conuly | More advice for wildlife, this time squirrels, care and feeding of.

If you're just tossing a few peanuts at squirrels now and again, by all means, carry on.

If, however, you are one of those people who likes to dump entire bags of peanuts on the ground in the park... well, first of all, stop doing that, but also, stop giving them peanuts (or sunflower seeds).

Peanuts and sunflower seeds do not have enough calcium or methionine for squirrels, and if those foods compose too much of their diet they will suffer from severe nutritional deficiencies.

I know that peanuts and sunflower seeds are cheaper than treenuts, but you shouldn't be dumping out so much food for the squirrels anyway, so spend the same amount and give them a little less of food that's better for them.

(Squirrels can actually eat quite a lot of food that's not nuts and acorns and seeds, like fruit, vegetables, insects, and even eggs, and they need to eat these other things for a nutritionally complete diet... but honestly, I'd rather tell people to stick to the most expensive option so they put out less of it. If you're not putting out so much food that huge populations of squirrels can gorge themselves sick and still leave more for the rats, then you'll find that even in an urban environment they can usually find their own supplies of all that other stuff.)

On a semi-related note, stop giving bread to ducks and other waterfowl. If you feel you must feed the ducks, give them a small amount of lettuce and vegetable trimmings (if you want to feed them scraps) or mealworms (if you don't mind making a stop by the pet store first). Ducks can also eat treenuts. And I suppose they can eat birdseed as well, but for the love of god, please do not dump 20 pounds of birdseed on the ground. Everybody needs to stop doing that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

dine

excellent advice! though cracked corn is actually better for ducks than birdseed, and easier to haul around, imo. my family would buy it at the feed store, but it's also available online, and possibly at bird or pet stores like Petco

From:

conuly

If you're sufficiently well enough informed to consider cracked corn instead of commercial mixed birdseed then you probably don't need to be told to do that instead of bread bread bread and lots of it.

Edited Date: 2020-02-06 04:56 am (UTC)

From:

mindstalk

PLZ LES PEENUTS

MOAR FRIED CHKEN

From:

conuly

I am not feeding squirrels chicken. They can kill and cook their own chicken.

From:

gingicat

Around here we just don't feed the wildlife, because Canada geese.

From:

conuly

Fair.

From:

moxie_man

(chitter) Yes, no more peanuts! More hazelnuts, please!

Artwork by Charles Bunny on Twitter.

From:

conuly

*g*

From:

redbird

If the local ducks are (likely) mallards, their natural diet includes a lot of whatever can be filtered from the muddy bottom of the river, lake, or salt marsh, but that's not going to be available at the supermarket or pet store. The ducks in Inwood were also fond of mulberries: there happen to be a few mulberry trees right next to the river in that bit of the park.

I just googled a bit, and found, among other things, that there are people who advertise "bird-proof squirrel feeders" and that Purina Squirrel Chow does indeed exist, and is long on the peanuts and sunflower seed, along with corn, pumpkin seed, and exactly no acorns or green vegetables. (I figured it probably existed, remembering from years ago that the Central Park Zoo was buying Purina panda biscuits for their red pandas. I saw squirrels helping themselves to those, too.

From:

conuly

Purina Squirrel Chow does indeed exist, and is long on the peanuts and sunflower seed, along with corn, pumpkin seed, and exactly no acorns or green vegetables.

Unsurprising. But presumably they have some sort of supplementation to make sure the squirrels at least have healthy bones.

From:

cactuswatcher

Feeding the wildlife isn't exactly a great idea and it usually comes with problems. I grew up in a house in the woods. Though there was plenty for the squirrels to eat, one fall my father decided he liked watching them sit and eat. So he picked up all the walnuts from the two or three trees in the yard near the house, (quite a task in itself) and stored them. Then he'd come out in the afternoon and toss five or six of them in the shell to watch the squirrels. The first few days it worked okay. Then the squirrels started picking them up and running off with them to bury them. This wasn't what my father wanted so he started cracking them open and tossing just the nut meats. That only worked a day or two till every bird living in the area discovered what was going on. They would fly down to meet my father before the squirrels could get to him and they would get to any nuts he tossed toward the squirrels before those furry neighbors got any. After a few days of that my father gave up.

Squirrels can be pests if you want to want to watch your bird feeder. Birds are pests if you want to watch the squirrels. As someone said above if you've got wild geese around you don't want to put out a lot of any kind of feed. The same is true of wild turkeys. If you are really careless you can attract rats, mice, raccoons, possums and skunks. Even in the big city you might be surprised what would eventually show up to share in your generosity. So as conuly says don't dump your bag of peanuts on the ground!

Feeding birds or animals in the city park, good diet or not, often leads to over population...

From:

conuly

Your father could've gotten a special squirrel feeder, that would've given him more enjoyment than just tossing out nuts. Of course, squirrel feeders aren't much like bird feeders. Bird feeders make birdseed easily accessible to birds (but hopefully not squirrels). Squirrel feeders make the squirrels work for their treats.

But yeah, it can't be said loudly enough - feeding them a small amount in moderation is one thing, feeding them entire bags of food every day is quite another.

Edited Date: 2020-02-06 02:57 pm (UTC)

(deleted comment)

From:

conuly

Mmm. To be fair, everything is rat food if left unsecured in large enough quantities. Which aren't that large to begin with.

From:

greghousesgf

what do you do with stale bread if it's bad for ducks?

From:

conuly

Make croutons.

From:

maju

Toast. Bread pudding. Breadcrumbs.

From:

bibliofile

Crostini & bruschetta.

Stuffing.

From:

bibliofile

French Toast

From:

greghousesgf

these are all good answers

From:

ayebydan

Bread in the water ducks live in also creates horrid algae issues. It got so bad in our town's small loch(lake) that the council put up signs and different shops/buildings around town now offer free bags of mealworms paid for by the council.

From:

conuly

What a sensible solution!

From:

coyotegoth

BTW, I'll be in NYC Feb 17-Mar 2; if you have time free, it could be nice to say hello.

From:

conuly

I will tentatively say okay, with the caveat that life and/or social anxiety might get in the way. I find it's better to have something to do so I don't worry that if things don't work out it'll be awkward. Museum?

From:

coyotegoth

Sounds good!

From:

coyotegoth

Is there any particular museum that's good/convenient for you? (My email is editor dot fbs at gmail dot com, for replying privately, if you wish.)

From:

conuly

*shrugs*

I'm always fond of both the Met and the AMNH, they're free, tourists like them too, what more can you ask for, really?

But if you want something else, I'm game.

From:

coyotegoth

The Met is good.What time of day is best?

From:

conuly

On a weekend? Meh, no way I'm getting there before noon or 12:30. Meet me at the bottom of the stairs, we'll go in the side entrance. No lines. Plus, no stairs, that's a nice bonus. What day?