If you’re eating, you may want to come back later. I have another “challenged” squirrel in my yard. I first noticed him drinking water from the heated birdbath on Tuesday and was shocked by his lack of fur. The temperature was 4 degrees at the time, and yesterday it was even colder with dangerous wind chills.
I knew little about it, but for some reason mange popped into my head, so I did some research. The squirrel’s condition very closely matches the description for Notoedric mange. The disease is caused by mites that tunnel into the squirrel’s skin. The squirrels suffer hair loss and scabbing and scarring. While squirrels can sometimes make a full recovery, their biggest threat is death from exposure. Well if that’s the case, this guy picked the worst couple of days to venture out.
Thankfully the mites are host-specific to squirrels, so other animals and people aren’t in any danger. Only a handful of squirrels have ventured out from their dreys to rummage around under the feeders in the last few days, and so far all of them look healthy with thick, furry coats. Hopefully this squirrel is the only one with the disease.
The critter doesn’t show any other signs of illness or decline, so if he can just keep warm during the frigid temperatures over the next few days he just might survive.