Kaytee "Squirrel and Critter" food

[ophieco]

I've been feeding 3-4 wild squirrels for trhe summer using "Squirrel and Critter" food from Petco, and I've come to find out that tis isn't or may not be the best thing to do. It consists of corn, peanuts and a couple varieties of sunflower seeds. I tried to add Rodent blocks to this, but they all ignore it and, in fact, seem to be somewhat annoyed with me as the blocks get in the way of their old food!

Should I be concerned? We're in a drought and there doesn't seem to be much wild food for them... aqt least as far as I can tell, and I don't want to be short changing them nutritionally. Is there a suppliment I can add to the "Critter Food"? I'm not sure what to do here... Any suggestions would be helpful.

[farrelli]

Those aren't great ingredients for squirrels, but wilds normally balance their diet. It would be more of a concern if this kind of thing is a big staple in their diet. Some people feed doctored up rodent blocks which are accepted gladly. The following is what CritterMom does.



Mazuri Rodent Breeder, I believe their internal number is "6F" or something like that... I pay about $24 for a 50lb bag.

I dump a couple cups of the blocks in a microwave proof bowl, and drizzle a small amount of canola oil on them. The amount depends on how many you are making - but you only want *just* enough oil to coat them when you stir it up, not so much that they are sitting in oil. I then put a couple spoonsful of peanut butter in the bowl and nuke it for a minute or so to soften the peanut butter. Stir, stir, stir until everything is evenly coated - it isn't alot, just enough to coat everything. Back in the microwave and now I hit them at high for about 5 minutes - you want them screaming, boiling, bubbling hot! Stir again and set aside to cool. As they cool, they "suck up" all of the peanut butter.

A 50 pound bag of these lasts me about 2 weeks. Believe me, the squirrels like them!