mpetys
12-29-2010, 09:42 PM
I give my squirrels citrus - mainly oranges and limes. With the oranges I feed segments with the seeds removed unless it is the seedless clementine and then I just give them the segment. With the limes, I cut in quarters and remove the seeds, leaving the skin on.
I recently bought some kumquats; I have never eaten them but had always heard how you can eat the skin and all. Well I discovered they have seeds in them. Can the seeds be eaten as well? by humans? by squirrels. It is heck trying to get all the seeds out of a kumquat, they had a lot!
I have wild oranges growing on our property. They are too sour to eat for most people to eat unless you are one of those people who love sour things. They are smaller than a lime but bigger than a kumquat. I have not seen the wild squirrels eating these although I suspect they do. I do not have much luck witnessing the wild squirrels eating anything except for when they come to us for a nut or if they make mad dashes for the corn we give to the ducks and geese!
Would it be a safe thing to let my squirrels try a whole orange? My thought is that I have three that will be released in the spring so I would like to introduce them to this if it will be something they need to know about. I imagine they will spit any seeds out but is there anything horrible in the seed if a silly squirrel were to eat it or chew on it? Anything horrible in the skin?
Just some additional information on my trees. I believe they are what is considered the original orange trees and what the current orange trees are grafted onto. They are supposed to be a lot more hardy than other orange trees and that is why the growers use the sour orange root stock for the base and graft the nice sweeter oranges to them. They grow tall and skinny
and the trunk is covered in 2 to 3 inch barbs. When the blossoms are blooming, I swear they smell even better than the other citrus trees. I think this fruit is sought after by the Hispanic community and I think the Asian community for use in sauces for cooking.
Michele
I recently bought some kumquats; I have never eaten them but had always heard how you can eat the skin and all. Well I discovered they have seeds in them. Can the seeds be eaten as well? by humans? by squirrels. It is heck trying to get all the seeds out of a kumquat, they had a lot!
I have wild oranges growing on our property. They are too sour to eat for most people to eat unless you are one of those people who love sour things. They are smaller than a lime but bigger than a kumquat. I have not seen the wild squirrels eating these although I suspect they do. I do not have much luck witnessing the wild squirrels eating anything except for when they come to us for a nut or if they make mad dashes for the corn we give to the ducks and geese!
Would it be a safe thing to let my squirrels try a whole orange? My thought is that I have three that will be released in the spring so I would like to introduce them to this if it will be something they need to know about. I imagine they will spit any seeds out but is there anything horrible in the seed if a silly squirrel were to eat it or chew on it? Anything horrible in the skin?
Just some additional information on my trees. I believe they are what is considered the original orange trees and what the current orange trees are grafted onto. They are supposed to be a lot more hardy than other orange trees and that is why the growers use the sour orange root stock for the base and graft the nice sweeter oranges to them. They grow tall and skinny
and the trunk is covered in 2 to 3 inch barbs. When the blossoms are blooming, I swear they smell even better than the other citrus trees. I think this fruit is sought after by the Hispanic community and I think the Asian community for use in sauces for cooking.
Michele