Totoro won't eat his veggies

[petitchou]

Hi everyone,

I have a question about squirrel diet. Long story short, my husband found a little 5 weeks old black squirrel back in august. He was cold, dehydrated, skinny and had bloody nose. After taking care of him, we now have a 14 weeks old healthy boy of 400 g name Totoro!

He was fed FV 20/50 until totally weaned (at 11 weeks). We have introduced him rodent blocks (Oxbow for rat and mice) at 6 weeks old. He wasn't really interested in them after 3 weeks so I decided to make booballs with them (recipe found here with dry FV and appleesauce) which he now eats every day. The problem is he won't eat any of the veggies from group 1 and 2 of the healthy food chart. Everyday after giving him his block for breakfeast, I give him a handfull of veggies, many of group 1/2 and a small piece of group 3. He has tasted every one of them once but won't even touch them anymore. Cauliflower, brocoli, bok choy, red and green cabbage, romaine, icecberg lettuce, etc. I have tried them all! He even prefers to eat the oxbow blocks, not transformed in boo balls, than the veggies. So I have tried for 5 days the "dealing with a picky eater" technique and stopped the group 3 until he eats the others but it didn't work. We never gave him fruits or nuts btw.

My question is, do the Oxbow blocks have all the nutriments required for a squirrel or do I have to insist with the picky eater technique ? Should I try giving him the veggies before the block in the morning, when he's very hungry ?

Any suggestions on how to make him eat his healthy veggies are welcome :)

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Picture from 3 weeks ago !

[Diggie's Friend]

Try blanching baby organic produced leafy greens for 90 sec. ; this has increased their appeal with some squirrels, as it reduces the bitterness of these sources.

Instead of whole stalked vegetables broccoflower, broccoli, cauliflower), feed the florets after boiling for 3 minutes. This also has the advantage of destroying bad bacteria, worms, while lowering the normally alkaline ph. these sources promote in the urine, that otherwise promotes an increase from the normal of calcium loss into the urine that has been found to promote bladder and kidneys stones that can result in infections. By boiling baby greens, florets, and root vegetables, the minerals they contain are made more readily available upon digestion to the body of rodents.

A drop (1/64) Tsp. of organic food grade chia oil (Foods Alive) placed on block and/or veggies has also been found to improve their food appeal to some squirrels.

https://www.vitacost.com/foods-alive-organic-artisan-cold-pressed-oil-chia-4-fl-oz-1?1:pos2:891551000102

[Timberbeast]

Hello, I’m far from expert but have rehabbed numerous squirrels...have you tried avocado slices? The flyers I am raising now aren’t too interested in green at this point...but they won’t pass up avocado...neither would any of my previous squirrels. Do you have any springs near you with nice water cress?? Even my picky flyers will nibble on that.