Need more info on week +8/9 squirrel care pls!

[sbedran]

Looking for more specific info on my growing squirrel rescue.

• Background •
My husband and I found her after falling from a tree when she was about 5 weeks old.
She’s now nearly 9 weeks. I’ve found that the care info gets less detailed as they age and I need guidance. We plan to release her when she is 12-13 weeks. We are in Florida so we don’t have a harsh winter and will be able to release her in our back yard to easily check on her and provide food.

I’ve started feeding her only 3x a day with 10cc of formula and 5-10cc water by a syringe with a nipple end. She also has rodent blocks and sunflower seeds always in her cage.

• Questions •
- I’m giving her water by syringe because we have been unable to successfully teach her how to drink from a small mammal bottle in her cage or by a bowl in her cage.-
— Is it too soon for her to be drinking on her own?
— Today will be the first day I’m adding greens and fruits to her bowl. Is that how they should be getting hydration when weaning from formula? How much food is too much?

- Really in need of specific guidance of what to do and when for this age and coming! Thank you all in advance!!

[Spanky]

to TSB, does your squirrel have a name? for saving her!

Looking for more specific info on my growing squirrel rescue.

We plan to release her when she is 12-13 weeks.

We are in Florida so we don’t have a harsh winter and will be able to release her in our back yard to easily check on her and provide food.

The soft release process (whcih takes several weeks) should begin at no sooner than 14 weeks; 14 - 16 weeks is the preferred target window unless over-wintering. Here is a link that has more information about soft releasing a squirrel:
https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...-How-to-Sticky

She also has rodent blocks and sunflower seeds always in her cage.

Please remove the sunflower seeds, those should only be occasional treats like candy bars to a human toddler. Too many seeds, nuts and dried corn (and dried corn products) will result in a disease called Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) which is what too many squirrels being cared for by humans end up dying as adolescents and young (and old for that matter) adults.

To know what a healthy mix of foods will be, we first need to know what type of rodent block she is eating and how much. Some blocks are supplements and they need only eat 1 or 2 a day, others are "staple" blocks which should be a majority of everything they eat.

Here is a link to the healthy food pyramid for captive squirrels:
https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...-Pet-Squirrels

• Questions •
- I’m giving her water by syringe because we have been unable to successfully teach her how to drink from a small mammal bottle in her cage or by a bowl in her cage.-
— Is it too soon for her to be drinking on her own?
— Today will be the first day I’m adding greens and fruits to her bowl. Is that how they should be getting hydration when weaning from formula? How much food is too much?

She should have no problems drinking from the small animal water bottle. Make sure it is functioning and not clogged... I have never had a problem with the hundreds of babies I have dealt with their figuring out the water bottle.

Formula is the very best thing for a young squirrel and she should continue to be given formula for as long as she is willing to drink it. Sometimes that is right up until release.

More important that how much food, is the right mix of food. With the correct mix, it is hard to over feed a young squirrel once they start eating solids but it is all too easy to feed too much of the wrong foods.

If there are any question after reviewing the links provided, ask away... and do follow up on her rodent block so we can help with the right diet.

[sbedran]

Her name is Biscuit! Thank you so much for the information. I had been following an online website with step by step information that had told me to introduce non salted sunflower seeds (Kaylee brand). I will be following the information you’ve shared.

I have been giving her many Mazuri Rodent Blocks because she would leave them on the floor of her cage or hide a few. I will remove them and only give them to her first thing in the morning when she’s hungry. I’m assuming that would be best done before she gets her morning formula?

Right now I had begun weaning her (as I was “instructed to” via the website). If freely feeding her as much liquid as she could take, she would get 20-25cc 3x a day. Should I be giving her as much formula as she will take till she’s older and starts to refuse it?

I see in the food chart that sticks are under wild foods. From the original website I had been following I had been instructed to leave lots of sticks and twigs to help keep her teeth healthy. Is this something I should minimize? She’s in a large enclosure that I had put branches woven all through so she could climb and be active. She has two small mammal cloth tunnel/burrows as well.

When we put up the water bottle we put it near her container I place her blocks/food in. She never took to it. We tried teaching her by getting drops of water on our fingers and letting her lick it and guide her but that didn’t work. It’s not clogged but it’s not the pouring out water either. It was the best rated one online. All that I found in stores and online were less liked and had issues dispensing. We also tried peanut butter and honey around the outer rim (not on the ball) to attract her to lick it and she would for honey but once it was clean she wouldn’t use it. That’s when we tried teaching her how to drink from a water container in her cage with the finger method but she never took to it.

