First time squirrel mama has a few questions for the experts!

[Rabs]

Greetings fellow squirrel lovers!
Found my 2 gray squirrel babies at about 4 1/2 weeks with eyes closed. Male is Bean, female is Nugget. Real characters.

Three weeks later they are healthy and happy, and love snuggling in my shirt in their Crown Royal bag!

My husband made them an excellent cage!


So while all is good, I have some questions:

1. It is too late in the season to release them this year. What should I expect this winter - will they hibernate at all, or will all be normal because they are in the heat of the house?

2. How old are they when they mate? If I can't release them until Spring do I need to worry about that?

3. I put a litter box in the cage a few days ago, and they are actually using it! I read something about concern over the ingredients in other posts, and they do nibble at it a bit. I got Marshall Fresh & Clean Ferret Litter, which lists the only ingredient as "clean virgin paper." Should this be alright?

4. My Nugget is a serious piglet when nursing. She gets the formula all over herself. I have been wiping her down with a warm, slightly soapy cloth, then one without soap then drying her, but her fur still gets stiff sometimes. Does anyone have any tips or tricks for keeping messy eaters clean?

5. I'm going to look for pine cones for their cage. Are there any that are best? Any that are dangerous to them?

6. While still nursing, they love to nibble on grapes, avocado and walnuts, but don't seem interested at all in the rodent blocks. I am seriously limiting the snacks, hoping they will eat the better food, but it doesn't seem to be working. Is there a brand or type of rodent block that your babies like best?



Thanks for all your wisdom!
Loving my babies,
Rabs

[HRT4SQRLS]

Wow, those are seriously BEAUTIFUL babies. We don’t have black squirrels where I live. I wish we did.

The cage is awesome. Hubby did a great job. I do worry a little about the size for such young babies. A fall in a cage that large could result in a serious injury. I usually graduate them to a baby cage before they go into a larger cage like that one. I use a low profile, small animal cage that is about 2 feet tall. They master their climbing skills without the risk a long fall. Just a thought.

I believe you’re in Michigan. I’m in FL so we aren’t even thinking about winter at this point.
Yes, you are correct. By the time the babies would be old enough to release it would undoubtedly be too cold to release in MI, the trees would be bare and they wouldn’t have food stashed away. Tree squirrels don’t hibernate so they will be active all winter. You are very lucky to have two babies. They will entertain each other through the long winter ahead. Squirrels get very bored during the winter and can be quite a handful. My guess is that by the time spring comes, you’ll be happy to release them.

Yes, your litter selection of virgin paper sounds fine. I use Carefresh but yours should be fine.

They can have pine ones. The only problem with the pine ones is the sticky sap. When that gets in their fur, it is a mess.

As far as the diet, you need to follow the food pyramid. I’ll get a link for you. Babies don’t get nuts. They are super unhealthy and they will become picky eaters. They won’t eat healthy if they know about nuts. Of course they love nuts but they can’t have them until they are much older and even then, they are limited to one per day. If I was overwintering squirrels I would NOT give them any nuts at all. Nuts also make them aggressive and crazy. They will fight over nuts and begin to stash them. When they have a stash of hidden nuts they will become very aggressive. They want to protect their nut stash and they will attack you over it. It’s best to avoid this problem completely. Are you familiar with Metabolic Bone Disease? If not, read about it. The number one cause of MBD is feeding nuts and other high phosphorus foods. It is deadly. The only exception to the NO nuts thing is I might give them an inshell nut once a month to help file the teeth down. Black walnuts are great for this as they are super hard and have very little nut inside.

I would buy some Envigo Teklad 2018 rodent block. You can buy it at Amazon. This is a staple block and can be fed free choice. This other block is a supplement block. It is from Henry’s Healthy Pets. It is a high protein block made specifically for squirrels. I’ll get a link to that as well. It is highly palatable so they usually eat it well. It has a pecan base. This is not a free choice block. They will get one per day now and two per day when they are older. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Healthy diet for pet or captive squirrels.

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...5&d=1391033425

https://henryspets.com/hi-protein-blocks/

Henry’s also sells a picky eater block if they won’t eat the high protein block. I have flyers that love the picky eater block but won’t eat the high protein block.

[Rabs]

Healthy diet for pet or captive squirrels.

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...5&d=1391033425

https://henryspets.com/hi-protein-blocks/

Henry’s also sells a picky eater block if they won’t eat the high protein block. I have flyers that love the picky eater block but won’t eat the high protein block.

Thanks SO much for all your good advice!

Bean and Nugget are in their 7th week I think. Their eyes opened on August 29th. When we put them in the cage at first, we blocked off access to the bottom areas, and they could only use the top level. It worked great. As they got proficient at stick and wire mesh climbing we gave them access to the rest. They are crazy little climbers now and loving all the fun things to climb on. They haven't quite caught onto the wheel yet, but I'm sure that will come. They are also starting to get curious about the world outside the cage, and try to sneak out sometimes.

You are right about having 2. They entertain themselves really well. Wrestling is their favorite pass-time, and I really enjoy joining in. They nibble my fingers during the play, but have never bitten down.

I'm glad you told me about the cones! I just put a spruce cone in last night and just now pulled it out. They hadn't bothered it too much. Hopefully its not too toxic. Mommas do worry.

Most of all I'm glad to know about the nuts! I had never heard this info! I will definitely follow your advice on that to the letter! The food pyramid I downloaded doesn't tell about that.

I'll order your rodent block choices right away. The stuff I got was out of a bulk container at the pet store, so I really don't know what it is.

Gratefully,
Rabs

[Rabs]

Here are some more recent pics. Aren't they adorable? But then... I'm not biased or anything.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Biased or not, those are beautiful squirrels. They are jet black. I want one of those.

Hey, I don’t think the spruce cones are toxic, just messy. If I’m not mistaken I think that is the primary diet of red squirrels. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

[HRT4SQRLS]

The food pyramid doesn’t specifically say anything about the nuts but it does have the nuts and treats at the top indicating that they should be fed in the smallest amounts. A few for a treat is fine and won’t kill them but the other issues of aggression and fighting over them just isn’t worth it especially if you’re overwintering. I will usually give them a few nuts when they are in the release cage. At that point they will soon be free so I’m not as concerned.

By the way, great job on limiting the amount of the cage they could access when small.

[Rabs]

Ha Ha! Don't let my husband hear you say you want one! He'll want to drive down and drop them off to you!

[HRT4SQRLS]

It’s a LONG drive! If he thinks it’s rough now, he ain’t seen nothing yet.
Just wait until March and they are hellion teenagers wanting to be free. Yeah, that’s rough.

[Rabs]

What about the mating question - do I need to worry about that? I don't know if I'm ready for a whole litter? Please tell me they will be too young for that before Spring!

[HRT4SQRLS]

Oh, you mean THEM mating. I thought you meant when they were free. Squirrels (except flyers ) don’t breed well in captivity.
It has happened in a few cases but it is very rare. You will see them mounting each other in what looks like mating but it is part of their play.
That is very common so don’t get worried.

[LoriKrisler]

[QUOTE=Rabs;1336893]Here are some more recent pics. Aren't they adorable? But then... I'm not biased or anything.



They are so beautiful!!!🥰