Bugs

[niapet]

Hey all,

I have noticed a lot of people feed their kiddos worms. Are bugs an important part of squirrel nutrition? I don't intend to bring any worms in the house BUT we do kill the occasional spider in the house. Imp has been seen snatching up one of the eight legged demons and munching on them also.

Do you think it would be good for Imp to give him spiders we kill to snack on instead of flushing them?

[Sweet Simon's Mommy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W50fQYKN34

don't know if this is one of our babies or not, I personally have not given Simon any bugs .
as far as spiders go I would be careful they don't have any venom.
Meal worms do come freeze dried in the pet store if you want to start with that.
I know flyers need meat, but dont think Greys have to have it.

[island rehabber]

I would be careful of spiders, too....many are poisonous and he doesn't have his mamma squirrel around to teach him which ones aren't. I hear squirrels like waxworms and sometimes mealies too.....I don't feed any bugs to my rehab squirrels because I hate bugs. :D

[niapet]

I would be careful of spiders, too....many are poisonous and he doesn't have his mamma squirrel around to teach him which ones aren't. I hear squirrels like waxworms and sometimes mealies too.....I don't feed any bugs to my rehab squirrels because I hate bugs. :D


Same here I can't stand bugs and have a borderline phobia of beetles.

Oh this just occurred to me, what about shrimp and crab? They are arthropods, therefor they are pretty much bugs. I don't eat shrimp because the gross me out, but I would pick them up for Impy if they are good for him.

Also what about fish, do squirrels like fish?

[pappy1264]

No, don't feed spiders. And yes, they LOVE waxies and superworms (mealies, not so much, at least in my experience...guess they don't taste the same...lol)

[Sweet Simon's Mommy]

I gave my doggies fish and they liked but made them stink:shakehead

I don't see any squirrels down at the river fishing so I don't think they would eat them either.
They are Veggie-tarians, just need their calcium and vitamins from rodent block and green leafy veggies and a little fruit here and there and some almonds or hazel nuts for a treat. Make sure they have apple wood sticks to chew to keep teeth conditioned and you should be fine. Shrimp is very rich and could cause diarrhea if he did it eat, its up to you if you want to try it, but I wouldn't give it to mine.

[gs1]

:) yes they do need meat... in my opinion.... in nature i've seen them eating baby birds, frogs, moths etc...

(the greys, the reds, and the sik sik (yukon ground squirrels) are known to eat meat)

(flyers need lots of meat)

Jackie in tampa has a bowl of ? wax worms i think ...and the greys (namely spice :Love_Icon ) help themselves... just like a bowl of candy lol.....

i think if you are going to keep your squirrel as a house squirrel and not a release then you should be giving some kind of meat.....

:)


They're not vegetarians.... they're not vegans either .... they're omnivores.... :)

[niapet]

:) yes they do need meat... in my opinion.... in nature i've seen them eating baby birds, frogs, moths etc...

(the greys, the reds, and the sik sik (yukon ground squirrels) are known to eat meat)

(flyers need lots of meat)

Jackie in tampa has a bowl of ? wax worms i think ...and the greys (namely spice :Love_Icon ) help themselves... just like a bowl of candy lol.....

i think if you are going to keep your squirrel as a house squirrel and not a release then you should be giving some kind of meat.....

:)


They're not vegetarians.... they're not vegans either .... they're omnivores.... :)

Hey humans are omnivores too but a vegetarian diet is pretty healthy for us. Now since we are vegetarians, the types of meat we can Imp are limited. We are not "true" vegetarians in that we are willing to eat wild caught fish (as long as it is caught with sustainable practice). We are also willing, on occasion, to eat turkey and chicken if it is TRUE free range (we used to be okay will anything free range but just cant bring ourselves to eat mammals anymore.)

Anyway does anyone recommend any sea food, chicken or turkey? (if they eat baby birds adult ones should be okay?) Also I know they dont eat seafood in the wild, but I'm sure humans didn't either before we developed the proper tools (which the squirrels will one day! >:)

Anyway shellfish is VERY similar to other bugs and fish is just plain healthy. Has anyone tried fish, shellfish or poultry with the little furballs?

[gs1]

well flyers can eat plain chicken breast boiled or baked... but i think your boy wants live, wiggling food :D :hidechair

[niapet]

"They ruins it!! We wants it RAAAW! and Wriggling!"

[Margie]

All spiders are venomous. Just some more than others. I just ordered some freeze dried meal worms for Stormy Lee from Chris' Squirrels. Stormy hasn't been fed any meat yet, so hopefully she won't know the difference between fresh worms and freeze dried, because I am not feeding her live worms. Yuk!! I rescue the spiders and crickets that get in the house and release them outside.

[niapet]

I don't bother to "rescue" bugs since they don't have a real brain and what brain they do have is certainly not capable of thought or emotion. There is no suffering caused by squishing them.

PS I really hope m not wrong about this....

[pappy1264]

I don't know, but I must admit, although I do feed live bugs to my babies (gliders, flyers, greys, mice and geckos), I always say 'sorry guys' as I put them in the dish. Strange, I know, but I do feel bad for them, as crazy as that may sound. That being said, I love seeing how much my babies love their bugs (and the gliders 'chirp' while they eat them!)

[niapet]

I don't know, but I must admit, although I do feed live bugs to my babies (gliders, flyers, greys, mice and geckos), I always say 'sorry guys' as I put them in the dish. Strange, I know, but I do feel bad for them, as crazy as that may sound. That being said, I love seeing how much my babies love their bugs (and the gliders 'chirp' while they eat them!)


I don't think that compassion for life is a bad thing (founded or not).