If you want to feed the squirrels that live around your house, you’ll have many different food options. The fact is that making homemade squirrel food is actually pretty easy. We will give you some of the best recipes and tips to follow when going forward. There’s no question that these adorable little critters will love what you give them.
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Why Make Homemade Squirrel Food?
Squirrels require high-quality protein and fat in their diet, fruits and vegetables provide these nutrients while also adding variety. To ensure the best diet for squirrels it is important to feed a nutritionally balanced homemade diet, which can be made cheaply at home.
There are actually a number of reasons to consider making squirrel food for these animals. The first thing to consider is that you will inevitably save quite a bit of money. Commercial squirrel food can be very expensive, so why not just do it yourself at home?
When you make this homemade squirrel food with your own two hands, you will know exactly what it consists of. This means that you will be sure that the squirrels are getting what they need to stay healthy. There are all sorts of additives in commercial foods that may or may not be good for squirrels.
Homemade Squirrel Food For Baby Squirrels
Do you have a baby squirrel that needs to be raised in captivity? Are you wondering what to feed it? Since they are so small, many people opt for feeding squirrels kitten or puppy milk replaced formula. While this is fine when the baby squirrels are only a few days old, they will soon outgrow this diet.
If you have a baby squirrel in your home that you are nursing back to health, you’ll need to be aware of its special dietary requirements. Squirrels have to be given Pedialyte as well as puppy milk in order to develop properly, both mentally and physically. Homemade squirrel food is not recommended for squirrels that are under 10 weeks old.
You should never try to give these baby quirrels solid food of any kind. This includes strawberries, bananas, grapes, nuts, or seeds. The fact is that their teeth haven’t come in yet, so squirrels won’t be able to chew this food. Therefore the risk of choking is fairly high, so you should avoid this altogether.
Best Recipes for Homemade Squirrel Food
We’ve listed some of the very best homemade squirrel food recipes below. These recipes are simple and easy to follow, even if you’ve never done this before. It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to make this food, and these animals will love it.
Make sure that you take the time to read through each recipe carefully and follow each step exactly. This will give you the best possible end results.
Squirrel Nutballs
You’ll be sure to get lots of entertainment from watching the squirrels eat these nutballs around your house . They are very nutritious for squirrels , so you’ll be helping to maintain their overall health.
Ingredients:
-1/4 cup of chopped nuts（squirrels love nuts）
-2 teaspoons of flower
-½ cup of peanut butter
-1/3 cup of plain unsweetened oats
-2 tablespoons of water
-1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds
Instructions
The first thing you’ll want to do is to set the oven to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Once you have done this, you will combine all of the ingredients listed above in a medium to large size bowl. Begin forming the resulting dough into balls that measure about one inch in diameter with wooden spoon，muffin tins and knife.
Put each of these dough balls on a metal pan lined with tinfoil. Cook them in the oven for about three hours.
Make sure that you let these balls sit overnight so they have a chance to solidify. You can put them in your refrigerator if you want. Put them near squirrel feeders by your home and wait for squirrels to start coming. These tasty homemade squirrel treats might attract other animals as well, so you should be prepared for that.
Squirrel Food Cakes
These little homemade squirrel cakes are definitely a favorite among squirrels, and it’s easy to see why once you look at the ingredients. You won’t have any trouble whatsoever attracting squirrels when you put this food out.
Ingredients
-1 cup of oatmeal
-1 cup of peanut butter
-3 cups of birdseed
-1/2 pound of suet
Instructions
Start off by putting the suet in a pot under medium heat until it has reached a semi-liquid state. It is fine if there are still lumps in it.
Next, add the oatmeal and peanut butter to the liquefied suet. Stir the ingredients at medium heat so that the peanut butter starts to run.
Put the bird seed in little by little so that the mixture gets nice and thick. You’ll want to avoid taking down the heat, as this will make the mixture difficult to remove from the pot.
