Common Mistakes and fixes

[awolf]

Nancy I was wonder the same exact thing regarding exposure. I am going to try and post pictures of the totes, but I have to do that from my phone, and then find this message. *Haven't figured out how to follow things.

My cat would be ok so thankful if there was no lid.

Sorry just can not get the photos to load from my Google Album, but I can include the link to the folder. The last photo shows the set up the totes.

Thanks for taking a look and giving me feed back.

[awolf]

Sorry just can not get the photos to load from my Google Album, but I can include the link to the folder. The last photo shows the set up the totes.

Thanks for taking a look and giving me feed back.

Here is the link for the photos https://goo.gl/photos/3EhZpeN4DfkQGyqb6

[HRT4SQRLS]

The pics are awesome.

One thing I wanted to mention is the heating pad. It should be under the bin, not in it. Because they chew everything, an electric cord in the bin is dangerous.

Didn't you say Girl Squirrel was 6 weeks old? She looks older than that to me. I'm not that familiar with fox squirrels though. They are much larger than our tiny FL greys. I wish we had them here.

[awolf]

Thank you. The the heat pad will be moved. She is going to be soo angry when I do that, she loves the heat pad. Safety first.

I am absolutely shocked at how big she is getting. Her mom was huge too.

[Lucy's Luck]

Suggestions on heating up the formula? and where do you get Harlan Teklad? and if refrigerated how long should one keep a bag of rodent blocks?

Directions are on the bag. 3 months, once opened. You can also freeze an unopened bag.

[Lucy's Luck]

Hello, I'm new here. May I add never use cardboard boxes to keep your babies in as it can pull the moisture out of the air. Learned this the hard way recently and now I am trying to soothe their poor cracked skin (it literally happened in a few short hours after keeping them in the box for a week...the cracking I mean...they were obviously drying out all week!).

Cardboard boxes are also very filthy.

[Lucy's Luck]

Amen! I make my living typing from home and lost more than one keyboard from squirrel pee. I think it was because that keyboard kept me from playing with her. I have found keyboard skins on line. Best thing ever made!

Small jars are much healthier than plastic.

[Lucy's Luck]

Suggestions on heating up the formula? and where do you get Harlan Teklad? and if refrigerated how long should one keep a bag of rodent blocks?

Hot water from the tap, and Amazon. Read the bag.

[Gray Squirrel]

Always mix formula with plain tap water or spring water. NEVER with Pedialyte or distilled water.

A question that you probably should ask is how good is your tap water what is in it? Not all tap water is the same. Probably not a spring water is the same.

[Gray Squirrel]

It might be a good idea to practice using a syringe (you could use water) to learn how a syringe reacts when you try to go slow before feeding a squirrel with it. I think O-ring syringes are the best because they work smoothly but they are not all the same. Some O-ring syringes move so easily that a squirrel may be able to suck hard enough to get too much formula too fast. I think even pinkies can suck hard enough to do this. The shaft of the plunger can be pinched next to the syringe to slow the plunger and moved by a sort rolling of the fingertips if it needs some help moving. Perhaps others may have a better way to do this or can explain it better.
Although practice before using a syringe may help it I important to realize that it would be hard to simulate a squirrel sucking hard, but I think that practicing with the syringe you are going to use before you use it is still be a good idea.

[Gray Squirrel]

Thank you. The the heat pad will be moved. She is going to be soo angry when I do that, she loves the heat pad. Safety first.

I am absolutely shocked at how big she is getting. Her mom was huge too.

What is the new tote made of? Plastic containers are recommended and cardboard dehydrates, but I always wonder if plastic can be giving off something bad , especially if it is on a heating pad. I have been wondering if there is not some kind of material that is better than plastic to keep young squirrel in. I do not know what might be better than plastic, may be a wooden box made out of some kind of thin wood. Some plastics and synthetic do give of gases.

[Pauladavelle]

Always mix formula with plain tap water or spring water. NEVER with Pedialyte or distilled water.

