4/10/04 It was a good run....but now it's done. Sometime between 7pm and 3am last night Claire died. I know that some of you have expressed sorrow as each of the squirrels have died...but you'll forget about them pretty soon. My take-away: a new respect for the reliability of natural mammal feeding technology. I've also thought some about how scary it must be to have kids (real ones) who have health problems. Hopefully we'll all continue to be blessed with good health!
4/9/04 Claire and I are hanging out today on my day off... Donno, folks...I think I'm gonna start digging the third hole near the berry bushes. She's pretty tired today. But, I am excited because I think I'm gonna splurge and buy a new (for me) riding mower...for more than the $50 that I've paid for the last 3. On to my next diversion!
4/8/04 Hey, I'm excited! When I came home from work today, Claire was full of energy...like her old self! Maybe their's hope yet? My main feeding question at this point is whether squirrels need to be burped? When she's eating, she frequently stops and makes gag-like faces... maybe she's just burping, not dying? Cool.
4/7/04 Some of the astute have already emailed me with condolences for Female#2 who passed two days ago. Thank you! The remaining squirrel, who I will name Claire, seems to be doing well this morning. I've stopped feeding with a nipple just because it seems very hard to keep the squirrels from aspirating. So, Claire laps up her milk. I think that it working well. It's less efficient because I just squirt a little on the desk in front of her..she soaks up some with her fur, she spreads some around the desk, and manages to lap up what's left. (the amount that I list in the feeding chart is my estimation of how many cc's get inside her...) At this point, the instinct are kicking in for the correct squirrel tail shape (holding it up behind her with a little wave) and for trying to stand on her hind legs. She tries to stand up over and over when I take her out of her box for feeding. 99% of her attempt end in her flipping herself over onto her back...because she hasn't calibrated the left and right leg push. It's pretty cute.
4/4/04 Good Morning everyone. There's no easy way to say it...the boy is very calm this morning, his sisters complain that he's giving them the cold shoulder...um...I'm returning 1/3 of my formula to it's container... yes, the boy, who I have given the post-mortem name of Charles, died peacefully in his sleep last night. In lieu of flowers, please send a nickle to the "don't aspirate your squirrel" society. Seriously now, I'm hoping that the girls will do much better!
4/4/04 Correction just in - I am Padre Ardillo...evidently there was a gender issue that came to light with the original translation! (ardilla)
4/4/04 1 week down (less one daylight savings hour)! I'm a little bit surprised that they're still alive! I've done some more reading on squirrel raising and I might disregrard my self-stated $7 budget for this project and get some extra-good formula for them. I can afford to be a softie now...in recompense for the various small animals that haven't survived their encounters with me over the years. Also, I think my favorite girl (sucker) broke her right rear pinky toe. I'd imagine that in the wild, mom would just bite that thing off...but I'll give it some time and see if it starts to look less broken! It doesn't seem to bother her - it's just attached at a weird angle now. Yesterday I also added a piece of cloth that they can nuzzle against. (that's the big blue thing in the picture...and no ticking clock inside yet mo!)
4/3/04 Today I, Padre Ardilla, started my squirrel kids on a new kind of formula - scalded whole milk, karo, and vitamin E. We'll see how they like it. The boy seems like he's been a little sick for the last day or two. I'll have to take extra good care of him! Also added a picture page of the house - link at the bottom.
4/1/04 ALL THREE SQUIRRELS DIED!!! ... just kidding. They're actually doing quite well. From what I can tell, there are some regular feed-time viewers! Enjoy! Also, check out the new pics page for some history.
3/31/04 Still tweaking the webcam software. The rats are still alive!
3/29/04 Well, they're still alive! Today's evening feeding went very well. They're getting pretty good at it! (me too) I got a heating pad from the big W today to replace my prior approach of lamp heating...tonight they'll get to enjoy some darkness.
3/28/04 I've got three baby squirrels living with me for a while. They "fell" out of their nest...shucks. So, from internet pictures, I'm guessing that they're 2 weeks old...probably another 3 weeks until they open their eyes. Given my track record with small animals, they may never see the light of day...but I'll certainly try! I've got all the right formula and hydrating fluids. Wish me well!