After you have put all of the birdseed in, use a spoon to put the mixture into a muffin pan with each tin filled up ¾ of the way. Keep the mixture in the tins for at least a full day before taking them out with a butter knife or plastic knife.
Squirrel Cookies
Everyone loves a good cookie, including squirrels. Since human cookies pose too much of a threat to the overall health of these animals, you’ll want to make your own. You’ll quickly find that these cookies are going to be very popular with the local squirrel population.
Ingredients
– ½ cup of sugar
-1/2 cup of brown sugar
-1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
-1 cup of peanut butter
-1 large egg
-1/3 cup of butter
-1 ½ cup of all-purpose flour
Instructions
First set your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray some cooking oil on a couple of baking pans that are lined with aluminum foil.
Next you’ll want to mix all of the flour, sugar, brown sugar, and baking soda together. Once you have done this, toss in and stir the wet ingredients until all of the ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together.
Take the dough and roll it into individual balls that each measure about one inch across. Flatten the top of each ball using a spoon. Put them in the oven to bake for approximately 10 minutes. Finally, put the cookies on a cooling rack so they solidify and cool down.
Squirrel Food Blocks
While food blocks might not sound very appetizing, the squirrels that come around your home will love them. These blocks have just about everything these animals need to stay healthy and active.
Ingredients
-1 teaspoon of baking powder
-Single package of Henry’s Vita-Mins
-1 teaspoon of almond extract
-130g of finely ground nuts
-1/3 cup of wheat flour
-1/2 cup of water
-80 grams of Whey Protein Isolate
-1 large egg
Instructions
Start off by setting your oven to 205 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the baking powder, ground nuts, flour, and whey protein isolate together in a large mixing bowl. Then you’ll want to start putting in the wet ingredients one at a time.
Once the dough has formed in the bowl, you’ll want to roll it around to make ball. Put this ball on a non-stick surface and use a rolling pin to flatten it out.
Put the dough in the oven for 1.5 hours. When it comes out, you’ll need to cut it up into roughly sixty pieces. Make sure that the dough doesn’t get cold. These blocks will need to sit for a couple of hours or so. You can put these blocks in your freezer to keep them fresh. Just remember to put each block in a freezer bag that seals tight.
When you want to put out these blocks for the squirrels to eat, you can heat them up in the microwave for about 10 seconds or so.
Tips for Making Homemade Squirrel Food
Recipes for squirrel food first appeared at the beginning of 2015 on social medias and forums. Since then many people have enjoyed making these recipes on their own with good results. Some experienced squirrel owners advise against doing it because these recipes may not be as healthy as you think.
There are some tips and tricks that you’ll want to know about when making squirrel food at home. While doing this is fairly easy, you’ll still have to be careful.
- Don’t use any toxic ingredients: There are certain foods that are considered to be toxic to squirrels. Some of these foods include chocolate, sunflower seeds, dried corn, and cashews. When you give squirrels these foods on a regular basis, you will be putting their overall health at risk in a big way.
- Use fresh ingredients: You’ll also want to make sure that you use fresh ingredients with all of the food you make for squirrels at home. This will help to ensure that squirrels do not experience any negative effects from eating this food.
- Do not hand feed: You should never attempt to hand feed any squirrels that come near your home. As cute as these animals are, many of them carry diseases that can be transmitted to humans.
- Don’t overfeed them: It’s also important that you do not give the squirrels that come to squirrel feeder too much food. This can cause them to become obese and unhealthy within a very short period of time. And the squirrels also have natural food source.
Final Thoughts
You can make homemade squirrel food without much effort, and it is a great way to supplement the health of these furry critters. Remember to follow all of the instructions for these recipes to the letter. Avoid using any foods that are known to be toxic to these animals. Make sure that the all of the ingredients you use to make this food are fresh as well. These treats will be gobbled up by the squirrels that come around your home quickly. They are both delicious and healthy, which is always a winning combination.
