Will they eat the Rodent Block

[scoobysnack]

Just for fun some photos of adult wild squirrels scarfing up Harlan Teklad rodent blocks. These guys have plenty to eat. Get goodies tossed to them regularly. No one starving that's for sure. You can see they are various squirrels if you look at their tails they are different. Those blocks were, just like the movie title, gone in 60 seconds!

[mugzeezma]

Just for fun some photos of adult wild squirrels scarfing up Harlan Teklad rodent blocks. These guys have plenty to eat. Get goodies tossed to them regularly. No one starving that's for sure. You can see they are various squirrels if you look at their tails they are different. Those blocks were, just like the movie title, gone in 60 seconds!
YOU GOOF!!!!:rotfl
You could throw dog food out and they would eat it too!
THROW OUT HERSHEY'S KISSES TOO AND WATCH 'EM ROLL! :rotfl

Now we need to collect DATA
find a control group (or 'controlled' group UH HUH RIGHT we are talking squirrels here) possibly some that are on a strictly 'wild' diet
Tag, collect and test blood and fecal samples, weigh each squirrel, watch for frequency of return, how much is actually consumed,
THEN
present HHBs for a month
THEN
present Booballs for a month

retest and collect data after each dietary change

THEN

lay out all three and see which one is preferred

or get three separate squirrels and put them on an exclusive diet of Harlan, HHB. OR Booball and collect physical data

any REAL scientists here?

[scoobysnack]

The point is they will eat them even if they aren't forced to. That an adult squirrel WILL voluntarily eat Harlan Teklad blocks.

I wasn't doing a scientific experiment here.

[CritterMom]

I was frankly shocked that Mister P ate them - they are the most unappetizing things I have ever seen - very industrial looking.

[mugzeezma]

The point is they will eat them even if they aren't forced to. That an adult squirrel WILL voluntarily eat Harlan Teklad blocks.

I wasn't doing a scientific experiment here.

I know that Scoobs

You stated "just for fun" here and I took off the next nine yards because of the foodfight going on in the booball thread

[lizharrell1]

So which one of ya'll is going to tackle the "test subjects" and draw their blood?:D Please take lots of video please!!! I could USE a good laugh today!!!!:D

[island rehabber]

My group of rehab squirrels this time loved monkey biscuits more than HHB's for the first few weeks....then they started loving HHB's and peeing on the monkey biscuits. :shakehead So far they still love HHB's. :dono

I have tried Harlan Teklad, Forti-Diet, Zupreem, Lab Diet, you name it, never with more than a 10% success rate (10% of ten squirrels means one guy eats it :shakehead.)

The hard-core, non-TSB rehabbers I know ALL feed rodent block as their rehab squirrels' complete diet. How? They don't give them anything else. Squirrels go from formula to whatever block they decide to buy, and that's it. It's like your dog only gets Purina Dog Chow. It's starve, or eat block. They have an excellent success rate. The problem is often the human quotient -- I'm too soft on my kids and once you slip them a pecan, it's all over baby. :sanp3

[scoobysnack]

It's like having a child. You don't deny them all goodies you just make them prioritize what they NEED to get. So, if my child didn't eat anything at dinner time, she didn't get dessert. If she said she was hungry, she got dinner offered to her again. Eventually she'd eat it because she was genuinely hungry. THEN she could have her dessert.

What I do with my ratties and squirrels is this. They get a plate full of stuff. Majority of it is leafy greens, broccoli and other calcium rich veggies. They get mushrooms as well. They also get a variety of other things including carrot, sweet potato, squash, blueberries, cherries blah blah blah.

I leave that plate the WHOLE day into the next day. If there is still a bunch of stuff on it.. well they are stuck with it until there isn't. They eat all the block, all the other stuff leaving sometimes a thing or two they just won't entertain. Scooby eats EVERYTHING on her plate. Seriously it's licked clean every day. So do the rats. My new releases are pickier but they can be. However they are still eating all their block and monkey biscuit (go figure).

[scoobysnack]

So which one of ya'll is going to tackle the "test subjects" and draw their blood?:D Please take lots of video please!!! I could USE a good laugh today!!!!:D

I vote NOT ME!

[lizharrell1]

I vote NOT ME!
Yeah, I second that vote. But I eagerly await someone who IS willing to do it!!! Oh, and whoever DOES try this, can you please make sure you video tape the part about collecting fecals on the wilds as well? I am DYING to see that one!!!:D :D

[scoobysnack]

I'm not even brave enough to remove my own cash from Jake's stash of treasures! I'm NOT collecting nuffin' on no wild squirrels!

[mugzeezma]

So which one of ya'll is going to tackle the "test subjects" and draw their blood?:D Please take lots of video please!!! I could USE a good laugh today!!!!:D
Don't temp me Liz JUST DON'T tempt me!

fecal? that's easy!
Just the catching them will scare the poop out of them!

As far as drawing blood I would imagine that human blood would probably be drawn first! :D

[lizharrell1]

:rotfl :rotfl :rotfl :rotfl