If you like feeding squirrels, you want to make sure that the food you give them isn’t dangerous. The two main issues with feeding squirrels are filling them up on foods that have little or no nutritional value or foods that are outright dangerous.
Peanuts
Many people are surprised to find out that squirrels aren’t supposed to eat peanuts especially since the rodents love them so much. Although squirrels do enjoy peanuts, these are legumes and not nuts as most people assume. Peanuts have little nutritional value for squirrels although you may feed occasionally as a snack to vary their diet.
Junk Food
This includes salted and sugared snacks. Just like in humans, these are fillers and have little nutritional value. The salt is also very bad of squirrels while the sugar has much the same effect as in children. Squirrels are hyper naturally and sugar gets them even more excited which is bad for their overall health. Other junk food such as pizza, hot dogs and so on are very bad for squirrels and aren’t part of their natural diet.
Corn
You can feed squirrels a little corn cut up in pieces but never a whole since squirrels have a tendency to overeat, sometimes even to death. Corn also turns sour quickly and grows mould so make sure that the corn is good to eat before feeding. Mouldy or sour corn can be toxic and even fatal to squirrels.
Animal or Human Formula
Some wildlife websites suggest feeding squirrels with kitten, puppy or baby human formula but this is incredibly bad for squirrels. The formula of any brand that is designed for animals or humans can actually be fatal to squirrels. These formulas have too many preservatives and alien chemical additives and are known to cause nervousness, seizures, conversions, rickets and sudden death in squirrels.
Breakfast Cereals
Breakfast cereals have no nutritional value for squirrels. They are happy to gorge themselves but this is basically filler that does nothing for them. This can easily lead to severe malnutrition. Cereal is definitely not part of a squirrel’s natural diet.
Pet Food
Doesn’t matter if it cat or dog food, again, meats aren’t part of a squirrels natural diet. Squirrels are vegetarian and can actually die from pet food for its high meat content.
Feed squirrels nuts, fruits and vegetables that are found in your local area.
Why You Shouldn’t Feed Squirrels
Feeding squirrels may come naturally if you love animals but it is not always the best idea. In fact, most wildlife experts are against the idea of humans feeding wildlife, even friendly ones like squirrels. You may want to reconsider your stance for the following reasons.
People food is not good for wildlife including squirrels. These have little or no nutritional value to the wildlife and can lead to malnutrition, deformities and diseases.
Feeding the squirrels also makes them lose their natural fear of humans. Next, the squirrels move into people houses where food, safety and warmth are plentiful. Some squirrels are also known to get aggressive when not fed. These critters can easily become a nuisance once they stop fearing humans.
Most people neglect that squirrels carry diseases and parasites. Ticks and fleas present in squirrels transmute Lyme disease and plague to humans. Although rare, rabies is still a risk with any mammal including squirrels. Squirrel urine and feces contain a variety of diseases including salmonella and leptospirosis.
Finally, feeding squirrels can upset the areas delicate wildlife balance. Squirrels breed more and give birth to large litters when food is plentiful. The squirrel population can easily grow uncontrollably and become a nuisance. The availability of rodents can also attract prey animals including coyotes, hawks and owls to the area which complicates matters further.
Hire an Expert to Remove Squirrels
Hire an expert to remove nuisance squirrels from inside or around your property. A squirrel trap can be dangerous in the hands of a novice so contrary to popular advice, it is not a good idea to trap squirrels especially if you do not have experience trapping and handling wildlife. The squirrel can injure itself or exhaust itself attempting to escape from the trap. Leaving the trap unattended also leaves the squirrel vulnerable to predators and pets.
Another concern is separating squirrel litters from their mother. The absence of the mother’s care means that the baby squirrels die of starvation or dehydration. A squirrel removal expert in Toronto makes sure that the squirrels are removed safely and wildlife-proofs your property to guarantee that the problem doesn’t recur in future.