Wow, has it been two weeks already since I brought home my little charges? It’s hard to believe I was ever worried about them not eating enough, seeing how much they love to toss back the formula now!

Even though they’re all eating more, the process goes much faster for several reasons:

• I’ve finally got my routine down pat: fill the syringes, moisten a cotton ball and a Q-tip in case they’re needed, set up a t-shirt so I can easily throw it over my lap as soon as I sit down, etc.
• I don’t need to spend five minutes before feeding each one just trying to get the air bubbles out of the syringes… 🙂
• Between me getting better at controlling the flow of the formula, and their mouths being able to hold more, they almost never aspirate anymore
• The three who have their eyes open don’t need to be stimulated to pee and poop afterwards

Speaking of opening their eyes, I’m starting to get a little impatient for the last two to get there. They’re both in the right weight range, but so far no signs. Maybe tomorrow?

I mentioned yesterday that one of the solutions to help stop sucking is to separate the offender before feeding and put him/her in a box with a big piece of apple to suck on instead. Another tip is to put some apple in the cage itself. I had actually done that before, but I don’t know if the pieces weren’t big enough, or if the squirrels hadn’t developed enough yet, but it’s sure working now. Check out this video of the gang trying to get their share of the two slices I put in with them:

Kind of reminds me a little of fighting over the wishbone at Thanksgiving… 🙂