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Help the hapless
HOW DOES one help the hapless animals? Here are some tips. We'll start with baby squirrels since each species has different needs. Let's begin with the food. The first feed (after ensuring the baby squirrel is warm) is invariably a few drops of diluted glucose water through a 200 ml syringe or an ink filler. Make sure the feed goes into the mouth and not the nose! Start feeding porridge made of milk and finely roasted, powdered and sieved chana dal-pottu kadala-flour, every two to three hours, if it is very young. Milk plus infant formula meant for human babies below six months is most effective.
Baby squirrels, especially the blind, earless ones, can't excrete by themselves and the mother licks their bottoms while she feeds them. So, gently stimulate their genitals to make them pass urine and droppings after each feed. This can be done with a fine, extra soft paintbrush or wet, warm cotton buds. For emergencies, homeopathy is harmless at this sensitive stage.
A couple of days after the squirrel's eyes open and it is keen to get out, transfer it to a larger cage. Place it in an old nest box with a soft lining for the little creature to hide into, if it feels insecure. Apart from the infant formula, the squirrel's feed should now include nuts, greens, pieces of carrot, beans, sweet potato, ripe banana, apple, corn, dates, guava plus edible leaves, flowers and seeds found in the natural environment. Remove all the left over food at night as the squirrel could choke on old soft food!
Give it a couple of hours `free time' outside the cage, in a closed room, and a rolled up straw mat leaning against the wall makes an ideal `tree' for it to practise climbing.
When the squirrel starts shredding its nest box, supply small bits of bark and wood of edible trees in the cage for it to bite into.
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