I made my first batch today. They look right but smell hideous.
Anyone ever experience that?
I bought some stuff to try making homemade blocks. I couldn't find a pure whey protein at Walmart. This was the closet thing I could find.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Body-Fortr...95-LB/10322404
Is that ok? Or should I just order something else on line? And, is it ok to add some honey to the mixture to make it sweet, and maybe encourage them to actually eat them?
I'd worry about anything where I couldn't read the ingredients.
unfortunately, this is not good.
in fact, anything that is used for bodybuilding/fitness/weight lifting and such is not good because it's not just protein. It is also all sorts of extra amino acids that squirrels do not need.
Moreover, quite a few bodybuilding proteins contain some synthetic hormones that are not necessarily listed in the ingredients and steroid-type of things that are often not listed either. (Speaking as someone who was into this stuff some time ago).
Squirrels need pure stuff only.
Henryspets.com sell pure protein without any of these harmful additives. Henryspets' protein bag lasts about 5 months for one squirrel, which is a good deal (even if you have a few sqs).
As for adding honey - contact henryspets and ask them. The supermarket type of honey is usually highly processed with no nutritional value - just plain "bad" sugar.
What you may be able to add is a little bit of molasses (but the most unprocessed kind you can find) - again, check this with henryspets. They will be able to make suggestions, because this is their recipe to begin with.
But definitely - do not use anything that is meant for fitness/weight lifting purposes.
again, check with henryspets. You don' want to make block to be too sweet because that will develop their(sqs/'s) sweet tooth and as a result to keep sqs on a good healthful diet will be a supremely, utterly, extremely, painfully and so on and so forth difficult thing.
Have they tried HHBs already?
Do they refuse them?
First, try HHBs just the way they are - without any extra sweetening.
You could add extra couple of nuts if necessary.
If they do not eat them well, you could try making balls with them and gradually reduce the fillers to help them get used to the "pure" block taste.
Have patience.
Give the block first thing in am when they are the hungriest and nothing else until they finish the block.
If all else fails and they just plainly, flat out, uncompromisingly refuse HHBs no matter what - then add a little bit of molasses (but do check with Henryspets about the quantity and type).
Just contact them sooner http://henryspets.com/
Thanks for the advice. They eat the Henry's blocks most of the time, and always take the peanut sticks. They don't have much choice in the matter. When they start slowing down on eating the blocks, I cut way back (or totally stop) giving them any treats until they eat them. I've tried all the HHB formulas, my guys seem to like the Wild Bites the best. I just wanted to play around with the recipe by trying different nuts, making it sweeter, ect to keep them from getting bored with it.
I may just order the powder from Henry's when I order the vitamin mixture. I guess that would be the easiest.