8:00 a.m.: I’m starting to have a lot more appreciation for new mothers! If I’m this tired after only two days with my charges… Of course, (most) mothers don’t have 5 babies under their care at the same time. Today’s first feeding was a bit mixed. A couple of the squirrels seem a bit dehydrated (skin is wrinkling on one, another one hasn’t eliminated anything in over a day), so I’ll be giving them Pedialyte for the next couple of feedings. Most of them ate a little less than yesterday at this time, but not enough to worry about.

One of the biggest risks for these guys is that they take in too much formula at once and aspirate it (get it into their lungs). This can lead to pneumonia, so it is very serious. The sign that they’ve done this is that it comes bubbling out through their nose. This happened to one of my guys this morning, but I immediately cleaned out his nose and mouth, so he should be fine. Although we do our best to avoid the situation by controlling how much they take in, it’s not that uncommon for it to happen, so that’s why I’m not panicking (yet). I’ll be keeping a close eye on him though for the rest of the day.

1:45 p.m.: I had to go to the wildlife center today to pick up some extra supplies. I got some new syringes, because one of mine broke this morning and it’s a good idea to have some extras on hand. Boy, am I’m glad I did. The ones I’d been using were quite sticky, making it harder to push the formula through them (to the point I was getting close to developing blisters from it!). Having to push that hard also increases the risk you’ll push too much out and cause the squirrel to aspirate. Anyway, one of the syringes I got today is so much easier to push. In fact, the squirrels’ sucking is almost enough to draw the plunger down. This makes the intake much smoother and also speeds up the process, which reduces stress on the animal. So the last feeding went so much easier. I also reduced the formula concentration because the squirrels haven’t eliminated much waste in the last few feedings, so they may be having a little trouble digesting the more concentrated mix. But overall, they seem happy and comfortable.

8:15 p.m.: Whew! Finally have a chance to catch my breath. Big development—one of my guys opened his left eye today. They all ate a lot more than they had been during the last few feedings as well—double in some cases. And it turns out that even though some of them hadn’t peed or pooped for several feedings while I was stimulating them, it turns out they were actually going after all. I discovered this when I changed their bedding this afternoon. 🙂

I also added a 6th squirrel to the set this afternoon. It’s probably just temporary. He came in to the center as a single, and they don’t do very well on their own. It’s also best to put them with others around the same size, so I was the best candidate. But August will probably be very busy (6 more pinkies came in today), so when some more arrive over the next few days, they’ll probably put this guy with them to create a new set for another volunteer.

And in case you’re wondering what my little family looks like, I was finally able to take a few photos today, so here’s a first look: