Found a lethargic 5 week baby squirrel - HELP!!!

[sabphil]

Hi everyone!

I found a little baby squirrel last night in my neighbors front yard. On the advice of wildlife rehab, i put him in a box with a blanket and put a heat pad underneath. He seemed calm and fine and even a bit feisty earlier! I tried putting the box out in the tree to see if mom would come back for him but she didnt.

I wanted to try again tomorrow but now he is so lethargic. i can pet him and handle him with almost no reaction. I tried pedialyte and esbilac earlier with a syringe but he wont take it. he just sits with his mouth closed and refuses. i dont know how to do it correctly. I'm a total newbie but want to keep him alive until i can take him to a rehab center tomorrow! please help!

[sabphil]

Hi everyone!

I found a little baby squirrel last night in my neighbors front yard. On the advice of wildlife rehab, i put him in a box with a blanket and put a heat pad underneath. He seemed calm and fine and even a bit feisty earlier! I tried putting the box out in the tree to see if mom would come back for him but she didnt.

I wanted to try again tomorrow but now he is so lethargic. i can pet him and handle him with almost no reaction. I tried pedialyte and esbilac earlier with a syringe but he wont take it. he just sits with his mouth closed and refuses. i dont know how to do it correctly. I'm a total newbie but want to keep him alive until i can take him to a rehab center tomorrow! please help!

UPDATE: he did finally accept a little pedialyte and esbilac!

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Hi everyone!

I found a little baby squirrel last night in my neighbors front yard. On the advice of wildlife rehab, i put him in a box with a blanket and put a heat pad underneath. He seemed calm and fine and even a bit feisty earlier! I tried putting the box out in the tree to see if mom would come back for him but she didnt.

I wanted to try again tomorrow but now he is so lethargic. i can pet him and handle him with almost no reaction. I tried pedialyte and esbilac earlier with a syringe but he wont take it. he just sits with his mouth closed and refuses. i dont know how to do it correctly. I'm a total newbie but want to keep him alive until i can take him to a rehab center tomorrow! please help!

Hi Sabphil and thanks for finding The Squirrel Board and thank you for caring about this baby Squirrel! Do you know for certain that you can take your Squirrel to "a Rehab Center Tomorrow?" If so, do you know that they will care for this Squirrels and raise him through a soft-release. Not all "rehab centers are the same and some simply euthanize a baby Squirrel that is brought to them! You can ask them! Also, if you don't mind posting the name of the rehab center, one or more of our members may be familiar with the facility and offer an opinion!

Are your Squirrels eyes open? has he developed fur? I'm just trying to get an idea as to how old he might be. Eyes open around 5 weeks. Do you have a digital scale with which to weigh him. I have pasted a link to Henry's Pets Baby Squirrel Care Guide which is 6 pages of clear, concise information on Squirrel Care: https://www.henryspets.com/1-baby-squirrel-care-guide/

The heating blanket should be an always on variety and usually kept on low. Henry's describes this and most every bit of Baby Squirrel Care well. It is usually assumed that any "new intake" baby Squirrel is significantly dehydrated. I know that this is why you tried the Pedialyte and Esbilac BUT there is a necessary order that must be followed to ensure that all of the potential benefits from your interventions can come to fruition. First of all, the Baby must be warmed before he can deal with oral fluids for rehydration and maintenance and also formula and food! So, the baby needs to be warmed first!

Then, I would suggest giving him some warm (about 105 degrees F) plain water that can be sweetened with honey, molasses or syrup (Henry's recommends 1 teaspoon of the sweetener to one cup of the water and that works quite very well). I would not use the Pedialyte as the baby most likely has NOT lost a electrolytes such as sodium and chloride and Pedialyte contains a high concentration of these! When an animal becomes dehydrated from not drinking, their fluid loss is almost entirely water and not electrolytes so their electrolyte concentration becomes ,ore concentrated and using Pedialyte can make this worse!

If your intent is to take the baby Squirrel to the Rehab Center in the morning, I would suggest concentrating your efforts on warming him and then rehydrating him with the warm slightly sweetened water. A baby squirrel less than 5 weeks and sometime more need to be "stimulated" to pee and poop. Henry's tells about this on page 3 in the discussion of formula feeding but again, I would recommend reading the first two pages of Henry's Guide thoroughly and follows those recommendations as best you can and review page 3 and then plan on taking the Baby to a reputable Squirrel Friendly Rehabber in the morning. Just for information purposes, a certain Esbilac formula is a common formula that most all rehabbers use to provide nutrition to their baby Squirrels. There are a number of varieties of Esbilac and the one that has been found to be the ideal formulation is the Powdered Puppy Milk Replacer. If you are going that far, Page 3 of Henry's baby Squirrel Guide has lots of pertinent information. Again, if the intent is to get this baby to a Rehabber first thing in the morning; keeping the baby warm, secure (dark quiet room with no air directly blowing on the Squirrel), and hydrated with water should be quite adequate.

Just as a contingency; are you interested in and willing to invest the time and expense required to raise this Squirrel yourself?

Please let us know how you and your Squirrel are doing as the night goes on!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel