He just doesn't do greens.. DIET again..

[amandaleet1972]

I've bought every type of fancy box of mixed greens and such..tried them all.. Dewey likes sugar snap peas and an occasional green bean but he eats nothing leafy. He is getting the Henry's picky eaters blocks and likes them. I have cut way back on the nuts.. he hardly gets any. Loves avocado and fruit more than anything. I see fruit isn't so high on the list.. can you tell me why???? He loves apples and oranges but wont pick at a leaf of any kind.. Not much green really..not broccoli, Brussels sprouts.. etc.. I want him to have the best diet possible.. Is he Ok if he won't eat greens but will eat the blocks? Anything else I could try green-wise? And what about grass...? (When we see it again) ?? Plain, non fertilized grass, no pesticide or insecticide? Does that do him any good? I also have Horse alfalfa blocks... Or what about the alfalfa they sell for rodents in the shops? My birds always loved millet.. Any thoughts on millet?
Thanks

[BigNibbler]

What kind of squirrel is he?
I am having great success by using a juicer, it extracts the fluid very efficiently from something that tastes good, like lettuce to make juice. Then I also juice prime veggies like Brussellsprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, but I do NOT mix the juice extract from that ( maybe the cauliflower is good, but not the other greens - they are bitter ), with the lettuce juice. I drink or dump those juices.

I then mix one part juice ( heated but not boiled ) , with 1.75 parts finely ground 100% pure Oats. As I feel the mix is getting thick ( hand mixing a few minutes ), I reintroduce the solids that have been retained in the juicer of all the veggies. I use about 30% of those solids.
They love it! They also like those greens even better all by themselves without the darn oats!

Perhaps if you dust this mix with almond powder, or a sprinkling of avocado oil even die hard opponents will gobble it up!

I do not think Millet is good. But I am a city boy... lets see what others think? If it is like corn it is BAAD!
Basically it has to do with a strong 2:1 calcium phosphorus ratio in all foods!
Seek foods that are not heavy in sugars like fruits.
Foods that are high in fat compared to proteins.
And low in oxylates that can cause kidney stones.

[Rhapsody]

All my squirrels greens consist of snap peas, broccoli, celery with peanut butter and they do just fine.
I make sure they get their daily HHB and other variety of vegetables with one fruit at each meal.

fruits are sweets, therefore, more like a treat and need to be limited for health reason like diabetes.
...... if you feed nothing but fruits, your squirrel will never eat their balanced healthy foods.

[StellaNYC]

What kind of squirrel is he?
I am having great success by using a juicer, it extracts the fluid very efficiently from something that tastes good, like lettuce to make juice. Then I also juice prime veggies like Brussellsprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, but I do NOT mix the juice extract from that ( maybe the cauliflower is good, but not the other greens - they are bitter ), with the lettuce juice. I drink or dump those juices.

I then mix one part juice ( heated but not boiled ) , with 1.75 parts finely ground 100% pure Oats. As I feel the mix is getting thick ( hand mixing a few minutes ), I reintroduce the solids that have been retained in the juicer of all the veggies. I use about 30% of those solids.
They love it! They also like those greens even better all by themselves without the darn oats!

Perhaps if you dust this mix with almond powder, or a sprinkling of avocado oil even die hard opponents will gobble it up!

I do not think Millet is good. But I am a city boy... lets see what others think? If it is like corn it is BAAD!
Basically it has to do with a strong 2:1 calcium phosphorus ratio in all foods!
Seek foods that are not heavy in sugars like fruits.
Foods that are high in fat compared to proteins.
And low in oxylates that can cause kidney stones.

BigNibbler thanks for the pointer! I'll keep the discard of the juicer to make my squirrel biscuits! So smart! But will add some fresh veggies anyhow as the juice takes some of the nutrients away :)

[CritterMom]

No alfalfa and no millet. Squirrels really are NOT grass eaters.

I turned my boy into a veggie lover with presentation. First, I would hold off on the fruit completely for a while. Then, instead of just putting chunks of lettuce or the leaves from the bag of spring mix served whole, get some romaine or kale, roll one of the leaves up into a little tube like you are rolling a, um, cigarette :grin2 and slice crosswise into thin slices, which when they unroll, become long strings of lettuce (it is called chiffonade - that cutting technique). First he was interested in the long strings, then he realized he could eat them, then he realized he could do the full Lady and the Tramp spaghetti thing with them and at this point, I don't even need to make his veggie strings for him anymore! Any foodie will tell you that presentation is half the battle, and it is huge with animals! My little guy LOVES baby carrots but will not eat them any other way. If I buy a bag of regular carrots I can peel them, feed them in chunks, dice them, slice on the diagonal, carve them into perfect replicas of Michelangelo's David - doesn't matter - he won't even look at them. Give him a baby carrot and all that is left behind are a few fragments! I have no idea WHY but I know it to be fact, and use it with other things - if they don't like it, keep trying - and varying what it LOOKS like.

[pappy1264]

I have had great success with those who are not as fond of greens by sprinkling a little bit of ground flax seed on them. I give a big mix of greens. I give spring mix, mustard greens, endive, bok choy, butter lettuce, watercress, cilantro. I have also made 'cookies' and I chop the greens down really tiny and add greens to them as well (using block).

[amandaleet1972]

Thanks all. I"ll give those a try.

[lilidukes]

I know it's more expensive but I've found that buying
organic greens I have a lot less waste and more
consumption. Leave the boxed stuff alone. I switch
up weekly red leaf, green leaf, romaine etc. Give the
entire leaf I have one squirrel who wrestles with her's
before eating it.

[StellaNYC]

Hi Amanda, good luck with the veggies! You have so many good tips here :grin3
There's also a bunch of home-made biscuit recipes that you can blend veggies into but there's also some ground nuts etc. the wilds that come visit me never ate the veggies, but now that I made the biscuits, they eat those happily! The recipe calls for 2 lbs of frozen veggies so there's carrots, peas and tons of broccoli in there! :thumbsup

[LeilaNami]

I have had the same issue. I constantly offer a variety of greens because they change their minds. I find I've had the best success with turnip greens, belgium endive, and dandelion greens as far as the leafy greens are concerned. I've also had squirrels eat red cabbage pretty readily.

I try to stay away from the bagged and boxed stuff too. I've had bags mold within three days of getting them and I've never had that issue with bulk produce. :eek

[sdreamcatcher]

I know it's more expensive but I've found that buying
organic greens I have a lot less waste and more
consumption. Leave the boxed stuff alone. I switch
up weekly red leaf, green leaf, romaine etc. Give the
entire leaf I have one squirrel who wrestles with her's
before eating it.


I want to see video of this :grin3

[sdreamcatcher]

Great advice. I am having a similar problem so plan on trying some of these methods too :)

[pappy1264]

I never have a problem with bagged (but then again, I go through two a day easy, so not really much time to get molty around here! lol) I also buy loose greens and mix them in. Lots of critters here who eat greens! (And that is why I told hubby, that is it, we are building a greenhouse out back this year, so I can grow my own year round! lol)