6 Month Old Veggie Critic

[Syd and Squeegee]

Hi all!!

My 6 month old red, Squeegee, is SO picky about veggies. He loves the regular Henry’s Healthy blocks and literally still loves formula, though it is certainly not his main food source—I give him only a small percentage of what he would be drinking were he still on an all-liquid diet. I have read quite a few threads on here explaining that until they self-wean, it is ultimately in their interest to allow them to keep on formula (FV 20/50, by the way).

But, about his veggies, he ONLY likes cauliflower and tomatoes. I have tried arugula, bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, red cabbage, chayote, watercress, mushrooms, MULTIPLE types of lettuce, carrots, and dandelion greens. So essentially, every single thing in the Healthy Diet Group 1 and Group 2 categories for healthy veggies. I limit his tomato intake (group 3), but I would really like to have more than just cauliflower as an option for him to free-feed!

I occasionally give him pumpkin seeds and bits of walnut (a few pumpkin seeds maybe 3 times a week, walnut maybe once a week or every other week), and only added those very recently so I don’t think he’s stuck on the deliciousness of treats…he was equally as picky before introducing the occasional goodies!

Anybody know of any other veggies not listed in the Healthy Diet info sheet that could be sorted into the group 1 or group 2 (free-feed) categories? Thank you so much!!

XOXO
Syd and Squeegee :-)

[island rehabber]

First off, I ADORE the name Squeegee! How perfect for a little squee!

Ok, I may have a clue as to why your boy is so picky -- he's a red. Red squirrels (tamiascuris hudsonicus) do not have the same diet as grey or fox squirrels. They are largely conifer dwellers and conifer eaters: pine cones, pine nuts, anything from an evergreen, vs. the broad range of fruits and veggies that greys like.

Try pine cones, but not if there is a lot of sap in them. Nuts.com often sells non-human grade raw pine nuts (pignoli) for feeding birds, but red squirrels LOVE them. Also try sugar snap peas, since everybody seems to love those. Hope this helps.

[Syd and Squeegee]

First off, I ADORE the name Squeegee! How perfect for a little squee!

Ok, I may have a clue as to why your boy is so picky -- he's a red. Red squirrels (tamiascuris hudsonicus) do not have the same diet as grey or fox squirrels. They are largely conifer dwellers and conifer eaters: pine cones, pine nuts, anything from an evergreen, vs. the broad range of fruits and veggies that greys like.

Try pine cones, but not if there is a lot of sap in them. Nuts.com often sells non-human grade raw pine nuts (pignoli) for feeding birds, but red squirrels LOVE them. Also try sugar snap peas, since everybody seems to love those. Hope this helps.

Thank you so much!!!!!! Just for fun, here’s a couple of my favorite pictures of the little guy :-)



Oh man, gotta love how fickle those reds are!! Moody and picky as ever (said with a great affinity for their spirit).

He absolutely LOVES pine cones! Though of course, not the pine cones I go out and collect from spruce trees in my vicinity…a pet store near me sells pine cones for rabbits and he LOVES those! Naturally, they are unreasonably expensive, certainly compared to the free ones I collect! Alas, anything for the baby prince! I also buy him 100% natural fir bark sold for substrate in reptile cages for him to gnaw on and to sprinkle around his cage for a bit of a natural flair! I gather him (safe) flowers as well which he either eats or completely ignores depending on the day (fickle!).

I guess I’m glad he’s taken to cauliflower (who knows why)! In terms of pine nuts, I assume those are regarded more as a treat? What the heck do reds eat for the bulk of their nutrition in the wild?! I also know sugar snap peas are listed in the Healthy Diet as something not to be fed with too much regularity…with reds do they just generally have less snacking throughout the day? Being a squirrel, of course he loves nothing more than eating (and running on his wheel while loudly “oinking” and showing off), but I don’t want to provide him with too many unhealthy or borderline unhealthy snacks just to satiate his squirrelly food drive. Do you know of anything that would appeal to a red that could be fed more freely as a daily snack? Are pine cones okay to provide daily?

I appreciate your response so much, this community makes me so happy! I love connecting with so many people over such a niche experience as squirrel care :-)

PS—something very cool that I want to share…here is a photo of my Grandma Shapiro with her squirrel circa 1950! I never knew she cared for a squirrel in her childhood until she passed just a few months before I rescued Squeegee. Must be fate or something! I guess squirrel love is genetic!

[CritterMom]

These pics are just adorable. Your little red squirrel is going to little red squirrel as she wishes. The only thing on this post that is more adorable than that little face is the idea that you will ever be able to impose your wishes upon her. LOL. They are very tiny but highly concentrated!! Strap in!

