Sugar Cane

[StormMom]

I have the Healthy Diet PDF from Henry's but it doesn't mention sugar cane. Is it safe to give Fred a piece of cane?

[Mel1959]

I guess it depends on how big of a piece and how often? After researching the nutritional value of sugarcane I don’t see anything that would cause concern….except the sugar content. It provides small amounts of nutrients like potassium, riboflavin and calcium, but not enough to classify it as a healthy food item for squirrels.

I would think that a small 1 inch piece, given occasionally, would not cause harm. I hope that if there are other folks out there, who have offered this or are familiar with this, will speak up with their opinion.

[Diggie's Friend]

Sugar cane, which significantly resembles bamboo in form, is also highly fibrous. Being offered it as a child I found that the only way to get the sweet out of raw cut cane portions was to suck on the cut end was otherwise inedbile for humans. As for the sugar content, increasing the sugar load of the diet was found to increas the loss of calcium into the urine from the diet. That is not a good trade off for the nutrients it contains in anycase.

In the northern regions of the US into Canada, tree squirrel access sweet maples and other food trees in late winter when the sap begins to rise in the decidious food trees they favor, byy scoring the limbs with their incisors to lick up the sap that leaks out, and eat the crystals that form when the sap dries. (See my thread on other sources of calcium in the wild diet of tree squirrels for photos.) Maple sap is higher in calcium than phosphorus, unlike corn and other sugar sources that are higher in phosphorus. It also is higher in potassium content, which is why limiting the amount fed is needful so that loose stool doesn't result from its over ingestion so that nutrient loss can be avoided.

With maple water being produced commercially, it can be offered to a squirrel once or twice a week in a small measured amount of about 1/8 Tsp. twice a week. Like coconut water, maple water is highy perisable. By freezing it and storing it in smalle 1/8 Tsp. per ice cubicle portions, it can be preserved till you are ready to feed it. Adding this source to a gray squirrel's diet was a real hit; they didn't need to be convinced as to it being the good stuff, nor did it need to be sweetened for them to lick it up and look for more!

Each source of liquid maple sap has its own taste. What is imporant is that it isn't sweetened and that theh collection method used effectively prevents contamination of this source by not exposing it to the air.

More info on maple water: https://drinksimple.com/pages/what-is-maple-water

[Diggie's Friend]

https://www.bevnet.com/news/2018/drink-simple-releases-maple-water-cartons '

I just found this article on the maple water, that is the natural sap of the sweet maple of N.A. that Red squirrels, Gray squirrels and Fox squirrels, along with chipmunks consume in late winter of the year in regions where this tree grows. Beyond it containing calcium and zinc, the key nutrient source the natural liquid maple water tree sap provides is, 'polyphenols' tgat are a high anti oxidant, anti cancer, anti diabetic, anti bacterial, and anti viral compounds, that also lend support to the kidney function in rats, and lend protection to the liver from toxins in the diet.

Pycnogenol" is an extract of the inner, "cambium" layer of the Maritime Pine; the same living inner layer of tree bark, that tree squirrels access by barking stripping their favorite food trees to obtain this food source, that also contains polyphenols. , Recommend adding one eighth of the powder of one 30 mg. capsule of Pycnogenol, by Healthy Origins to a moist food like baked organic Butternut squash daily.