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When Raising Pet Rats, You May Be Able To Nearly Double Their Lifespan!

8/24/2019

Thousands of people all over the world raise pet rats. Those that do report that rat are very affectionate and intelligent animals that develop strong bonds with their human caregivers. One big drawback to raising rats is the fact that they have a short lifespan. The average life of a rat is 3 to 4 years with good care and feeding.

One thing you may not know is that there is a substance that was discovered almost 90 years ago that was extensively tested on rats and discovered that it almost doubled their lifespan. The name of this substance is C-60 Fullerene, or C-60 for short. It is made by suspending nano-particles of carbon in a carrier oil such as olive oil. It's a process that is carried out in the dark due to light sensitivity of the carbon and requires constant stirring for 2 to 3 weeks then is vacuum filtered.

Life extension of the rats was only one of the amazing benefits that this research found. The following are links to the scientific studies carried out on this substance along with the findings.

Life extension: https://c60-france.com/media_upload/C60-Fullerene-Baati-Rats-Lifespan-Longevite.pdf

Anti- cancer effect: https://c60-france.com/media_upload/C60-Fullerene-anti-cancer.pdf

Increase in Cardiovascular Health: https://c60-france.com/media_upload/C60-Fullerene-cardiovascular-health-sante.pdf

No toxic side-effects: https://c60-france.com/media_upload/C60-Fullerene-in-oil-is%20non-toxic-toxicite.pdf

Improved brain function: https://c60-france.com/media_upload/C60-Fullerene-improves-brain-function-lifespan-mice-cerveau.pdf

Even with over 25 years of positive finding and benefits of C-60 Fullerene, the Food and Drug Administration refuses to take C-60 off of experimental status. No positive health claims are allowed to be made for it!

At SquirrelNutrition.com I've been giving my 11 ½ year old Eastern Gray squirrel C-60 daily for a long time and she is still going strong! We're also making this product available for anyone who would like to experiment with it on their own. If you opt to try it, we would appreciate any feedback of anecdotal information about results that we could publish on our website.

For further information please visit http://www.squirrelnutrition.com/carbon60.html

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How To Potentially Add Years To The Life Of Your Squirrel or Rodent Pet!

8/18/2019

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UPDATE ON THIS BLOG: Good News! At the end of this Article I've placed a link to where you can purchase Carbon-60 for your Rodent pet. This is the same brand I use on my 12-year-old Gray Squirrel!.........Bill

As a passionate caregiver to an 12-year-old squirrel and an avid Rehabber of orphaned squirrels, I am always on the lookout for things that can add to the health and longevity to my rodent friends! My research over the last 12 years has led me to such things as the Lauric and Capric Acid contained in the unprocessed oil of the coconut and the antibacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral quality of Colloidal Silver!

But, nothing compares to the research I recently discovered research that was conducted on rodents, (rats and mice,) that left me with my mouth hanging open! There is a substance called “C-60 Fullerene” which was discovered back in the 1930's that was tested on Rodents. During 25 years of testing, researchers never found C-60 to produce any toxic side effects in the rodents. What they did discover was that the rats given the C-60 lived almost twice as long as the rats who did not receive it. The following is the research abstract that stated that their finding were that it almost doubled their lifespan.
https://c60-france.com/media_upload/C60-Fullerene-Baati-Rats-Lifespan-Longevite.pdf

That's not the only thing they found! In the following study, rodents were given cancer by transplanting cancerous tissues into various parts of their body. What they found in the group given C-60 was that the cancers were prevented from metastasizing, (spreading!)
https://c60-france.com/media_upload/C60-Fullerene-anti-cancer.pdf

In the next study it was found that C-60 improved cardiac function probably due to it superior antioxidant properties. It improved perfusion of heart muscle and had a positive effect on the cardiovascular system!
https://c60-france.com/media_upload/C60-Fullerene-cardiovascular-health-sante.pdf

The following study was conducted to determine if there were any toxic side effects producible by giving large doses of C-60. A group of rats were given various doses of C-60 ranging from 1 mg. All the way up to 1000 mg per day. None of the rats showed any toxic side-effects and they all continued to eat and drink in their usual manner. The ones given 1000 mg per day put on some weight and had some color changes to their stool, but went back to normal when the C-60 was withdrawn! The bottom line was that no toxic side-effects were found with C-60!
https://c60-france.com/media_upload/C60-Fullerene-in-oil-is%20non-toxic-toxicite.pdf

The last abstract from research on C-60 has to do with improving cognitive function in mice. This one is a bit technical, but what they did was raise mice that were specifically bred to study changes in their genes as they age. Apparently, these mice are given a synthetic enzyme to speed up the aging process of their brains and they test their cognitive and memory functions on a Morris Water Maze to determine how well they learn and remember. They found that the rodents given C-60 performed better on the Maze in addition to extending their life. The research attributed this to C-60's ability to counter Oxidative stress.
https://c60-france.com/media_upload/C60-Fullerene-improves-brain-function-lifespan-mice-cerveau.pdf

