Picky eater--how do I broaden his horizons?

[Gardentoes11]

My Jazzy is a 6-month old grey spoiled baby, & all of the veggies he likes are on the other veggies column on the food chart. He won't eat anything in the better or best veggies columns. The only things he likes are Green beans, sugar snap peas, carrots, wax beans, and the occasional bite of sweet potato. I have offered & continue to offer him Broccoli, cauliflower, acorn squash, chayote, cucumber, pumpkin, tomatoes, beets, cabbage, kale, bok Choy, a variety of lettuces, avocado, radishes, & artichoke, but those just wilt & rot. He's way more interested in his HHB's, particularly the wild bites--he much prefers those over the regular or hi protein ones. He does like some fruits, namely grapes, blueberries, apples, & clementines, but those are treats & should be limited. So, I'm left concerned that my boy isn't getting enough variety in his diet to be as healthy on the inside as he appears to be on the outside. Should I force broader horizons on him by withholding his few favorites sometimes & only offering the other stuff? Should I not worry about it since he does eat his blocks first? Are the wild blocks as ok for him as the regular ones? I do need to see if he likes bugs (mealworms & crickets), as we haven't tried those yet. He just recently decided that he doesn't like monkey biscuits anymore, so I need to make sure he's getting enough protein! Thx for any suggestions.

[Shaena]

I have the same problem and just went for both more variety and harvesting maple trees seeds leaves and branches, rosehips and so on since the zoology dept told me they are meant to have green bark and buds as 80% of diet in the wild. I also let him choose within reason and judge based on his health. Dipping blocks in coconut oil to butter them up and supplying fresh maple seeds, maple leaves, timothy hay, roots, grass and green wood with bark and helped as he WILL NOT eat the damn blocks and it has stressed me to no end.

[DarkLies212]

I personally say withhold some favorites until he eats some more of the good stuff! :thumbsup Some tough love is all they need every once in a while!! :tap

[Gardentoes11]

Thanks for the replies! Of course I noticed the sticky thread on the Squirrel Nutrition board about picky eaters right AFTER I posted this question, duh! Will start tomorrow with the tough love. jazzy eats his blocks just fine--goes for those first thing, thank God, but I read about the stuff that other people's squirrels eat, & I realized how picky my boy is. Want to make sure he's getting all he needs. We will see how it vise, but I'm expecting a cranky boy tomorrow!

[island rehabber]

I have the same problem and just went for both more variety and harvesting maple trees seeds leaves and branches, rosehips and so on since the zoology dept told me they are meant to have green bark and buds as 80% of diet in the wild....

:goodpost I am re-quoting this, Shaena, because it's something I think many of us either don't know or have forgotten: that the vast majority of a tree squirrel's diet is plant matter. Especially in northern climates (New York, Canada :grin2) we really do not have many 'mast' trees -- trees that yield nuts. We've got your black walnuts and hickories, but no pecans, almonds, English walnuts, etc that the southern squirrels can enjoy. Therefore, our northern kids' natural diet is bark, twigs, buds, leaves etc etc and we need to try to approximate that as best we can.