Sweet Tooth

[Marci]

Do squirrels and other small rodents have a sweet tooth? Would they rather eat fruit and candy like chocolate or cookies over any other food?

Just curious.

Marci

[veganhead1]

Do squirrels and other small rodents have a sweet tooth? Would they rather eat fruit and candy like chocolate or cookies over any other food?

Just curious.

Marci

Hi Marci,
I'm new to the board so nice to meet you. I don't know anything much about squirrels which is what let me to the board....to learn. So, I can't really answer your question.

But, I do know that most of the squirrels in my yard like my vegan chocolate cake. My vegan chocolate cake has milled flax seeds which is loaded with Omega-3 as an egg replacer, pureed prunes or agave instead of sugar and I use applesauce instead of oil so it's pretty healthy cake. And, I use vegan dark chocolate which is full of anti-oxidants. Still, I don't know if it's bad to give them chocolate and didn't think much about giving them a small piece but I haven't given them any since that one time. I'm going to follow your thread to learn from the pros here if they can have the occasional bit of chocolate cake. I know it's not good to give chocolate to dogs so maybe it's the same for squirrels.

I do give the squirrels in my yard granola balls that I make and add a bit of agave nectar to coat the balls. They love them. Agave nectar is what I, and a lot of vegans, use as a replacer for honey. It comes from the agave plant. Sometimes, instead of agave, I use brown rice syrup or barley malt which are also good but not as good as agave, IMO.

That's really all of the sweets I give them except for fruit which can be very sweet, like watermelon. I haven't tried watermelon with them yet. Can't wait to share my watermelon bits with them and see if they like it.

[gs1]

oh probably!!! just like us (me )

i've seen wild squirrels running around with hard candies and cookies etc....

and fruit is sweet too... they'll eat sweet apple rather than the sour granny smith.....

and VEGANHEAD!!!

recipes please....

[Jester]

Yes!!!!! They are little sugar and candy magnets!
The evidence?

I swear I can't look away from a dessert for five seconds without finding a squirrel in it.


Fleeing the scene of the crime..


I lost an entire Mrs Field's cookie-cake that way.. although he teamed up with one of my dogs for that one. They're worse than children lol.....

As for chocolate, I'd keep it away from them. It may not be very physically harmful for them in small quantities, but I gave mine a little nibble on only a couple occasions and he's completely addicted already. Like hardcore addicted. I now need to lock him in his cage just for me to be able to eat a piece, otherwise he'll try relentlessly to snatch it out of my hand. He won't bite me or anything, he's too sweet for that (no pun intended), but he'll just dig and dig and wrestle and dig, and continue doing that to my hand until he gets it.

[Marci]

Wow, I had no idea. I thought that Buddy was the only one that preferred sweets. As far as cholocate, I have learned from Wolfyluv that her siberian chipmunk Flower was a snickers fan. Since then, I give Buddy a mix of the different types of ensure, bone, immunity, weight and different flavor mix which includes chocolate about once or twice a week. I have not seen any adverse effects of chocolate in the chipmunk.

Jester, That was a great illustrated story. Luv it!

Marci

[squirrelmanxx]

Yeah they like it !!!

I was holding a candybar out the window for a squirrel's quicknibble, and he overpowered my grip, running to a tree with it in his mouth.

I hope it's not bad for them.

Sweets i've seen preference for include strawberry jam, honey, coconut, grapes, apples, flower blossoms, among others.

[JakesLittlePrincess]

Yes, my Little Bushy will dive into a banana split and take out all the goodies. Too bad she wipes her feet all over me. She could be fast asleep and the second I enter the room with something sweet she comes running and then I have to fend off my goodies.

[Lolie]

They are candy theives...I had to wrestle her for this candy..lol. Later she stole a loli pop and a snickers...oooh halloween was interesting. Had to go get her some nuts so she would leave the kids alone lol

[Scooterzmom]

I too have seen my wilds running around with candy they had found. I also saw them eat strawberries but then the corker was when I had one guy take a good swizzle of my strawberry daiquiri I had left on the table while I was talking to my neighbour. I mean... who knew????