Before they’re 14-16 weeks and soft releasing should we let Biscuit explore a small tree to exercise or anything like this?

[Charley Chuckles]

Just adding, I let the squirrels ween themselves, it's my understanding they need more formula as they are not getting the pure mommies milk.
Just my observation

[Spanky]

I have been giving her many Mazuri Rodent Blocks because she would leave them on the floor of her cage or hide a few. I will remove them and only give them to her first thing in the morning when she’s hungry. I’m assuming that would be best done before she gets her morning formula?

If you are feeding Mazuri you can "Free feed" those.. she can have as many as she'd like. The Mazuri should be 75% - 80% of all her solid foods, then a bit of healthy veggies from the chart and a bit of fruit.

Right now I had begun weaning her (as I was “instructed to” via the website). If freely feeding her as much liquid as she could take, she would get 20-25cc 3x a day. Should I be giving her as much formula as she will take till she’s older and starts to refuse it?

As CC said, allow her to self wean and she can have as much formula as she wants... formula is the single best thing for her. Well, the right kinds of formulas... and I just now realized I never asked which formula is being fed to her?

I see in the food chart that sticks are under wild foods. From the original website I had been following I had been instructed to leave lots of sticks and twigs to help keep her teeth healthy. Is this something I should minimize? She’s in a large enclosure that I had put branches woven all through so she could climb and be active. She has two small mammal cloth tunnel/burrows as well.

As long as the sticks and branches are from pesticide/herbicide "safe" trees, that is perfectly fine. She's not really old enough to worry about wearing her teeth down by chewing, but they do love chewing on things!!!

Before they’re 14-16 weeks and soft releasing should we let Biscuit explore a small tree to exercise or anything like this?

If you mean taking her outside to allow her to explore trees or anything else, absolutely not! A 8 week old squirrel is perfectly capable to climbing a tree and disappearing. We've seen this happen way too many to times take the risk. She is not ready to be out there!!! Once you take her outside in her release cage, that is the time you start limiting you interaction with her to allow her to wild up and develop a natural apprehension about being with humans.

[sbedran]

Truly invaluable information. Thank you.

We’re feeding her puppy Esbilac formula. She also has a small mammal mineral stone salt rock.

We removed ourselves so we can confirm that they are safe. Will not take her outside. Was information I was previously given and trying to correct. Was also just making sure if she needs any more exercise or stimulation. She’s in a 2’x4’.5”.

Any tips on what we can try do to get her interested in drinking water?

[sbedran]

I also wanted to ask what age does she get weaned from her heating pad?

[Spanky]

We’re feeding her puppy Esbilac formula.

Any tips on what we can try do to get her interested in drinking water?

The powdered Esbilac is one of the few that are suitable for squirrels; the one you can purchase as a ready made liquid is not.

I don't have any tips since I have never experienced a baby not using a water bottle.

I also wanted to ask what age does she get weaned from her heating pad?

That usually happens around 6 or 7 weeks of age. The pad is placed under only 1/2 the cage / container and around 6 - 7 weeks they usually start sleeping in the half not on the heating pad, which is the signal the heat can be removed.

The pad should never be placed inside a cage, especially with squirrels that are 8+ weeks old as they will chew on it and this poses a electrical hazard.

Based upon her still having the heating pad and not drinking water from the bottle I have to wonder if she might be younger than 8 - 9 weeks. Were her eyes already open when you found her? And she was found almost 4 weeks ago?

[sbedran]

The heating pad is under the cage and not able to be reached by her. I hadn’t removed it because I wasn’t sure when she could maintain her own body heat as a solo squirrel baby. I will start weaning her from it.

Her eyes were open when we found her. The first two photos are when we found her. The last two photo I just took. (I don’t let her roam freely. It’s just to get a clear photo.)

[sbedran]

Does she look to be about 9 weeks old? I wanted to ask in case we have estimated wrong and that’s why she may not be taking to the water bottle and is still using the heating pad as you’ve mentioned.

[Spanky]

I do believe she does look 9-10 weeks of age. In the pictures of her when you found her, she looks more like 6+ weeks to me.

As for the water bottle, one thing that was mentioned to me was that since I am not raising a single baby (though I do have "singletons") and all these babies are surrounded by other babies in neighboring cages as well as some older squirrels that cannot be released. So the ones that might be slow on the uptake may have an advantage of observing all the others around them or even in the cage with them. That would explain why I have never had a baby that failed to learn the magic of a water bottle rather quickly.