What can squirrels NOT eat?

Question

I've been feeding a squirrel peanuts, but I'm wondering if I can give him some more tasty treats too.

Answer 1

Just buy whole, not roasted nuts - like the general holdiay nut mixture with the shells still on them.

Pecans are what my squirrel considers HER FAVORITE TREAT.

One of the answers to your question quotes a baby squirrel manual that I have come across several times, and I have found that rehabber to be quite the nut-job, pardon the pun. The author of that, Clarissa Summers, lists no sources and repeatedly tells people throughout her 'manual' that if you don't follow her entire instructions, your squirrel will die.... nice. Let me quote something she says:

"Squirrel Nutrition and Care" by Clarissa Summers

"This web page should be considered an instruction manual, a natural, holistic guide to be followed explicitly, not to be mixed randomly with information from other sources since that will only lead to failure.

Please do not act first and ask questions later. What I cannot teach, the squirrels will. Many times the lessons they teach can be bitter and heartbreaking.

Unfortunately, several unethical people, finding the need to be competitive, have plagiarized information directly from my web page to theirs, presenting it falsely as having come from their own past experiences.

Although it has been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I am not flattered. The information on this web page is my own creation and always has been from its conception more than 20 years ago, not just when it was implemented on the Internet in 1999.

Be not deceived. Only in this web page will you find the entire original and unadulterated Truth. "

I didn't even quote all the nutty things she says about doing this the squirrel will die, not doing this the squirrel will die, etc. If you are curious, just click the link:

http://www.hal-pc.org/~jbsum/squirrel.ht...

I assume that you are just feeding an outdoor squirrel and not rehabbing one, so there is absolutely no need for you to read all that, but.......

If you were interested at all in reading a baby squirrel manual, this is a more reputable source:

http://www.animaladvocates.us/squirrelma...

Title: Raising Infant Tree Squirrels

Author: Mary Cummins

Mary Cummins is referenced by many veterinarians, including my own, lists several sources for her research and doesn't make threats that the animal will die if you don't listen to her and follow her instructions as if it were the word of God himself ;0)

Answer 2

You can probably give it those wild squirrel feeds they sell at some pet stores. But like other small animals, they probably can't eat those high-in-sugar type things. They may get sick. I am sorry that I don't know too much about feeding squirrels. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

this is what you can feed them

Pecans

Walnuts

Hazelnuts (Filberts)

Cashew nuts (salted or unsalted, doesn't matter)

Pine nuts

Macadamia nuts (from the jar, not in the shell)

Pistachio nuts (in the shell for the older, more juvenile squirrels). Do give the white kind, NOT the red-dyed ones. Salted ones are just fine.

Almonds ---- Give sparingly because these contain salicylates (the same ingredient in aspirin which is stored in the body and not easily thrown off -- takes 3 weeks for that chemical to go out of the body.

Chestnuts are fine as long as they're sliced open with a knife, cut in half so inside can be inspected and tasted, if necessary. Withered, yellowed, or moldy chestnuts should never be given. Nor should those that have started to sprout be fed since they can be terribly bitter and leave a horrid aftertaste in the mouth. Their life span is very short -- shells are so porous and air can get in to spoil the pure white nutmeat inside, so do be cautious about feeding these.

Brazil Nuts -- Give rarely because these are too high in phosphorus and make squirrels nervous. Since shells are so hard, it's best to cut them in half (or less) with a nut cutter and only give the half (or less) at once. Whether these have withered or spoiled inside can only be detected by cracking them open.Red-tipped or green-leafed lettuces (Romaine is preferred)

Endive

Spinach (go easy on spinach because it contains nitrates which are carcinogens)

Small tender leaves of:

Beet greens

Swiss Chard

Turnip greens

Kale

Hackberry leaves (if you know what a Hackberry tree is)

Broccoli -- (Its cousin, cauliflower, has little food value, if any, so don't feed it.)

Celery, leaves and ½" very short piece of stalk -- please don't put the whole plant in the cage! Celery has zero nutrition in it so give only sparingly.