[Nancy in New York]

Sweets were Jeffrey's favorite. We would have to fight to get things away from him....little stinker...



Short video of Jeffrey trying to get some Italian Pastries....that is Stosh keeping him away from them....

VIDEO

[JakesLittlePrincess]

Good to see someone else's squirrel sitting IN the pie!

[Lolie]

A little while ago I was eating an almond joy...and gave the almond to Ruby...a little while later I have a squirrel grabbing half of the bar and running while screaming and yelling at me cause I was trying to grab it...man she was swating and scratching and biting my hands(not hard) just a fussing away. So I gave her a small piece. A few min later She had her whole head in my flippin mouth trying to get the candy...in my mouth! She was going for the other piece so I shoved it in my mouth and she dove in right after it. It was gross. lol

[SquirrelCav]

...And don't even get me started on the DRINKING!

[CritterMom]

Lord, I guess Mister P is the only non-sugar freak here! He is totally "meh" on the subject of fruit, and I had a VERY NAUGHTY friend who gave him a peanut M&M...little man PEELED it, dropping the candy shell and chocolate coating like he would discard a nutshell and just ate the peanut!!

[Jackie in Tampa]

Lord, I guess Mister P is the only non-sugar freak here! He is totally "meh" on the subject of fruit, and I had a VERY NAUGHTY friend who gave him a peanut M&M...little man PEELED it, dropping the candy shell and chocolate coating like he would discard a nutshell and just ate the peanut!!

good boy Mister P!!!
Jay
I'm taking you out back behind the wood shed...
I remember what happened to Freddie...
hangovers are not Sq friendly...nor Fred...

[Pierre]

...And don't even get me started on the DRINKING!

That is the funniest picture!


[Most all animals, once introduced to it, really like sugar, so much so that some evolved to live solely on it [ants and such]. Many also like alcohol and will readily drink beer etc. [dogs, horses, etc.(NOT mine!!)] and wild monkeys, elephants, giraffes jump right into getting blasted on fermented fruit. Tipsy monkeys are really hysterical ---they trip stumble and roll around laughing and giggling like teenagers would. They honestly look like they're having a great time!! Until the hangover I guess.... ]

[Cleo_13]

Every Easter Pola grabs at least one plastic egg and chews a hole in it. One year she grabbed my cadbury egg and ran off with it! Since my dad only buys four a year, one for each of my sisters and me, I had to go without that year.

[Jester]

Every Easter Pola grabs at least one plastic egg and chews a hole in it. One year she grabbed my cadbury egg and ran off with it! Since my dad only buys four a year, one for each of my sisters and me, I had to go without that year.

OOOO Don't even get me started on Easter... Jester literally sent me on an Easter Egg hunt this past one! He somehow found the remnants of my Easter candy stash a few weeks after Easter. I kept seeing these little brown orbs around my room, which from a distance I just assumed were hazelnuts. Until I picked one up and realized they were chocolate eggs! My chocolate eggs! So I did a sweep of my room, found one in a pillow, one wedged between my bed and my wall, a couple on top of my curtains and shelves..

I ended up finding more foil than eggs though. Watch, a few years from now I'm going to move something and find a chocolate wedged under or behind it lol. And Jester's going to be like "took you long enough mommy."

Sorry Jester, the teeth marks gave you away.

[patjones]

What a great thread I thought I would share some of Pixel he is wild now but I am susre if there is any candy out there he is fighting for it.
Smarties were his favorite.


And toenails I could not go barefoot in the house at all.

[SquirrelCav]

hangovers are not Sq friendly...nor Fred...

I have no idea what it is that causes Fred to start wilding up when I'm around I'm usually such a good influence on people.

BTW, not saying anything, but...