Homemade Squirrel Food

Squirrels are an animal some people love to hate. These frisky vegetarian foragers love to raid your bird feeder and dig up your tulip bulbs. However, they also provide hours of entertainment and can be downright adorable. If you are a squirrel lover, have found an orphaned squirrel or are just trying to deter the raids on your home and garden, you may be interested in some homemade squirrel food.

  1. Formula

    • If you are fostering a baby squirrel that is not yet weaned, Clarissa Summers in her instructional manual, "Squirrel Nutrition and Care," recommends using a scalded-milk formula to nourish the animal. Heat one cup of whole cow's milk to just before boiling, allow it to cool, stir the skin back into the milk, add three drops of liquid vitamin E, and refrigerate. Warm up the formula for your baby squirrel as needed.

    Nut Squares

    • At nine to 10 weeks, when your foster squirrel is taking milk only twice a day and has begun eating solid foods, Clarissa Summers recommends you start feeding it nut squares that will meet all its nutritional needs. To make 100 nut squares, combine half a cup of ground pecans with one cup of Gerber's baby rice cereal and two-thirds of a cup of sesame seeds. In a separate bowl, combine one tbsp. of powdered brewer's yeast, one tsp. of liquid lecithin, two heaping tsp. KAL brand dolomite powder, 1000 mg of mashed vitamin C tablets, six to 10 mashed alfalfa tablets and a quarter tsp. of iodized salt. Use a blender to make half a cup of liquid ingredients using banana, applesauce, frozen strawberries, apple juice concentrate, canned pears or peaches, pure juice nectar, or fresh or frozen blueberries. Add enough liquid cod liver oil for 6000 I.U's vitamin A and 600 I.U.'s vitamin D, two ml liquid vitamin E and one or two tsp. of vegetable oil to your blend, and blend the mixture again. Next, add the dry vitamin mix and blend once more. Add this mixture to the pecan mix to form a dough. Roll the dough ball flat and cut into squares, 10 across and 10 down. Dry them in the sun or under a warm light for two days. Before they are completely dry, you can feed them to your foster squirrel or any other squirrels in your yard. Freeze the treats in airtight freezer bags for storage.

    Additionally

    • You can also offer squirrels nuts such as hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, sweet chestnuts, unsalted peanuts and acorns. Squirrels also like greens, most vegetables, fruits (be sure to remove peach, plum and apricot pits and apple seeds) and dried seeds such as squash, cantaloupe and sunflower seeds. Other possible squirrel treats are fresh rosemary, fresh lavender, wild gourds, green pine cones and rose petal clippings.