Other vegetables:

Squash (Yellow, Zucchini, and Butternut)

Cucumber (Peel rind if waxed)

Tomato

Sweet potato

Green Bell pepper

Okra

Sugar Snap peas

Snow peas

Corn --- A 1" slice cut in 4 pieces. (Give only 1 or 2 of these pieces.) Do NOT put in a whole ear of corn for them to gorge on: Corn sours and molds quickly.

Green beans (1 ½ " sections)

Fruits (all, except where noted, should be a small chunk about the size of the end of your thumb including thumbnail)

Avocado

Blueberries (3 or 4)

Blackberries (1)

Strawberries (1/4)

Raspberries (these mold awfully fast so feed only those that are of the ultimate freshness)

Banana (small slice)

Kiwi (supposedly the most "nearly perfect" fruit)

Watermelon (I consider this nutritionally poor because it is mostly water)

Cantaloupe

Grapes (1 - 2 occasionally)

Raisins (same nutritional value as grapes)

Plum

Pineapple

Mulberries

Fig (1/4 to 1/6th)

Dates (1/3rd is a sufficient serving)

Apple -- (seeds in the core are toxic -- do NOT feed)

Peach or Nectarine

Pear

Orange(small piece)

Mango(small piece -- skin is toxic, so peel it off)

Other:

Mushrooms (store-bought only). Do NOT feed white button or Portabello mushrooms because they contain three carcinogens.

Seeds: (All sun-dried by you!) Best not to give these (and only a few at that time) except occasionally every now and then. Pumpkin seeds especially are high in phosphorus which makes squirrels (and people!) nervous.

Pumpkin

Squash

Watermelon

Cantaloupe

A List of NO-NO's

Nothing-- for 24 hours; he died.

Egg yolk -- they all die. This is literally "unborn chicken", not intended for our vegetarian squirrels -- only for carnivores.

KMR (kitten formula) they die in 3-5 days. One lasted 8 days. The extremely high concentration of egg yolk (unborn chicken) will quickly do them in, especially fox squirrel babies whose little systems are much more delicate than the grays.

Esbilac (puppy formula) -- literally thousands of squirrels have died needlessly in the hands of humans because of being fed commercial formulas recommended on those politically-motivated wildlife-group web pages whose members don't want the public to succeed. This particular formula takes longer than KMR for the harmful effects to set in. Has egg yolk (unborn chicken) in it, no magnesium, too many alien chemical additives and preservatives, and the ferrous sulfate blocks calcium, leading to broken bones, rickets, nervousness, convulsions, seizures, and sudden, unexpected death.

All other commercial formulas supposedly intended for baby animals, no matter WHAT the brand name, cause the same unfortunate symptoms since compositions of all those formulas are basically the same.

Ground-up dog food mixed with Pet Milk -- he died (Instructions for this awful concoction came from a Wildlife Rehabilitation handbook.) Squirrels are vegetarians and cannot tolerate meat. When squirrels are confused with dogs, the next "step up" can be Puppy Weaning Formula, a sure-fire instant killer, because of the extemely high content of meat.

Pizza-- convulsions, seizure. He died.

Enfamil, Similac, etc. (human baby formulas) -- these are all some of the WORST things to feed since they are not intended for wildlife -- they all die -- nor are they necessarily good for human infants either, causing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in human children just as they do in squirrels. All soy products and formulas block calcium and should never be fed to infant squirrels.

Green acorns -- he died.

Sunflower seeds --2 quarts of these were the daily diet of the nastiest-tempered squirrel I ever saw.

Tea - for 2 days to a pinkie squirrel. He died.

All Junk Food (For example)

Candy coated chocolate candy

All Chocolate foods

Jelly beans

Chocolate sandwich cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cake

Peppermint Candy

Walnuts (to the exclusion of anything else -- that was all he was ever fed) caused severe muscular weakness in all four limbs. He never sufficiently recovered in his short life span to be released.

Carrots -- caution! Two have died after gorging on these. (What is this gorging business? Squirrels should never be allowed to "gorge" on anything!)