I read in another study that C-60 has been found to be over 150 times more potent than Vitamin C in combating oxidative stress in cellular and tissue function. It also has been found to have a protective effect on the ends of DNA strands. The importance of this comes into play when DNA needs to replicate itself in the formation of new body tissues, Oxidative stress attacks the ends of the DNA strands so that when they replicate, they produce a damaged strand of DNA. It's like making a photocopy of a page, then, using the copy each time to make another copy. Over time, you can hardly recognize what the original page looked like. This damage is what scientists attribute to the changes in our body as we age.

C-60 has the potential for slowing this aging process way down and appears to be the reason that this research has shown that rodents can almost double their lifespan by being given daily doses of this remarkable substance!

I've been giving it to my 11 ½ year-old Eastern Gray squirrel for the last six months and she has been doing fine. She stays very active and seems more alert and stronger. I recently told a man about it who had a squirrel that had a head injury and seemed to be suffering from petite-mal seizures where it would just stare-off into space and seemed to become disassociated from reality. He decided on his own to try it on his squirrel and was happy to report to that his squirrel was acting more normal now and that the symptoms have dissipated!

Even though this stuff has been around for almost 90 years and numerous studies have shown great potential for all the benefits listed above, nothing has been done to officially approve it for human or animal use. Therefore, it can only be sold for experimental use and no health or benefit claims can be made about it.

As promised, below is the link where you can purchase Carbon-60 for your Rodent friend!
I've been using it now for over 6 months on my 12-year-old squirrel and she has been doing fine with zero adverse side-effects! I give her 15 drops a day in her food.
Get yours today and keep me posted on your results by leaving a comment on this post!

A link to the brand we use can be found on our Product Page.

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What To Feed Squirrels To Keep Them Healthy

8/10/2019

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What to feed squirrels is a question I receive almost every day at SquirrelNutrition.com! I've learned a few things over the past 11 years of feeding squirrels, especially since I still have the same squirrel I found frozen in the snow 11 ½ years ago and she is still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! So, I think I know a little bit about how to feed and care for them to keep them healthy!

The first thing to know is that squirrels are predominantly herbivores, so vegetation makes up a large part of their natural diet. But, that doesn't mean that they never eat animal protein. They need quality protein in their diet to maintain their muscles and hair growth. In the wild, they will eat bugs and worms and even raid bird's nests to eat either the eggs or young hatchlings

Squirrels have unique dietary needs in that they also need a regular source of quality calcium to stay healthy. The reason is that their incisors teeth grow continuously throughout their life at a rate of ¼ to 3/8th inch per month. This tooth growth requires 20 to 40 mg. Of quality calcium per day just to maintain this growth. Pregnant or lactating females require twice that amount. There are high calcium vegetation such as Kale that can help provide calcium, but eating bird's eggs and baby birds can also supplement their calcium needs.

Unfortunately, vegetation and nestling birds and eggs are only available for a short time every year, so squirrels are vulnerable to low blood calcium most of the year. If humans don't help them out with this need, a squirrel's body will pull calcium from their bones and they end up dying of a painful condition called Metabolic Bone Disease. When their bones become depleted of calcium they become lame and usually fall out of the trees and shatter their brittle, calcium depleted bones.

Sunlight is also needed to help squirrels synthesize Vitamin D. Vitamin D also plays a key role in the absorption of Calcium, so 20 minutes of direct sunlight per day is imperative for squirrels that are kept in the house, or, a suitable full spectrum light will help with this need. There was an excellent article that appeared on SquirrelRefuge.org that explains Metabolic Bone Disease and the importance of feeding foods that have the correct Calcium to Phosphorus Ratio. It also has a list of common foods fed to squirrels along with their Calcium to Phosphorus Ratio

At SquirrelNutrition.com we have spent the last 11 years learning and testing foods and Natural substances that can be used to keep squirrels healthy and to treat various conditions that are common to squirrels. We also provide recipes and food lists that are available on request by using one of our handy request forms! We answer all squirrel questions and help to teach people how to care for orphaned babies all the way up to elderly squirrels like our girl Lucky.

We offer a full range of Squirrel Nutrition Products designed to keep your squirrel(s) healthy and happy! Come check us out at http://SquirrelNutrition.com!

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August 10th, 2019

8/10/2019

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What A Squirrel Can Teach You About Surviving A Mass Shooting!

8/7/2019

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I never thought that I would ever need to write a Blog Article like this but it seems like the evil present in our world, that has no value for human life, has left us as vulnerable to being killed as a squirrel sitting in the middle of a busy street!