Go easy on the pine nuts - they do ADORE them but they are terribly high in phosphorus, which is part of the "MBD link." In the wild they are balanced by a fairly high calcium diet - the little killers consume lots of things we don't like to think of like eggs and baby birds that they are NOT going to get with you, so treats only.

[Syd and Squeegee]

These pics are just adorable. Your little red squirrel is going to little red squirrel as she wishes. The only thing on this post that is more adorable than that little face is the idea that you will ever be able to impose your wishes upon her. LOL. They are very tiny but highly concentrated!! Strap in!

Go easy on the pine nuts - they do ADORE them but they are terribly high in phosphorus, which is part of the "MBD link." In the wild they are balanced by a fairly high calcium diet - the little killers consume lots of things we don't like to think of like eggs and baby birds that they are NOT going to get with you, so treats only.

They pack a punch in such a tiny little body!! And I can do nothing but respect the heck out of them for it :-)
Is there any consensus on whether or not HHBs are suitable for reds as a staple food source? That is currently Squeegee’s primary nutrition and he certainly isn’t withering away by any means (not showing any MBD symptoms or other signs of nutritional deficit either), but I worry about the differences in grey and red diets, especially as HHBs come with specification to feed them healthy veggies supplementally which I now understand does not align with the red diet! Apparently except cauliflower…which I now actually find quite hilarious that Squeegee has such an affinity for that specifically…what a strange little quirk!
I mean, is there any way to get uhhh…bird eggs? Or something nutritionally akin to bird eggs? ������ Ooh! What about meal worms? Just trying to think of something to satiate the little hobgoblin’s natural blood lust ��

[Diggie's Friend]

Like all N.A. tree squirrel species, the N.A. Red Squirrel has a diet consumes more seed and nuts than any other food source. In captivity, their seasonal diet needs to be replaced by a proportional diet that means less nuts daily than they consume in the Fall where they gorge on nuts and seeds. like all tree squirrels. A difference in their diet from the larger mid to large sized tree squirrels of N.A. is that they have a strong bent towards consuming a greater proportion of animal sourced foods, much like that which the American flying squirrel species do as well. Their diet in the wild in this is varied, not just eating in season when nuts are not as yet available bird eggs and nestling birds, insects moths, larva and mature forms, as well.as well as other carrion and other animal sources for food. Also like the N.A. flying squirrel species, they possess a higher metabolic rate than that of the mid to larger N.A. tree squirrel species, which explains their greater need for animal protein. Rats in tis are much the same, opportunistic feeders with a likewise more varied wild diet than most of the larger tree squirrels species of N.A.

As a substitute for bird eggs and carrion etc. ; you can limitedly feed soft-boiled egg yolk and white chicken breast meat. Best to alternate the two on different days, keeping hte portions fed smaller than that of the wild for reason again that these animal sources are primarily spring to summer food sources.

For egg yolk, 1/4 Tsp. cooled and congealed. To make sure the egg yolk is sufficiently cooked, check the white to confirm it is fully cooked, that is hard; for then the yolk is sufficiently cooked. Egg yolk has about the same Ca:P ratio as that of English walnuts, that of 3.5:1 P:Ca. not a bad ratio for other in the wild diet.

The issue of too high phosphorus in the diet presents with a convenient need to provide vital nutrients time wise, rather than feed a homemade diet that is rather time intensive to support for having to measure each source fed over the course of a week on average. For to support a modified homemade recipe and still provide sufficient calcium to Phosphorus that needs to be for older juveniles at least 2:1 Ca:P whole diet ratio, and for adults higher. If you should choose to attempt this endeavor, I would direct you to Self Nutrition.com that uses the USDA Food Data base that you can use as a reference for various suitable foods for a captive diet for red squirrels. Keep in mind there would need to be sufficient Calcium level to offset the higher phosphorus protein sources in a homemade diet. Making up a recipe would be a more doable means to support a homemade diet should you desire to give it a try. You can reference the 1995 Rat Requirement listing for the RDA of rats which are in general also of a lesser body weight than that of the mid-sized N.A. scatter hoarder squirrel species of N.A.

The Reds love dried fungi; it is often their habit to harvest them and carry them up high into the crown of trees to store them till they dry, where they can then last longer as a future source of food.

