What Do Squirrels Eat? Understanding Their Diet in One Article

Squirrels mostly inhabit cold-temperate coniferous forests and mixed coniferous-broadleaf forest areas, and are especially most numerous in woodlands on hillsides or along both banks of river valleys. They like to live alone along tree edges and do not hibernate, but on snowy days and in especially cold weather, squirrels seal their holes with dry grass, hold their fluffy long tails to keep warm, and come out to forage again when the weather turns warm. Now let us take a look at what squirrels eat!

What Do Squirrels Eat?

Squirrels mainly feed on plant fruits, flowers, and leaves, and occasionally also take some animal-based food. Besides eating wild fruits, they also eat tender twigs, young buds, tree leaves, as well as insects and bird eggs. Once autumn arrives, squirrels begin storing food. A squirrel often stores several kilograms of food in separate caches, and sometimes squirrels are seen drying food in trees so that it does not spoil or become moldy. In this way, in the cold winter, squirrels do not have to worry about having nothing to eat.

Squirrel Feed Formula

1. Mixed feed: Squirrel mixed feed is generally composed of barley, wheat, corn, soybeans, and bran, with a content of 25% barley or wheat, 20% corn, 15% soybean cake, 10% soybeans, 20% bran, 6% fish meal, 3% bone meal, and 1% salt.

2. Coarse feed: Squirrel coarse feed mainly includes peanuts, sunflower seeds, and walnuts.

3. Green feed: Squirrel green feed includes Chinese cabbage, carrots, rapeseed, mulberry leaves, holly leaves, and so on.

4. Feeding amount: The daily feed amount per squirrel is about 30 grams of mixed feed, 200-250 grams of coarse feed, and 150-200 grams of green succulent feed, fed three times a day in the morning, noon, and evening. It is necessary to keep the feeding points fixed every day.

Foods Squirrels Should Avoid

1. Squirrels are not suited to eating meat-based foods, which have a great impact on the gastrointestinal digestive system. Squirrels mainly rely on plant seeds and fruits.

2. Squirrels should not eat insects. Although insects are very nutritious, eating them will increase a squirrel's wildness.

3. Squirrels should not eat foods containing chocolate or caffeine. These two things can make squirrels overly excited, which is bad for both their body and mood, and in severe cases can lead to death from an excessively fast heart rate or heart failure.

4. Vegetables that squirrels are not suited to eating raw include potatoes, beans, scallions, ginger, garlic, chili peppers, and so on.

5. Fruits and vegetables that squirrels should not eat in large amounts include Chinese cabbage, rapeseed, lettuce, celtuce, lotus root, cucumber, tomato, eggplant, banana, orange, watermelon, pear, and so on. The above foods can be eaten, but not too much.

6. Squirrels should not eat processed dried fruits, and fruit preserves are also not suitable for squirrels. Although they are not life-threatening, they should still be eaten as little as possible or not at all. Processed nuts are not easy to digest.

7. Please do not give squirrels beverages to drink, especially carbonated drinks.