There are a lot of things that wild squirrels eat. One thing I would like to clarify with you is that wild and tree squirrels are the same. The variation is just in their name. But they are somehow different from ground squirrels. The difference between wild squirrels from ground squirrels is in their body shape, and their diet is almost the same. Wild squirrels have bushy tails, while ground squirrels don’t have bushy tails on the other side. Ground squirrels have subdued tails that are not familiar with bushy tails. The ground squirrels are bigger than Tree or wild squirrels.
That was a short difference between wild and ground squirrels. Now we will discuss the diet of wild squirrels.
Wild Squirrels Diet
As wild squirrels are herbivores so they eat plant materials like seeds, acorns, nuts, cereals, tree buds, leaves, twigs, and human trash. Squirrels eat apples, berries, peaches, kiwi, grapes, mangoes, plums, figs, and citrus. They feed on small vertebrates like insects, bird eggs, and fungi. Squirrels store food and consume it when needed.
Vegetarian Food
There are so many vegetarian foods that tree squirrels love and eat most. Who can know their diet better than a gardener? Because all the vegetarian food they eat is from the garden or yards that the gardener grows with his efforts. The mainly vegetarian diet they eat includes tomatoes, radishes, corn, squash, beans, peas, okra, sprouts, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, celery, asparagus, and cauliflower. These are all vegetarian food that wild squirrels eat most. Those are all plant materials they found in the gardens and yards. So the squirrels eat their delicious food from there. But here, the gardener is fed up with these squirrels. You also know that they destroy their gardens and crops that they grow with their hands and make much effort to take after them. But these clever squirrels destroy it. So it can harm gardens.
Nut Trees
Similar to ground squirrels, wild squirrels also love to eat nut trees. They also search for nuts in gardens. If there is a nut tree in your garden, then you will surely see a tree squirrel eating those nuts. Nut trees like almonds, walnuts, pecans, acorns, cashews, chestnuts, and pine nuts are standard nuts that squirrel like most, and you will see tree squirrels on these nuts. Nuts are crucial in all squirrels because nuts provide fats and protein, so they also eat so much.
Why Do Squirrels Have Bushy Tails?
Insects, Eggs, and Small Vertebrates
They eat insects like mealworms, ants, grubs, butterflies, crickets, bugs, grasshoppers, larvae, caterpillars, spiders, and snails. But they keep insects as their second priority. They go for such insects when they don’t find fruits and nuts to eat. So they eat these insects to keep their protein level stable. They also eat birds’ eggs; even they wait for birds to lay eggs, so they go and take those eggs and eat them.
Fungi
Wild squirrels love foraging mushrooms. The mushrooms they like most are acorn truffles and oyster mushrooms. But in forests, they found a variety of mushrooms that they could eat. They often leave to eat fungi in a dry climate and go to moist areas to eat tree branches and other tree products. But this depends upon the climate.
Cereals
Squirrels eat cereals like wheat, grains, cornflakes, and grape nuts. These all are the tasty treats of squirrels, and they happily eat them. These cereals give them much boost and energy, so sometimes they may stay away from eating food. So this is a better source of energy for squirrels. Although, some people also treat them with cereals.
Which Food Do Wild Squirrels Like Most?
Almost all the things we have discussed earlier they like the most. But one thing that they love and the most favorite food of them is nut trees. They favor mixed forests and nut trees. So this is the food that they like the most. If you ever grow nut trees in your garden, you will surely get a chance to see them in your garden, and they must come. When they come they will eat and enjoy their delicious food. But also keep one thing in your mind: there is a chance for them to damage your trees and gardens. So be careful.
What Wild Squirrels Don’t Eat?
You must be thinking, Is there anything they don’t eat? Well, yes, some things are excluded from their diet, and they don’t like to eat them. They don’t eat high-sugar foods like candy, cookies, sweet cereals, granola, or high-starch food like pasta, rice, bread, or potatoes. Other food includes junk, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, and salty food. Now you will be thinking about why they don’t eat this food. Usually, they eat this food when they don’t find anything to eat, so they eat such food. Or these are unhealthy foods for squirrels. They only enjoy their favorite food like nuts, veggies, grains, and fruits. So this is the best and healthy food for them. If they eat junk food or other unhealthy food, they won’t feel healthy. Nuts, almonds, grains, and fruits provide them with carbohydrates and protein, so they eat their favorite food to be healthy.
FAQs
It would be best to avoid dates, fruit juice, persimmons, prunes, plums, and raisins.
Seeds, almonds, acorns, and peanuts. Squirrels regularly eat these foods, and this is also best for them.
The average food of squirrels per week is around one pound. This includes their regular food.
Squirrels often sleep on trees during the day, and they sleep in underground burrows at night.
Squirrel’s mating season is twice per year, between January to February and then from March to June.
Conclusion
There are two things that squirrels do, eat or sleep. If you ever watched a squirrel, they must be eating. When they are not sleeping, they will surely eat their delicious food. As we discussed before, the favorite diet of wild or Tree squirrels is vegetarian food like nuts, seeds, almonds, and fruits. They also eat small vertebrates if they don’t find their favorite food to eat. But nuts and seeds are their all-time favorite food of them.
We also talked about the adverse effects of squirrels. When they enter crops or gardens, they don’t care about anything, damaging all the crops and gardens in search of food. They always think about their diet. So this was all about wild squirrels’ diet, the food they like most of the food they don’t like.
