Squirrels are wild animals and can usually take care of themselves quite well. Nevertheless, feeding the cute animals can be an important point for nature conservation in the garden, especially in very cold winters. If there is a past, very dry and hot summer, Sciurus also finds less food. The search for food in predominantly built-up areas is also difficult for the animals. The cute rodents will gladly accept additional feeding.
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Feeding squirrels, but properly
Squirrels may be fed in autumn and winter, especially in built-up housing estates. Food for the animals becomes scarce after a hot and very dry summer. Because then fewer seeds and fruits are produced by the trees and bushes in the area that the squirrel can collect. If there is also a hard winter with lots of snow and ice, Sciurus often cannot find his hidden supplies. The following points should definitely be considered if the squirrels are to be fed in your own garden.
ideal season
Hot summers and long, cold winters with lots of frost and snow make it difficult for the animals to collect and find food. Because they often can’t find the food supplies they have laboriously built up, or they can’t get to them simply because of the frozen ground. So the ideal time to feed squirrels should be chosen as follows:
- at the first night frosts
- at the latest when the first snow falls
- feed daily
- Feeding places must always be well stocked
reasons for feeding
Even if squirrels are wild animals, they have long since moved into our residential areas. But here nature does not offer them the food or enough of it that they would look for in the forest. But there are other reasons for feeding Sciurus:
- long cold period
- a lot of snow
- Squirrels don’t get winter supplies
- these often buried in the ground
- Animals begin mating in December
- the first young are born in February
- therefore need sufficient food in winter
- offspring and the females
foraging
Squirrels start looking for winter food as early as autumn. Because they build up small supplies that they can fall back on in winter. The busy animals collect up to 10,000 mushrooms, nuts and seeds. These are stored in shallow troughs in the ground and carefully closed again. This amount of feed supply is required for the following reasons:
- Raiding of hiding places by other animals
- Mice, other rodents or wild boar
- Garden tidying up by hobby gardeners
- The landmarks of the animals change
- for example leaves removed from a meadow
- can no longer find the supplies
- Leave the nest in winter only to feed
- then the animals go to the stored supplies
feed selection
It is also important to choose the right food. Because you must not feed everything to the squirrels. So only that food should be selected that the local forest, the natural habitat of the squirrels would also offer. The animals’ preferred food should also end up in the feeders. The ideal and varied diet looks like this:
- Seeds of spruce, fir and pine
- walnuts and hazelnuts
- Bucheckern
- Esskastanien
- Offer tree seeds with cones
- can be picked up on a walk in the woods
- fresh, sliced fruit
- Pears, apples or carrots
- special feed mixtures available commercially
- do not offer almonds because of hydrocyanic acid
If fresh food is offered, then you should definitely make sure that it can become moldy and rotten if it is left for a long time. Therefore, fresh things should not be mixed together with feed that can be stored and, above all, should be exchanged more often. The bottom of the feeding box can also be lined with newspaper for this purpose, so that the feeding area can be cleaned more easily. Otherwise, the animals could get sick if they eat it.
Set up feeding stations
Feeding stations in the garden must be set up correctly. Sciurus are solitary unless it is mating season. However, if several squirrels live in the garden, several feeding stations should also be set up. Otherwise there can be power struggles over food and wild chases through trees and gardens. It should also be noted that the animals then have peace when eating. Therefore, the following should be observed:
- Use special squirrel feeders
- must be refilled every day
- ideally hang high up in trees
- Animals have rest from cats
- Place quiet and secluded
- Use feeders or boxes with a flap
- Squirrels love the challenge of the quest
Create a natural garden
Better than feeding the squirrels every year would be to offer them a natural environment with a rich supply of food in your own garden. Such a natural garden then benefits all animals, such as birds, insects and even rodents and squirrels. Here the following can be taken into account:
- Hedge of hazelnut bushes
- Walnut tree also popular with people
- Create a beech hedge
- other fruit-bearing bushes
- Varied planting in the garden
- not just flowers and kitchen gardens
Feeding without own garden
Even those who don’t have their own garden and live in the middle of the city can help the squirrels that live here with feeding stations in winter. In a very built-up area in particular, it is even more difficult for the animals to find food. And not just in the cold season, but also in summer. In this case, the feeding points can be distributed as follows:
- on an existing balcony
- in any trees on the road
- as high as possible
- on trees in the backyard
offer water
You should not only feed the squirrels, especially in a very hot and dry summer. In such a case, they should also be given the opportunity to drink water. And not only for Sciurus offered water points are important and right, also other animals like hedgehogs, birds and insects are happy about the offered cool water. So the water points should be distributed correctly as follows:
- set up several bowls in the garden
- bird treats
- create a pond
- Offer a bowl of water on the balcony
- always near a feeder
- Change water regularly
- Clean bowl every time
