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SQUIRRELS DO NOT EAT MEAT! DO NOT GIVE HIM CAT OR DOG FOOD!
The gray squirrels diet consists of nuts, seeds and fruit. It will eat bird eggs, bugs, and even an animal carcass if there is no other food source available. The gray squirrel requires some salt in its diet, and may find this salt in the soil along roads where snow and ice may have been. Squirrels chew on tree branches to sharpen and clean their teeth. That's why you may see many small branches on the ground around large trees.
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Other foods adult Squirrels enjoy:
- Sweet potato
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Corn on cob
- Lettuce
- Carrots
- Mushrooms
- Peas
- Leafy greens
- Turnip green
- Spinach
- Celery
- Squash
- Okra
- Green beans
- Cucumber
- Peas
- Hazelnuts
- Grains
- Pistachio
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- Blackberries
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Peach
- Apple wedge
- Banana
- Pineapple
- Watermelon
- Avocado
- Cantaloupe
- Raisins
- Plum
- Pear
- Pumpkin seeds
- Sunflower seeds
- Acorns
- Pecans
- Chestnuts
- Hickory nuts
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The squirrel diet varies with the seasons and the availability of plant material (such as nuts, fruits, flowers, and plant buds) that almost entirely makes up the animal's larder. Squirrels also occasionally eat bird eggs or nestlings, and may even pounce on small birds at feeders-much to the dismay of human witnesses who assume that squirrels are passive vegetarians.
Eastern gray and fox squirrels usually have two litters a year, with young born between February and April, then again in August or September. The western gray squirrel has only one breeding season a year, and young are born between February and June. Young are born naked and helpless, and don't venture out of the nest for about seven or eight weeks.
Squirrels are fascinating animals to watch, photograph, and study. They make themselves available for observation in ways that few other animals do, and they have a rich and complex repertoire of behaviors. For those willing to patiently watch and learn, squirrels have a lot to offer.
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