I read last night to use pedialyte if baby was dehydrated? So now confused, I haven't done this as we just brought him home, or should I say he followed my daughter home from the park, and pretty much claimed her as his. I've never seen anything like it before, I was quite literally shocked.

[Nancy in New York]

I read last night to use pedialyte if baby was dehydrated? So now confused, I haven't done this as we just brought him home, or should I say he followed my daughter home from the park, and pretty much claimed her as his. I've never seen anything like it before, I was quite literally shocked.

What 4skwerlz wrote was NOT to mix formula with Pedialyte or distilled water.
Mix formula with PLAIN Water or tap water.

You can hydrate with homemade pedialyte, or Pedialyte.:
From 4skwerlz site, the recipe for homemade.

Homemade Rehydration Fluid

1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar or apple juice
2 cups warm water
Store in refrigerator. Discard after 24 hours.

Note: If the baby refuses fluids, try leaving out the salt.

It's no unusal for a little squirrel to walk up to anyone looking for herlp.
The will even approach other animals.
Can you post a picture, and also let us know what you are feeding etc.

Here is a "crash course" in baby squirrel care.
It's 6 short concise pages long with the next button at the top right corner.

https://www.henryspets.com/baby-squirrel-care/

.

[Pauladavelle]

I changed my profile pic with a pic of My daughter holding Sammy, as he has been christened. He's eating solid food, found out by pure accident he LOVES yogurt, little guy tried to eat it right out of my mouth, I just happened to be eating some when I went outside to see my daughter's "new friend". After some debating we decided he was too little to leave outside. We have a lot of hawks in our area. So we made a mad dash to Walmart and petsmart. $150 later we got the biggest ferret cage we could find, and four different kinds of rodent food mix and naturals "salad greens" because we weren't sure what he would like or eat. He spent a lot of time eating. We bought him a water bottle but ended up just using a small ceramic sauce cup for water. I told my daughter to check the bottle this morning and if she didn't see any decrease in the fluid amount to try a bowl so he didn't go to long without water and he sucked it right up out of the bowl. His food and water dish are ceramic because I read not to use plastic because they will chew them up. I sent my husband a msg already to stop on his way home and pick up a rodent block and hard chew toys. In researching today I learned they need about 50% of heir diet to be the rodent block and need to chew a lot because their teeth never stop growing. Found you guys and started avidly readin through posts because I don't want to do something wrong for the little guy. And this book pretty much brings y'all up to speed on the last 18 hours of my life lol.

[stepnstone]

Thank you. The the heat pad will be moved. She is going to be soo angry when I do that, she loves the heat pad. Safety first.
I am absolutely shocked at how big she is getting. Her mom was huge too.

If she still needs it you do not have to remove the heating pad altogether,
just remove from inside the bin and place (half) under the bin.

[JLynne]

Really? I’ve read on so many different sites to mix with distilled water

[JLynne]

Oh wait I think I meant purified.

[Spanky]

Really? I’ve read on so many different sites to mix with distilled water

Oh wait I think I meant purified.

No to distilled water. Tap is okay (if you drink your tap water) otherwise use bottled water.

[Somya]

One more tonight and then I'm off to bed.




Mixing formulas using Pedialyte or other hydration fluids

Can actually cause dehydration - just the opposite of what we want. This happens because the proper balance of salts is thrown off and the formula draws fluids from the body as it passes through the digestive tract. It is much safer to either add a mini feeding of plain fluids between normal feedings or to alternate feedings of formula with ones of just fluids.

I was actually searching for this i don't mix hydration formula with milk formula so i satrted giving them in betweens but wanted to understand how much should I be giving cuz over feeding is fatal after all and they need hydration too

Also instead of adding salt or making hydration formula i use sweetened water so that it can energize the babies so please guide me how do I give my babies in betweens and how much quantity is good for them

[Mel1959]

Give them no more hydration fluid then the 5-7% of their body weight (which is the amount of formula you’re giving per feeding) in between normal feeding times. The 5-7% amount is the approximate capacity of their stomach which is based on their weight. They probably will not need hydration fluids between every feeding, just occasionally.