PICKY WILD

[madeesawn]

My wild squirrel is sooooo unbelievably picky. She will ONLY eat avocado (at her preferred ripeness) and nibble at couple other things before discarding. i try making squirrel blocks and then make avocado "toast" with them, and she scrapes the avocado off with her teeth. she wont eat nuts. she doesnt like peanutbutter or almondbutter. fruit is a NO WAY aside from a bite or two of a cherry. she gets mad when i put calcium on avocado. but she does have a favorite bone that she gnaws on , thankfully.

id love some suggestions as i worry about her diet being so limited. shes about a year and half old.

thanks !

[Chirps]

Hi! Is she wild as in out and about and comes to see you for goodies? If so then she will eat what she needs.

WON'T EAT NUTS??? :klunk

[Diggie's Friend]

Your feeding this wild outside right? Wilds feed on a number of seasonal food sources found in their habitat.

You could try mashing the avocado then adding a small measure of calcium into it using mini teaspoons to mash and mix into it.

If you give me a Teaspoon measure I can suggest how much Calcium powder to add to them.


As for nuts; we add about a half teaspoon of the fine milled Calcium citrate from, "Pure Bulk". (Made in the USA with third party testing)

to a handful of organic walnut pieces, after having misted the pieces with water that helps the powder to stick to them using my fingers

This size bag of Calcium citrate lasts a very long time. https://purebulk.com/products/calcium-citrate-usa

[madeesawn]

she will eat what she needs.



I hope you’re right, however there’s only one tree on the block and it’s a very urban area my building is surrounded by busy streets and there are no other squirrels in the immediate vicinity. Her nest is underneath my deck between two beams that come very close together about one story up. She seems very hungry on the days i dont see her until the evening!

Attached are some photos of her habitat lol, And one of her looking for more snacks in my bag :Love_Icon322442322443322444322445

[Diggie's Friend]

Perhaps she has more than one stop to get nuts on her rounds; or perhaps she's habituated to walk up purse deliveries! :rotfl

[Chirps]

I hope you’re right, however there’s only one tree on the block and it’s a very urban area my building is surrounded by busy streets and there are no other squirrels in the immediate vicinity. Her nest is underneath my deck between two beams that come very close together about one story up. She seems very hungry on the days i dont see her until the evening!

Attached are some photos of her habitat lol, And one of her looking for more snacks in my bag :Love_Icon322442322443322444322445

Ah! Well, you know what they say about a picture being worth a thousand words . . .

Wow, that's pretty intense. Now I totally get why you're worried about her. And now more than ever am blown away by her NOT eating nuts. I would guess she's a dumpster diver, but I would think that should make her LESS picky. Very interesting situation. . . . I guess full fat yogurt wouldn't hurt if she'll eat it. . . . . I expect she has to hustle and forage very far afield daily to meet her needs. . . . I wonder if she has other humans she hits up for food. . . . If you've already tried some sort of commercial rodent block, I'd hesitate to suggest it as a case of throwing good money after bad, but maybe she would eat one of them . . .

I am concerned about her checking out your bag. If you are the only person she trusts, fine, but if she does that to other people it might not go so well for her one day. Lots of thoughts running around in my head but must sleep now. Please tell us more about your girl. How did you meet?

[madeesawn]

I expect she has to hustle and forage very far afield daily to meet her needs. . . . I wonder if she has other humans she hits up for food. . . . If you've already tried some sort of commercial rodent block, I'd hesitate to suggest it as a case of throwing good money after bad, but maybe she would eat one of them . . .

How did you meet?

ill try to take a picture of the streets today, but the block is surrounded by busy intersections. ive only seen her cross the quietest street, early in the morning.. but all that leads to is the bank parking lot, and a handful of very unimpressive trees. She is smart, but if she did venture across the busier roads, i dont know that she would return. :[ . i made the squirrel blocks from a rehab website, she sniffed it, and then looked up at me expectantly for her “real” food lol.

Her nest is in the deck, and when she was just old enough to climb and be on her own, her mom died somehow. its a long story but she sits on the railing of the deck with her head on her paw, and just looks out at the neighborhood in the same spot for an hour. i started sitting with her(from a distance) because she seemed sad, and then every time i went out on the deck, she would be there, like she was expecting something. its been over a year and a half and she is like my best friend :] . it took her a realllyyyyy long time to trust me as much as she does , and if anyone else is with me, she keeps her distance. i have a squirrel hating neighbor as well that stomps and such, which helps her stay cautious to humans i suppose.

[sundoesshine]

My wild squirrel is sooooo unbelievably picky. She will ONLY eat avocado (at her preferred ripeness) and nibble at couple other things before discarding. i try making squirrel blocks and then make avocado "toast" with them, and she scrapes the avocado off with her teeth. she wont eat nuts. she doesnt like peanutbutter or almondbutter. fruit is a NO WAY aside from a bite or two of a cherry. she gets mad when i put calcium on avocado. but she does have a favorite bone that she gnaws on , thankfully.

id love some suggestions as i worry about her diet being so limited. shes about a year and half old.

thanks !

Wow, how odd! I had a picky guy which was my fault, I had to try many many iterations of boo balls to get him to eat disguised block. I was surprised to find he loved tropical things like cutie oranges, dried coconut, banana, mango.

[madeesawn]

I guess full fat yogurt wouldn't hurt if she'll eat it.

she loved the yogurt, thank you.

she actually got hurt a few days ago and was having a terrible time getting around, she was stuck up on a ledge for at least 24 hours :sniff :sniff :sniff

she at least tolerated the squirrel blocks when she was hungry and nervous probably. but today she was doing much better and went back to her usual self, discarding blocks after scraping avocado off of them :facepalm

pics of her and her fave bone/ and being cute

[Chirps]

What an absolutely precious girl! If I had to pick a fav pic of her, it's the one of her looking at you while holding the bone like corn on the cob. :Love_Icon


What a bizarre situation. She is lucky to have you as her friend. I wonder if she'd eat block if it was just crumbled into powder and mixed with avocado puree. :thinking

[madeesawn]

update:

i feel soo much better about her nutrition now :Love_Icon i keep ground up squirrel block in the freezer, and mix a couple spoonfuls with yogurt and she eats it right up :grin2 (plus a cube or two of avocado as a treat)

thanks for the suggestion.