Southern Flying Squirrel Enticed To Eat Again

The following story about a Southern flying squirrel was shared with us by WildCare Oklahoma of Oklahoma.

This Southern flying squirrel patient arrived at WildCare Oklahoma in November of 2024. Developmentally, the patient was a juvenile, but he was very thin and had not been eating on his own.

With animals older than formula age, we start them on EmerAid Intensive Care in order to ensure they receive adequate nutrients to suit their ages.

This Southern flying squirrel was also prone to extremely high stress — this meant minimizing the handling of this patient. We began to offer a dish of 5% body weight EmerAid IC Omnivore overnight, because Southern flying squirrels are nocturnal.

On the first night, he only stepped in it. But after the second night, he began clearing his dish. To further improve his body condition score and entice him to eat his normal diet, we slowly transitioned to offering the EmerAid IC Omnivore drizzled over other diet components. Eventually, he began to eat on his own.

We slowly weaned him off EmerAid and fully onto a natural diet for overwintering this patient. He was released back into a colony of Southern flying squirrels early this spring!