kids) and so I’ve been caring for them since. I contacted my rehab place but they said to that mom will come back; she hasn’t. They said this last time when I found myself caring for four baby raccoons, that mom would come back and leave them there. Um, mom was clearly dead on the street right next to me, I don’t think she’s coming back from the dead anytime soon. 🙄

Anyway, I have the fox valley formula coming and it should be here on Wednesday or so, hopefully. In the meantime I have them in an old rat cage in a fleece sloth/bed thing with a heat pad underneath. They can get out if they want and sometimes they do.

However I’m not positive on their age. Their eyes are open, as are their ears. They poop and pee on their own and they are mostly furred minus a little bit on the underside of their tail, which is starting to curl over their backs. But they only weigh about 95 grams each.

So I’m not sure if they are in fact five weeks and just small or if I’ve got some of my research wrong.

They also eat about 6CC per feeding and I feed them about every four hours but not overnight. Usually last feeding is at midnight and first feeding is at 8 am. They mostly sleep otherwise.

Questions are, am I correct in thinking they’re six weeks old even with them being less than 100 grams?

Should they be sleeping as much as they do?

Should I be taking them out for supervised “play” time? (Taking them out of their cage not outside)

And is there any other information that I’m missing about them?

Sorry for the super long post. Here are some photos of the two.

[Rock Monkey]

They look cute and healthy. Thank you for taking care of them.

With formula they should be fed 5-7% of body weight. One cc of water weighs one gram. So they seem to be getting the right amount. .06 x 95 = 5.7 g; .07 x 95 = 6.65 g

Below is a good video about proper feeding technique which is the best way to avoid problems. A one cc syringe with an o-ring on the plunger and a nipple is the most conservative way to go.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLjR...relsandmorellc

It is normal for them to sleep a lot when they are young. This will diminish as they get older.

Be sure to place the heating pad under only half of their cage so that they can get away from the heat if they want to.

Monitoring their weight and their poop is a good way to keep track of their health.

[Tuff]

In my limited experience I think they start curling their tail over their back at about 7 weeks. Make sure you have them a water bottle available, Henry’s blocks should be their first solid food. Look on Henry’s site for a feeding chart so you feed them the right things which can be introduced about now. Small amounts due to their main diet should be formula until around 15-16 weeks. Let them ween themselves. They look really good…if you have any questions just ask.