John Squeaks lol aka Squeaks! (current photo)
I was lucky to have found this little guy during my last hike out here in the desert. My dog alerted me to something and I ran to take photos with my camera as I usually do. My dog Nibbles loves to find critters for me to take photos; thankfully he doesn't chase them or hurt them, he just points them out to me. Well, in this occasion we found more than we bargained for. It was a little ground squirrel pup, eyes closed and out in the open. I found a little hole that I thought it may be it's home and left it there for his momma to find. That day we had warnings of monsoon weather (wind, dust, rain...) and I had to go back and check on him. Sure enough the little guy was still where I left it.
This is a photo of him when I found him. At that point I didn't know he was a baby and I rushed to take the photo. It only took me a few seconds to wonder how come I was able to even see him, being that these guys are super fast and quick to hide. At first I thought he may be wounded but then I realized his eyes were not even open.
(Squeaks after I put him near a hole that I thought may be his home)
This is a photo of him on day 3 of me having him. I took this photo to remember the first day he opened his eyes. At this point he weighed about 20g (grams).
Needless to say, I picked up the little critter (not knowing what it was at that point) and took it home. After some good old fashion google research I found out that it was a ground squirrel pup (baby). I also found out I had my hands full with this little guy in order to make sure it survived. First I needed to keep him warm and hydrate him and for that, I went and bought a heating pad, Pedialyte, a scale, a 1cc syringe to feed the liquid to him. FYI. I did the skin pinch test to see how dehydrated he was and he definitely needed fluids. The pinch test consists of gently pulling (pinching) the skin from between his shoulder to see if the skin "bounces back" or goes down slowly and stays up in a sort of "tent like fashion". If the skin is slow to return, then it means the little guy is dehydrated, which in this case the skin pinch test indicated he was.
Once the little guy was hydrated (took about 48hrs), I slowly introduced puppy formula ( Pet Ag Sbilac brand in which the third ingredient is whey protein, not the regular one which lists whey further down). I also had to help with stimulating him to eat and defecate every other feeding (feedings every 2 or so hours). Lets say I didn't sleep much during the first week.
This is John Squeaks (aka Squeaks) now, at a whopping 40 grams and skipping about it! lol
Now his eyes are wide open and he's getting regular visits to the garden. He nibbles here and there but he's still being fed formula regularly. These guys are the desert's recycling crew. They are omnivores and pretty much eat anything they can find.
He knows his name and comes to me when I call him, and to feel secure and warm. He has bonded with the family with exception of our cats and dogs as I am trying to keep him from thinking that cats and dogs are safe for him.
We have contacted a few wildlife rehabilitation places, however, most of these places out here house raptors and I am very weary of giving Mr. Sqeeks to a place that could use him as a meal for one of those huge birds of prey. For now and while he is needing to be fed formula, he will stay with me and my family were he's safe, free and loved. I will make a post later on to update on his status, but the hope is that he can go back to where he can live a normal ground squirrel life with other ground squirrels.
Squeaks sitting on a piece of sweet potato, can't get sweeter than that lol
I hope that you enjoyed this post, check back for more photos of this little growing Squeaker!