Being near the bottom of the food chain would make you think that squirrels are an easy target. But, ask any squirrel hunter and you will soon realize that killing a squirrel is no easy task! It takes infinite patience and many hours of waiting to bag a squirrel. It also requires that the hunter enter the woods as unnoticed as possible because they will never get a shot at a squirrel that has observed them coming into the woods!

The only ones they will ever have a chance at are ones moving from other areas as they forage for food, and then, only if they stay unobserved by these wary animals. This survival habit of squirrels is what makes them such a difficult animal to kill. And, if you observe and adopt the techniques squirrels use to stay alive, you too can make yourself very difficult to kill!

The first technique squirrels use is their ability to be aware of what is going on around them and to take note of changes in their environment. Squirrels have a distinct advantage over humans in that they have a 180 degree visual field. This is because of where their eyes are located on their head. With just the slightest turn of their head, they can observe what is going on behind them.

If you have ever taken self-defense or military training you would recognize this technique as “situational awareness” or being aware of what is going on around you. In this day and age, being distracted and unaware of what is going on around you can literally get you killed. I cringe when I walk or drive down a street and see young girls and boys walking with their noses buried in their phones either texting or reading their social media, totally unaware of what is going on around them, not realizing that they are prime targets for abduction or other evil schemes.

The same for adults who are texting or talking on their phones while driving. They are many more times more likely to be involved in a motor vehicle crash than someone who is situationally aware. A squirrel constantly scans it's environment looking for things that don't fit or are out of the ordinary. If a squirrel sees a hunter sitting on a log fidgeting with his phone or swatting at a mosquito, it will silently start flicking it's tail, ( a technique called flagging,) which catches the attention of every other squirrel in the area that something is not right. That hunter is going to go home empty-handed!

When you are out in public, especially when you are with a bunch of other people, you are in a prime location for a disaster. This is when you should be in a heightened state of situational awareness, which requires a tremendous amount of self-discipline, because you are usually doing something where everyone is having fun. Too much alcohol can also decrease your ability to be aware of what is going on around you! You should be looking for, and listening for things that don't fit. Like, if someone walks in with a mask on and carrying a gun, you need to be aware and take immediate action!

This brings up the second technique that squirrels utilize that gives them the survival edge. They always place themselves where they have the best view of what is going on. If I go out to my backyard to feed some of my friendly squirrels and give a squirrel a piece of food, they will always take the food and move to a location where they have a better view of what is going on. Often it is 5 or 6 feet up a tree and then they hang upside down by their back feet and will eat the food while constantly keeping watch for danger.

When you enter a public place, it's a good practice to position yourself in a location where you can see what is going on and be able to see who is entering the building. An ideal location would be far away from the main entrance, but very close to an emergency exit! Making yourself aware of where emergency exits are located can literally save your life! That's why airlines have their attendants review emergency procedures and locations of exits before you take off.

The last technique you can learn from a squirrel is how to escape when impending danger is upon them. There are two evasive techniques squirrels use when danger is present. The first is a straight-line run technique. If a squirrel senses danger they will make a bee-line run for a tree and get the tree between them and the perceived danger. The other technique they use is when the danger is seen and bearing down on them. This can be seen when a squirrel is in a street and a car is bearing down on them. They will do a zigzag maneuver. When a predator is closing-in, and about to attack, the zigzag maneuver makes them very difficult to catch.

The application here is that if you observe early something bad about to happen, make a bee-line for an exit that is opposite to where the danger is located. If the danger is immanent, ( like someone shooting the place up,) and you make a break for the exit, don't run in a straight line, that makes you an easy target. Stay low to make yourself a smaller target and zigzag which makes you a more difficult target to hit.

From what I have read about the recent mass shootings where the perpetrators wore body armor I'm amazed that they were not seen by people sooner! I mean someone wearing body armor and carrying a high powered rifle had to stand out like a sore thumb! Were people so distracted that they didn't realize what was going down until these deranged individuals opened fire?

Obviously, there are people out there that do not value human life, that are seeking to take out as many as they can. Unfortunately, even when police respond in record time, there can still be many wounded and killed. People need to stop being so distracted that they lose their situational awareness! Take a lesson from the squirrels, become aware of what is going on around you wherever you are! It just might save your life!

