I actually have a pet outside the house that comes to visit about every other day. I am thinking at this point I should name him. Most times he just nibbles on some of the bread crumbs we leave out for the birds but I am wondering if there is some pet supplier online I could order real food for him?
Squirrels like dried corn on the cob. They even make little squirrel feeders that look like little tables with a nail in the center for you to stick the corn on the cob on. As far as feeding them regular squirrel food, I wouldn't bother. They are pretty self sufficient.
I wouldn't mess with a squirrel even though they seem pretty tame. They can carry rabies as well as other diseases. They are also carriers of fleas and lice. I just don't mess with the little guys.
They love dried corn on the cob, as mentioned. However, if you intend to feed them, don't put the feeder very close to your house. I made a feeder to stick a cob of corn on and watched a pair of squirrels every morning right outside my living room window. However, I came to find out that I was also feeding a family of rats at night and either the rats or the squirrels made their way into my attic and chewed up a bunch of wiring. Oops! That feeder was promptly moved.
We've had anywhere from 4-6 squirrels in our back yard for quite a few years. Our bird feeders are there and believe me there's no such thing as a squirel proof feeder. My wife enjoys watching them and has named most of them. We also have a couple of chipmunks that run all over and compete with the squirrels for food. We only ever had one rat in 13 years and rat bait took care of that.
We have one and sometimes two squirrels at a time at our bird feeder every day. I'm not sure how much they eat compared to what the birds eat, but I like having them around.
I would think it would be okay so long as you don't get too close, they do carry a lot of diseases. The squirrels that live around here not only love corn but they also love the sunflower seeds I put out for my birds.
The squirrels seem to eat a whole lot more than the birds. Since we've been here (13 yrs) we've had a couple of feeders that we supply. The squirrels empty them out as quickly as possible for the sunflower seeds. Even if we throw sunflower seeds on the ground one or two will still get into the feeders and scratch out all the seed.
Both squirrels and birds scratch the seed out on the ground. I've wished I had a feeder with which they couldn't do that, but then I'm not going to spend a lot of money on a bird feeder, and if I don't promptly refill the cheap one we have, the squirrels and birds eventually eat the seeds on the ground. In fact, I can't remember ever seeing a dove on the feeder, but the doves do eat the seeds on the ground, so maybe it's just as well.Originally Posted by dapoppa
I do not plan to run up and give it a hug or anything but I am wondering a house type I could set up far away so we could maybe squirrel watch or something. I have no plans to get friendly with it, I just want it away from the windows/doors of the place, last thing I want is to try and catch one in the house that sneaks in but I have a feeling the cats would help out in that area too.
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