Lamb -- squirrels are vegetarians. They do not store leg of lamb for the winter.

Gatorade is awful! Do NOT feed it! It is not intended for wildlife and isn't good for people either because of the alien chemicals and preservatives in it.

Cereal in baby formula blocks calcium. Does Mama squirrel mix cereal with her milk? (The only exception to this "no-no" rule is when rice cereal must be added to the milk formula for a short time to control severe diarrhea which you really should not have at all unless you've added something sugary to their diet.)

Skimmed or Low-Fat milk. Eating fat does NOT make you fat. Babies need fat to activate their growth hormones. Calcium will not assimilate in the body without fat.

What Improper Nutrition Can Cause in Squirrels: (These symptoms are NEVER seen in squirrels who have been raised on Scalded Milk and have been given Nutballs as a part of their daily diet when they are older and have started eating solid foods.)

Unexplained sudden death.

Rickets -- hobbling gait of back legs, can only move them ¼" hobbles at a time, can hardly climb. (These were raised on Esbilac and did manage to survive, though permanently crippled.)

Crabbiness, hyperactivity, biting, nastiness, attacking -- caused by a lack of calcium or too much phosphorus (an imbalance), too many acorns (contain tannic acid, the stimulant also found in tea) or sunflower seeds, no variety in diet. These symptoms should be a warning flag because the next step is sudden death.

Severe malnutrition, drunken gait (muscles totally uncoordinated and jerky), stunted growth (weight and size of a 10-week-old. yet she's 5 ½ months old), tail fur arrested at the 6-week-old stage -- caused by giving only 4 foods (acorns, rancid pecans, undetermined type of milk. And only 1 or 2 pieces of apple in her whole life).

Broken bones and malocclusions (teeth missing or thrown out of alignment) -- caused by a lack of the total balanced spectrum of calcium, Vitamin D, magnesium, phosphorus, and fat.

Suddenly going down in back legs.

Seizures -- Squirrels do NOT get epilepsy! --(Some of these who have seizured have survived without dying immediately, but I don't know what the long-term effects of this is on the brain). Out of the approximately 2,500 squirrels I have taken in, only a few adult injured squirrels and babies come in in this condition because of head trauma, poisoning or having been hit by a car. None of my hand-raised babies has ever had a seizure. Cause: Severe lack of calcium or "phosphorus overload" (both are the same thing.)

**** THESE NUTBALLS ARE CRITICAL TO THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SQUIRRELS WHEN THEY ARE OLDER, HAVE STARTED CUTTING BACK ON THEIR SCALDED MILK, AND ARE EATING SOME SOLID FOODS WELL!

More NO-NO'S.

Squirrels are vegetarians. Do NOT feed dog or cat food because these contain meat.

Do not feed Monkey Biscuit: It contains egg yolk (unborn chicken) and will only keep experimental laboratory animals alive for a short amount of time. Squirrels are NOT monkeys!

Do not feed any egg-containing product to squirrels.

Do not feed any kinds of human cereals such as Cheerios. They all block calcium and are non-nutritive fillers.

Do NOT feed acorns. Tannic acid in acorns causes hyperactivity in squirrels since it is the same stimulant that is in tea, as is caffeine in coffee. Green and old moldy acorns can kill.

Limit sunflower seeds. They are not necessary to a healthy diet and are only considered a snack. They also block calcium, are considered hyper-addictive, and can cause liver disease since they are susceptible to aflatoxin, a sometimes invisible mold deadly to all wildlife.

Peanuts are NOT food for squirrels; They  

Answer 4

i hope this helps you Most squirrels eat nuts, seeds, grain, and fruit.   By far their favorite food would be nuts, followed by sunflower seeds.   Urban squirrel have adapted to eat just about anything,  including pizza,  luncheon meats and all forms of snack foods. Squirrels have been known to eat bird eggs,  but this is a last resort.  When natural food is scarce, they will eat anything they can find.

Answer 5

Give them black walnuts Bwahahaha!

Try sunflower seeds

Answer 6

I don't think they'll eat jerky :P