Nocturnal Squirrel

[Citysquirrel]

Good morning all,

I have a young squirrel that I rescued in September. She fell from her nest, suffered some head trauma and her eye sight was affected. I can't tell if she can't see at all or if she sees shadows but that isn't my concern. My concern is that she has become nocturnal. It started early on within a week of her coming to me. She was about 7 weeks old at the time when I first noticed the middle of the night wake ups. It started with pitter patter in her cage, some chewing on twigs and deer antlers and it would get quiet. I had her cage covered at night. There were nights I wouldn't hear her unless I was so exhausted I slept through it. About a week ago, she started waking at 2am and climbing all around the cage and biting the bars so hard the clanging would wake me from unconsciousness. It would sound like she was trying to break the ferret nation steel cage so you could only imagine how loud that was.

I would take her out because I was so afraid for her gums and teeth and would hold her to soothe her. When that didn't work I would turn on a light and let her run around a bit to tire her out and put her back in the cage. She would still bite the cage and i would give her nuts branches and whatever I could find to help her chew on something other than the cage.

She has a carrier on the floor with a blanket inside that she runs to to feel safe and the I have kept things in the same spaces in the room because I am unsure of her vision situation. So two nights ago I decided I couldn't take the clanging of her teeth of the cage at night and left her in the open carrier at night to see if it is less stressful for her. It was. She woke up at 1am and walked out and did her squirrel rounds in darkness for three hours and returned to her carrier when she was tired. We're taking pitter patter on a wood floor from 1-4am. I wake around 7 so when she hears me she'll wake up and party some more til about 9:30am and then be sleepy throughout the rest of the day. When I get home from work I wake her to give her formula and try to force as much awake time as I can for the rest of the day to try and keep her up so she sleeps through the night. It hasn't worked.

Last night she partied from 12:30am to 6am! Only last night she explored more than ever. I have a ring cam set up and all you see is her zooming around, climbing her cat tree, hopping here and there and then finally figuring how to go back to her cage by climbing the curtain next to her cage, turn around, grasp her cage and run around the outside of it and found her way back inside. By 6am she went into her little bed and happily went to sleep after her fun filled day (night).

All greatttt stuff considering she was knocked on her noggin pretty hard. She is growing beautifully, 11 weeks old now, 350 grams, fluffy and shiny, but very confused. Has anyone ever experienced this and if so, is there any way you can help me try and switch her back to non-raccoon hours?

Thank you!

NY, the city that never sleeps and apparently, neither do some of our squirrels.

[CritterMom]

Oh dear. My guess is that she can't see at all so she has no idea what time it is. Humans who are totally blind have the same problem.

It will be more difficult to do this for a while - she is in the hormones being produced age and is almost inexhaustible! The only thing I can think to do is to try to be patient for a while and to also start trying to occupy her enough during the day to tucker her out so the more natural rhythm takes over. But like I said, you may need to haul your self bleary eyed through puberty for that to do much. Once they get past the adolescent crazies they seem to develop a much closer relationship with their comfy beds. The fact is that if a squirrel has their dietary needs met without having to be up and about for hours and hours foraging, they are lazy little slugs!

Carpeting might help. No tippy tap.

This little one is going to have to be with you or SOMEONE for the rest of her life - a blind squirrel certainly can't be released. Something needs to be done about her cage. The ferret nation cages have wide bar spacing and vertical bars. Other than being harder to clime, the vertical isn't a bug deal, but the wide bar spacing is. Bar chewing is a bit precursor to odontoma. Now your solution may be to just give her a room, but if you need to close her up in a cage, the CRITTER nation cage is much, much better. The bars are only 3/8" apart which means they cannot push their snout through far enough to open their mouth and chew. It eliminates that odontoma risk.

[Citysquirrel]

Thank you so much for the response! I am working on getting a Critter nation cage which is what I have for my chin and rats and know it would be a much better fit for her. I did have an area rug but her pitter patter truly didn't bother me, it was much better that her sounding like she was trying to destroy the cage at 2am and increasing her risk of odontoma. I have also tried to move the cage closer to a sunny area in hopes that maybe the light would make something click for her but it hasn't yet. She is still generally up from 1/2am-6am. I do have the patience to ride it out and she switches back up at some point. She seems to be doing great otherwise the only thing I am still concerned with is her eyes which do look a little cloudy and buldgy. I am having a hard time finding a vet that will see her. I took her to one who gave her Gentocin Durafilm which seemed to help and when I went to make an appt for follow up he told me he couldn't continue to see her because it's not his area of expertise. The Exotic vets around me won't see squirrels. Is there anything you can recommend for this eye issue? I have Muro 128 at home but didn't want to give her anything unless it wont hurt her, but she also looks like her eyes are bothering her so I am in a tough place. Thank you again for your help! I will add photos of her eyes.

[Citysquirrel]

She squints during the day as I've tried to keep her awake and I'm not sure if it's from pain or light sensitivity. I just want to help her.