European squirrels eat walnuts as readily as hazelnuts or may and various seeds. In their winter depot, squirrels store walnuts with shells only. Thus, the nuts can not spoil and are cracked only when needed.

Walnuts correspond to natural food supply

Squirrels love to eat walnuts precisely because of the natural food they offer. If you want to feed the rodents additionally, then you should completely avoid peanuts or almonds. Almonds can contain dangerous prussic acid, while peanuts are often infested with mold.

What does the right squirrel food look like?

If the rodents have a choice, then you can assume that squirrels love to eat walnuts. However, you can also offer them other things. These include:

• Hazelnuts
• Sunflower seeds
• Dried corn
• Pumpkin seeds
• Raisins
• Carrots
• Fresh fruit, such as apple pieces or grapes

What do squirrels drink?

Squirrels not only eat walnuts and co. They also need access to fresh water at all times. Water is just as important as the right food. The rodents like to drink from a small garden pond as well as from a special water trough. You often see the squirrel together with songbirds at a water trough. This shows that there is no hostility between squirrels and native songbirds.

How do squirrels crack walnuts?

To crack walnuts or even hazelnuts, squirrels use their dentures. The squirrel holds the nut with its front paws and gnaws on the shell until there is a hole in it. Now the rodent can pry open the nut with its incisors and get the contents out.

How many walnuts does the squirrel eat per day?

Since the squirrel's diet consists not only of walnuts, no exact figure can be given here. Depending on the size and the season, the squirrel needs between 35 and 80 grams of food per day. In summer, it tends to be 80 grams and more, while in winter only about 35 grams of food consisting of walnuts and others are consumed.

What do you need to look for in squirrel food?

You don't have to buy a ready-made food mix for the squirrel. With walnuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, carrot pieces, fruit and unsweetened rusks you can create a delicious food mix yourself.

You should be very careful with bread and other leftovers. These could easily become moldy, which is dangerous for the squirrel.

Young squirrels can not yet poop nuts so well. Therefore, young animals need nuts without shells or even sunflower seeds, which are already shelled.

Can the squirrel smell walnuts and co.

Squirrels have a very fine sense of smell. They can use it to detect walnuts and other food, even if it is under a snow cover of up to 30 cm.

Why do squirrels turn the nuts before eating them?

Before eating, each nut is subjected to a kind of quality control by the squirrel. It turns the nut between its front paws. In this way, the squirrel can estimate the weight and determine whether there is a kernel in the shell at all.