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Hair and Skin Problems In Squirrels

8/4/2019

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I get emails all the time from people describing various problems with hair loss or thinning of hair on the squirrels in their yard or ones they are raising or retaining in their house. These can range from simple thinning to bald spots or even bloody and scabbed areas of missing hair.
There are several reasons why squirrels experience hair loss that can range from a fungus infection to parasitic infestation and even vitamin deficiency and dietary problems. They can even lose hair by repeated physical activity!
There is a fungal infection called “Dermatophytosis” that is commonly found in squirrels. A fungus requires moisture and warmth to grow. Dermatophytosis is common in the Spring of the year and whenever the weather produces warm and moist conditions. Dermatophytosis attacks the hair shaft at the skin line causing the hair shaft to become brittle so that it easily breaks off. It also produces a mild itch that will cause the squirrel to scratch and bite at the area. This action causes the hair to break off and leave a bald area. There is usually not much skin irritation or scabbing. Just bald spots that spread as the fungus spreads and the squirrel keeps scratching. If this is found on a captive squirrel, one way to make the diagnosis is to grasp a few hairs on the edge of a bald spot and give them a gentle tug. If they break off, it is probably Dermatophytosis.
No treatment is mandatory for Dermatophytosis because the squirrel's immune system will eventually overcome it. I would not recommend seeking a prescription anti-fungal medication for this condition because the potential side-effects of most of these products are worse than the disease.

I use a couple of natural products that are completely safe to use, yet are very effective at treating a fungus. One is cold-pressed organic Coconut Oil. It's important that it is cold-pressed and unprocessed because processing and heat destroys the substances that kill fungus. Another substance that can be added to the squirrel's water and applied topically is Colloidal Silver. Both of these substances can be found on our Product Page.
Another cause of hair loss in squirrels is a parasitic infestation of Mange Mites or Sarcoptic Mange. The insect that causes this is called Sarcoptes scabiei. They can only be transmitted skin-to-skin by close contact and squirrels pass them to each other when they sleep together in cold weather. The mites cannot live off of a warm host for more than an hour and are incapable of jumping from one squirrel to another. A massive infestation to a squirrel can be life-threatening because they are blood-feeding insects and can produce anemia and a weakened immune system. Since they borough under the skin, they cause intense itching which often results in open wounds and scabbing. ( Note: If you have squirrels in a cage that have never been with wild squirrels, it is impossible for them to get Mange!)
There are two ways to treat Mange. The quick way is to use a tiny dose of Ivermectin 1.87% This is recommended in massive infestations where the squirrel's life is endangered.
The other way to treat it is to add a couple teaspoons of Colloidal Silver to the squirrel's drinking water. It doesn't kill the adult mites but will weaken the cell wall of their eggs so that the killer T-Cells of the immune system can penetrate and destroy the larvae. When the adults die, the infestation is gone!
Another thing that can cause hair thinning and loss is low Vitamin D levels. Squirrels synthesize Vitamin D from exposure to direct sunlight, (not through glass.) Glass filters out the spectrum of light needed for this synthesis to take place. We have found that a simple incandescent plant light shining on the squirrel's cage for 4 to 6 hours a day helps the squirrel synthesize Vitamin D. (Note: Oral supplementation of Vitamin D is not recommended because of the difficulty of proper dosing and the distinct possibility of damage to the squirrel's liver!)
Squirrels can experience hair loss and thinning from dietary problems. Excessive salt in the diet can cause the hair to thin and fall out especially in the tail. Squirrels should never be fed salted nuts! Nuts should be raw or unsalted and should comprise no more than 20% of their daily intake of food.
The other dietary cause of hair thinning an loss is hypoprotinuria. This simply means not enough quality protein in the diet. This is a biggie, because there is a misconception out there in the squirrel rhetoric that says that squirrels are strict herbivores and should never be fed anything resembling meat protein. Yet, if you study the dietary habits of squirrels in the wild, you will find that they eat bugs and worms and have been known to raid bird's nests to eat bird's eggs and even baby birds. This activity points out the fact that they cross-over and eat protein.
We discovered this with our 11-year-old blind squirrel recently because she was losing muscle mass and had chronic fur missing from the top of her feet. She also had stopped gnawing so we were having to feed her a dental soft diet and trim her teeth every couple months.
I decided to try adding raw egg yolk to her diet by mixing it in to the soft food balls that we are feeding her. After a couple of weeks she started to put back on muscle weight and now the hair that was missing from her feet is starting to grow back in!
So, squirrels do need high quality protein to keep their muscles strong and to facilitate hair growth!
Squirrels can also lose hair from habitual activity like gnawing at cage wire. When a squirrel wants out of a cage they will often run their teeth up and down the vertical wires of their cage. If they are able to get their nose between the wires, you will often find fur missing from the top of their nose. This loss is caused by their nose rubbing up and down an adjacent parallel wire on the cage.
This sums up most of the reason why and how squirrels lose hair. If you have any questions about squirrels and their behavior you can always check the list of Blog topics on my website http://SquirrelNutrition.com or contact me by e-mail at SquirrelHelp@Gmail.com.
We're always willing to help with your squirrel questions!

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Author

William Sells is a Registered Nurse turned Squirrel Rehabber and Nutritionist. His passion is raising healthy, disease free squirrels through feeding them the right way and the treatment of common squirrel diseases. He's always open to questions and comments regarding Squirrels and their care and feeding.