Anyway, let me get to the point; earlier this year, in May, my family and I went to Melacca. Not unusual for us, though we've been going less and less. It was just me, Mum and two of my younger brothers, Adam and Zach (15 and 11 at the time), as well as a friend of Mum's.
We hadn't visited in a while since we let the house out for holiday renters. Mum wanted to pay a visit to see how they were looking after the place. While we were looking for keys to open all the locked cupboards, we found dry leaves and... something alive in one of them!
Mum screamed. She thought it was a rat! Then we saw the second one... I didn't think they were rats. First thought was bats since it was high up in the cupboard. Then I noticed their tails; they were covered in fur. Squirrels?
After it was determined they weren't rats, I was instructed to take them out. I was afraid to touch them though... would they bite? Did they have diseases? I really regret being so afraid, because what happened next, as I was trying to grab one with a tissue, they... fell.
Like I said, the cupboard was high up. The ground was hard. One of the little guys was bleeding a little from the nose. I felt so bad. So shit. I felt like a shitty person. I let an innocent baby get hurt; eyes aren't even open and one of the first things he's ever felt is pain, a pain he can't even understand. I'm tearing up just typing about it...
Luckily though, they survived. They seemed OK, despite the bit of blood. Mum had called one of the workers who clean the house and stuff and asked if he could help raise them.
"Don't kill them," she begged.
Guy agreed, but he seemed unsure. He had goats and looked after cats but these squirrel-like things were still so young, and he had no experience in that area.
So... we decided to keep them for the time being, until we could decide what to do. I got more tissues and stuffed a cardboard McDonald's drink holder with it, to make them a cosy nest, and gently placed them inside, taking the whole nest and placing it in a lower and safer place in the cupboard so they could sleep in peace. Put in some of the dry leaves for good measure.
We decided to leave a window in that room slightly open, just in case the mother comes back.
After some research, I found out that these little guys weren't squirrels; they were a completely different species, an animal called treeshrew. Most likely the common treeshrew (Tupaia glis).
They eat fruits and insects, and sometimes even small animals like geckos. Also, it turns out... they have really absentee parenting!
This gave us little hope for mama coming back from them... even moving them to outside, she would not recognise them unless they were at the original "nest" that she marked with her scent trails. It was more likely she'd abandon them. This was bad. We tried anyway. What's the harm in leaving a bit of window open if we're home?
Unfortunately, during the two days we stayed, mama never came back. Even though we left the doors wide open (front and back) while we were home. Maybe she got scared off by our presence.
Despite all that, we tried to care for them. We bought powdered milk for cats (as recommended through some Indonesian blog by someone who also raised baby treeshrews) and tried to feed them. It was pretty awkward. We had to pour a bit of milk on our palms so they could lick it up, as they were too young and blind to understand how to drink from the bowl.
We didn't know what else to do. In the meantime, I upgraded their nest with an old tea towel to make it cosier.
When it was time to go home on Monday, we decided to stop by a vet in Tampin (we tried calling first but there was no listed number). We couldn't go to a vet on the weekend as it was closed, so this was our only chance before we went back to KL. But alas... they didn't know how to look after treeshrews either! So it seemed... we were stuck with them.
The good news was, we got something better to feed them with; a small syringe.
So we went back home to KL, with two baby treeshrews in a box.
To be continued...
Like I said, the cupboard was high up. The ground was hard. One of the little guys was bleeding a little from the nose. I felt so bad. So shit. I felt like a shitty person. I let an innocent baby get hurt; eyes aren't even open and one of the first things he's ever felt is pain, a pain he can't even understand. I'm tearing up just typing about it...
 |
| Little velvety babies, when we first found them |
"Don't kill them," she begged.
Guy agreed, but he seemed unsure. He had goats and looked after cats but these squirrel-like things were still so young, and he had no experience in that area.
So... we decided to keep them for the time being, until we could decide what to do. I got more tissues and stuffed a cardboard McDonald's drink holder with it, to make them a cosy nest, and gently placed them inside, taking the whole nest and placing it in a lower and safer place in the cupboard so they could sleep in peace. Put in some of the dry leaves for good measure.
We decided to leave a window in that room slightly open, just in case the mother comes back.
After some research, I found out that these little guys weren't squirrels; they were a completely different species, an animal called treeshrew. Most likely the common treeshrew (Tupaia glis).
They eat fruits and insects, and sometimes even small animals like geckos. Also, it turns out... they have really absentee parenting!
This gave us little hope for mama coming back from them... even moving them to outside, she would not recognise them unless they were at the original "nest" that she marked with her scent trails. It was more likely she'd abandon them. This was bad. We tried anyway. What's the harm in leaving a bit of window open if we're home?
Unfortunately, during the two days we stayed, mama never came back. Even though we left the doors wide open (front and back) while we were home. Maybe she got scared off by our presence.
Despite all that, we tried to care for them. We bought powdered milk for cats (as recommended through some Indonesian blog by someone who also raised baby treeshrews) and tried to feed them. It was pretty awkward. We had to pour a bit of milk on our palms so they could lick it up, as they were too young and blind to understand how to drink from the bowl.
We didn't know what else to do. In the meantime, I upgraded their nest with an old tea towel to make it cosier.
 |
Snug as a bug in a rug |
The good news was, we got something better to feed them with; a small syringe.
So we went back home to KL, with two baby treeshrews in a box.
To be continued...
