My squirrels aren't eating well, help please!

[orquid009]

Hello, I have two grown adult squirrels and lately they are not eating well, I usually give them two HHB a some veggies and fruits and a couple of nuts at night. I don't know what to do. They are not eating the blocks, I was using the picky eaters, but I just ordered the normal ones to see if they like the change.
Any ideas?
Thanks

[SammysMom]

Tough love is the only way to go. Give NOTHING except the blocks first thing in the morning when they are hungriest. Once they eat, you can give veggies etc. NO nuts until eating blocks though.:nono

[stepnstone]

Last time I got the regular (adult) formula HHB's neither of the two (separated) I have would eat them either,
they used to. I couldn't even dress them up to get them to eat them. :dono

The wilds seemed to like them. :D

I relied back to the picky blocks, they both prefer them and /or the wild bites.

[acorniv]

Mokus eats well for a while and then just stops. Tough love doesn't help. His weight will drop and then he gets MEAN ( normally he never bites). I'll tell you what I did to alleviate that, but first, I want to mention something I leanred with my first squirrel, who was fed mostly wild gathered food:

You and I were raised to think there are 4 seasons. Squirrels count more like 24. They are excited by what is newly available, and some are turned off by what is not fresh ( ie: early in the season). The most notable example we observed was that Schmootie loved grasshoppers ( the small males, please, not the big juicy females). Every day we'd catch some and she would go CRAZY :crazy eating them. And then one day, she acted utterly offended that we'd suggest she eat one. A week later, there were no more grasshoppers - they'd all hibernated. Schmootie detected what we could not - a body change as the hoppers prepared for their new life. This made us pay more attention to what happened in the plant world too. Sure enough, Schmootie welcomed the new, and disdained the stale. The only exception was nuts, which the wild's too eat stale. This might give a clue as to why our captives love nuts SO much, that many, given the chance will eat nothing else, while wilds prefer a more balanced diet.

Humans eat produce that is REALLY stale. It looks fresh, but it's been grown out of season, picked from both new plants and old, and stored - sometimes for months (years even, in some cases). Then it travels around the country ( or world) sits in warhouses more, and then in stores, and finally in our refrigerator. Our standards, if you think about it, could not be lower.

Your squirrels may smell in the air that early Spring, the world's most exciting growth period, has finally arrived. They may, like Mokus, and our wilds, be craving new roots from freshly dug dirt. Mokus just turned off of veggies ( again...:sanp3 ) so I went out this week and started digging. He's devouring huge piles of fresh stuff and begging for more every day now.

As for block, Mokus blows hot and cold over it too. He likes one batch over another, and likes fresh batches better than older ones ( though I keep anything over a week's worth in the freezer). I think he detects what human's can't. He'll pick it up as soon as delivered, give it a good sniff, and either eat it or bury it in his pan of dirt, never to touch it again. (fresh, root filled dirt is a nutritional necessity, IMO - it's chock full of vitamins and minerals, and given how much they dig, it may be the primary food of wilds). To prevent this, I grind his block into meal, and mix in a little almond butter ( which I deduct from his nut allotment). I used to chop the block into 1/8" squared, but the little bugger licked the almond butter off and dumped it. Now he eats it.

If you live in a high rise, and can't easily gather wild food, do what you can, and also buy your produce in smaller batches and change the variety more often. And pester your coworkers to bring you loot from their yards and trips to the country ;-). With Schmootie, if I saw wild squirrels looking particularly excited about their meals, I stopped and knocked on the door and asked for some. Apparently, only kind generous people live in houses with happy squirrels, because I was never turned down, and only given 'the look' a time or two.

[KathleenNYC]

To add on what Acorniv said about smell; if you are like me and buy whatever dish-washing detergent is on sale, it think there are some my little guy just doesn’t like. I have switched to a daily washing his bowls with a good rinse of plain hot water and wiping dry with a clean paper towel. (I do use soap every couple of days but with a fresh paper towel, not a kitchen sponge)