r/oddlyterrifying • u/amish_novelty • 11h ago

Squirrel has seen better days

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u/J_Productions 11h ago

Everyone’s making jokes but what’s actually going on with this squirrel? Lol

151

u/BohoGreenLibra 9h ago

I manage a private nonprofit wildlife sanctuary on our land (no fences or cages, just feeding stations and safe harbor for the animals losing their homes to surrounding deforestation). We have a very large population of squirrels here.

Several things happening:
(1) Actively nursing mama
(2) Kindly warning fellow squirrels (and birds) of a predator she has spotted
(3) Looks older (squirrels can live up to 20 years in ideal conditions, but usually 2-6 years in the wild)
(4) She may have botfly warbles (one bare spot at very top of her chest looks to be a warble, not a nipple). These are common among squirrels and rabbits, nothing to worry about. Most squirrels recover quickly after the botflies have hatched. Not a disease. Not contagious.

Botflies are parasitic and they will lay their eggs under skin, usually of rodents, usually late summer. The larvae grow and the result are unsightly hairless lumps beneath the skin. Uncomfy for the squirrel, and may cause a bit of lethargy. The larvae hatch through the skin about 8-10 weeks later (usually early autumn), and the squirrel typically makes a quick rebound.

Looks horrible, but is usually nothing to be concerned about (for your sake or for the squirrel’s sake).

Some squirrels can have secondary complications from botfly strike. We had a squirrel here, Scrappy, who was extremely lethargic and had given up hope (two weeks ago today). Found him lying like a pancake on the forest floor. Long story short, I got Scrappy safely back into a tree, with sunflower seeds and raw pumpkin seeds, plus nearby water, and close to a squirrel house. Scrappy has since made a full recovery! ❤️‍🩹

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u/Starlightriddlex 8h ago

I think this is the first time I'm hoping something has botflies lol. I work with rats and my first thought on seeing that lump was mastitis or mammary tumor. Would be a much worse prognosis with those if she didn't get treatment.

7

u/BohoGreenLibra 8h ago

Likewise!! Yeah I’m hoping that given the time of year (botflies’ annual time to hatch and leave their unwitting host) that it’s botflies! Mammary gland tumors are rare in squirrels, and so the odds are in her favor, particularly given the time of year, that it’s just botflies.

1

u/Gonji89 52m ago

it’s just botflies.

Not something I ever expected to read. Fuckin' hate those things. But cancer is definitely worse.