Wild Bites

[mdg47]

I have three young squirrels that I am keeping in for the winter and planning for spring release. I am feeding them Henry's Healthy Blocks for Wild Squirrels. The Wild Bites protein base is peanuts and is less expensive than Henry's Blocks with pecans. There are MANY varied opinions out there and someone mentioned that the Henry's blocks are "over supplemented" and I shouldn't use them. I'd like to know what anyone with more experience than me thinks of the nutrition label on the Wild Bites and if I can feed as instructed on the package. The babies love them. I'm worried about the calcium/phosphorous ratio and if this is a safe product. They also eat Mazuri Rodent Block, vegetables, fruit and nuts.

Thanks, mdg47

[island rehabber]

Henry's Blocks, or HHBs, were specifically created to provide a healthy calcium supplement that wild and captive tree squirrels would actually EAT. Rehabbers have always had problems getting their squirrels to eat commercial rodent block and so Henry's was invented to at least get their calcium and other essential vitamins into them -- a way of controlling that crucial calcium/phosphorous balance. Therefore, a squirrel that gets 2-3 HHB's per day, as directed and according to species, is going to be getting its daily requirement of calcium WITHOUT the danger of an overload of phosphorous. (Most other foods that squirrels love, such as sunflower seeds and nuts, are very high in phosphorous.) That said, the WIld Blocks were formulated to supplement wild squirrels' diets but they are higher in phosphorous because, presumably, wild squirrels are able to get their calcium the natural way -- in the wild, as well. I would not feed a steady diet of Wild Blocks to NR or captive squirrels for any period of time. I feed my rehab squirrels the High Protein or Picky Blocks and have never, ever had a problem with them.

Short answer: Yes, Wild Bites are very safe for WILD squirrels. For indoor squirrels, choose the High Protein or the Picky's. Since your kids do eat Mazuri block, if they're really eating them and not peeing on them as mine do :grin2, you don't have to worry about supplementing as much if you limit their nuts to 1 per day.

[SammysMom]

Having spoken to Leigh about this at length, my understanding is that the nutrition is the same in all of the blocks except the higher protein in the growth/flyer blocks. Because of the worry in my own head about peanuts in Wild Bites, I give one Wild Bite and one High Protein to the overwinters daily.
The only issue I had with the Wild Bite was last winter I had a couple of groups who had terrible tail fur. I am not sure if one has anything to do with the other, but I have added the high protein blocks to be sure it isn't because of the peanuts. The expense of feeding more than 2 dozen for the winter means that feeding Picky or High Protein alone is cost prohibitive. I have seen no ill effects from using 50% Wild Bites so far this year.