Both, 'Chanterelle (Summer) and 'Yellow Feet' winter mushrooms, which are very similar, are available in both pieces and dried ground mushroom powder from, "Oregon Mushroom". Best to give them a call directly; they are very helpful and friendly family run company. Just like for the red squirrels that store them to dry, the small package lasts for many months. Good to include daily as part of the daily faire, they supply good source of trace minerals that are also needed in the diet. https://www.oregonmushrooms.com/c-31...mushrooms.aspx

[Syd and Squeegee]

Like all N.A. tree squirrel species, the N.A. Red Squirrel has a diet consumes more seed and nuts than any other food source. In captivity, their seasonal diet needs to be replaced by a proportional diet that means less nuts daily than they consume in the Fall where they gorge on nuts and seeds. like all tree squirrels. A difference in their diet from the larger mid to large sized tree squirrels of N.A. is that they have a strong bent towards consuming a greater proportion of animal sourced foods, much like that which the American flying squirrel species do as well. Their diet in the wild in this is varied, not just eating in season when nuts are not as yet available bird eggs and nestling birds, insects moths, larva and mature forms, as well.as well as other carrion and other animal sources for food. Also like the N.A. flying squirrel species, they possess a higher metabolic rate than that of the mid to larger N.A. tree squirrel species, which explains their greater need for animal protein. Rats in tis are much the same, opportunistic feeders with a likewise more varied wild diet than most of the larger tree squirrels species of N.A.

As a substitute for bird eggs and carrion etc. ; you can limitedly feed soft-boiled egg yolk and white chicken breast meat. Best to alternate the two on different days, keeping hte portions fed smaller than that of the wild for reason again that these animal sources are primarily spring to summer food sources.

For egg yolk, 1/4 Tsp. cooled and congealed. To make sure the egg yolk is sufficiently cooked, check the white to confirm it is fully cooked, that is hard; for then the yolk is sufficiently cooked. Egg yolk has about the same Ca:P ratio as that of English walnuts, that of 3.5:1 P:Ca. not a bad ratio for other in the wild diet.

The issue of too high phosphorus in the diet presents with a convenient need to provide vital nutrients time wise, rather than feed a homemade diet that is rather time intensive to support for having to measure each source fed over the course of a week on average. For to support a modified homemade recipe and still provide sufficient calcium to Phosphorus that needs to be for older juveniles at least 2:1 Ca:P whole diet ratio, and for adults higher. If you should choose to attempt this endeavor, I would direct you to Self Nutrition.com that uses the USDA Food Data base that you can use as a reference for various suitable foods for a captive diet for red squirrels. Keep in mind there would need to be sufficient Calcium level to offset the higher phosphorus protein sources in a homemade diet. Making up a recipe would be a more doable means to support a homemade diet should you desire to give it a try. You can reference the 1995 Rat Requirement listing for the RDA of rats which are in general also of a lesser body weight than that of the mid-sized N.A. scatter hoarder squirrel species of N.A.

The Reds love dried fungi; it is often their habit to harvest them and carry them up high into the crown of trees to store them till they dry, where they can then last longer as a future source of food.

Both, 'Chanterelle (Summer) and 'Yellow Feet' winter mushrooms, which are very similar, are available in both pieces and dried ground mushroom powder from, "Oregon Mushroom". Best to give them a call directly; they are very helpful and friendly family run company. Just like for the red squirrels that store them to dry, the small package lasts for many months. Good to include daily as part of the daily faire, they supply good source of trace minerals that are also needed in the diet. https://www.oregonmushrooms.com/c-31...mushrooms.aspx

WOWOWOWOWOW!!!! Thank you so so much! This is such a thorough walk-through for red diets! It seems a lot of the squirrelies on this site are grays and a lot of the information I encounter is geared more toward grays, this is super helpful and amazing :-)

I am a bit confused though on the consensus with rodent blocks (Henry’s) and whether they are suitable for reds specifically as a base source of nutrition. Are these okay to feed daily?

I try to be very conscious about the calcium and phosphorus ratio in terms of what I feed him outside of the blocks. Everyday, he gets two blocks, about 1/2 of a walnut, half of a mini tomato, and a handful cauliflower florets. I will sprinkle his blocks with calcium powder from Henry’s a couple times a week to add a little more calcium as well. A proper C:P ratio was part of my concern with his refusal to eat higher calcium veggies (which I now know is because that’s just not really in the red diet!). He also literally still drinks about 10 mls of FV 20/50 formula everyday as a 6-month old. I have read on this forum that is better to allow them to self-wean as the formula provides nutrition even for older squirrels so if they are interested in it, it will just continue to provide more balanced nutrition. And boy-oh-boy is my Squeegee not making any effort to self-wean (he tries to suck more milk out of the empty syringes even after eating a block in addition to the formula).

I actually have purchased dried mushrooms for him before because I heard about the red affinity for them! He definitely liked them but I could never find them again, I’m going to order from the company you listed now!

So, aside from sourcing protein from the egg recipe (thank you for that!) or white meat chicken breast, would any commonly-sold insects be beneficial for reds? I am imagining the insects commonly available for reptiles…meal worms, crickets, superworms, waxworms, hornworms, nightcrawlers etc. And if the blocks are indeed acceptable as a base nutrition, how would the added protein and phosphorus of eggs/chicken/worms factor in specifically with the blocks? Would you recommend continuing to feed 2 blocks? Perhaps adding calcium powder?

Thank you so much!!!!