Proper Wild Squirrel Nutrition

[Khari]

I have a bird feeder that I fill up throughout the winter which includs hulled millet, hulled peanuts and hulled sesame seeds. This is for the birds but the wild squirrels eat it as well. I also put hulled peanuts aside for the squirrels to eat. The food is quite expensive in the bird feeder but is being wiped out daily (I am guessing by the squirrels). So I am looking to supplement the squirrels diet with healthy food options in my fridge that I may not use and am going to throw out. Can I please get a list of healthy foods for squirrels that I can put out for them to feed on daily in hopes that I can save money on the bird seed....

[astra]

actually, there is a good chance the millet and sesame seeds are eaten by birds, too.
If you could find unhulled sesame seeds that would be better b/c unhulled sesame seeds have more calcium

If you would like to help your wilds with nutrition during winter, there are different things you could do:

1. you can give them peeled apple slices, bananan and kiwi slices, avocado - no pit, no skin because they are toxic. Other veggies that wilds may eat are belgian endive, chickory/escarole, cucumber slices.
Generally, wilds are not into our veggies because they have their wild foods.
But in my experience the foods above have been eaten by wilds, too, frequently.

2. You could also buy commercial rodent block. At pet stores you could look for Kaytee Forti diet for rats and mice, blue bag (not green bag - breen is really green).
There is also Harlan Teklad block but it has to be ordered online.

When/if you buy commercial block, you can do a couple of things with them (because no wild in their right mind will eat a plain commercial rodent block):
a) grind the block, mix it with enough baby food to make a pliable dough.
Add some flavorful nut butter (natural pb, almond etc). Just enough butter to make the dough flavorful (nut butter amount will be just under the amount of ground block).
Instead of nut butters, you can ground up some nuts - about the same amount as the block, and mix them. you may have to use something like pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts. I find that almonds do not add enough flavor. At least, that has been my experience.

once you mix all of the above, make into balls and feed.

b) one of people here - CritterMom - takes blocks, pours some nut butter and a small amount of veggie oil over the blocks, nukes until the butter is hot - it penetrates the block very well that way. Stir and make sure blocks are well coated and soaked.
Let them cool off a bit and feed.
If you are interested in this, you may want to contact CritterMom through a private message for more details, because I may have missed something.

Also, look for in-shell nuts - almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans - at supermarkets and Walmart - they will go on sale soon after Christmas. Stock up, keep in the fridge (or freezer) and feed them throughout the winter.

If you feed peanuts, make sure they are roasted.

others will chime in.

[astra]

one VERY important thing:

do not leave food out overnight or you will end up with raccoons, especially, in warm months.

Always clean up your feeders by the end of the day

[farrelli]

A couple things that I used to think of as garbage and throw out and now feed to squirrels: 1) The seed cores of green/yellow/red sweet peppers; and 2) The seeds from squash, pumpkins, and just about anything else. They'll also eat just about any kind of fruit, and many vegetables, including lettuces. Truth be told, I kind of raid the trash at work because we have a couple places nearby that include an apple or orange with takeout lunches but probably only half the people eat them. I take them and slice them up and they disappear within minutes.

[Khari]

everyone for the advice.

I have alot of those in my fridge that I sometimes do not eat before they expire. So, I will be happy to treat the squirrels to it I have some apples that I have to throw out but now will skin and cut up and give to the squirrels for christmas morning. they deserve to be treated special on christmas to.

Can they eat skinned lemons?

I use hulled seeds and nuts because I don't like the weeds that grow from the unhulled ones.

I just looked out the back window and there are a bunch of birds hidden in my cedars and 5 on my fence and 3 at the feeder. Oh ya, and 2 squirrels on the fence

[farrelli]

I'm not sure why Astra instructs to peel the apples unless she's concerned about pesticides. I just wash mine thoroughly and the squirrels eat the whole thing. There's actually a lot of nutrients in the apple skin.

I have never feed squirrels lemons, but I have seen people do it and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. They actually contain a lot of sugar. If you're going to throw them out, you've got nothing to lose. Different squirrels have different tastes. For example, though many if not most squirrels seem to like red bell pepper, the ones around here won't touch it. They'll eat the seeds and that's about it.