What Do Squirrels Like to Eat that Keeps them healthy?
People often ask themselves what foods squirrels choose to consume. While these energetic little creatures are famous for liking nuts, they normally eat everything from seeds and fruit to vegetables and even fungi!
In this guide we will look at the favorite foods of a squirrel and how to feed them safely.

Key Takeaways
- Squirrels Thrive on Natural Foods: They stay active if given natural, nutrient-rich foods: nuts, fruits, and veggies. Don’t give them processed sugar or sugary treats that can make them sick.
- Balanced Diet for Healthy Squirrels: Give foods rich in vitamins, proteins, and fat; they allow them to stay energetic and resilient throughout the year.
- Feeding Responsibly: By feeding squirrels the right foods, and away from toxic foods, you will be able to help their populations.
Squirrels need healthy food
The soundness of your backyard visitors will thrive when you feed them proper foods while maintaining their continued visits.
Before you feed a squirrel you need to know which foods will create health problems because squirrels require specific nutritional needs. Scientific understanding of squirrel nutrition includes learning proper and improper feeding approaches for healthy squirrel feeding.
Read here about the natural preferences of squirrels combined with their preferred foods in wilderness conditions along with their recommended dietary choices at home.
What do squirrels like to eat?
They are omnivores, squirrels; they eat plants and grow in the field. In the wild their diet consists mainly of nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables and these animals will eat whatever is around.
The dietary variety that they get allows them to stay nourished so they can keep the energy they need to live their active lives. Also, you have seen them raiding bird feeders or eating garden vegetables.
Fruits & Flowers
Fresh fruits and flowers are the squirrels favorite food and they like to eat apples, berries, grapes and bananas. Fiber and vitamins will keep them healthy, and these are a quick source of energy that provide squirrels with fast energy in the form of their natural sugars.
They love flowers, especially tender petals, and sometimes eat blossoms from plants such as hibiscus or tulips. However, if you want them to come to your yard, it is better to give them fruits, not flowers.

Vegetables
Many vegetables are loved by squirrels including carrots, leafy greens, broccoli and even they will raid your vegetable field of tomato, corn or squash grown in your garden. Keeping them active and fresh and unsalted vegetables sharing your plants is a great way to keep them healthy.
Nuts
Walnuts, almonds, pecans and hazelnuts, all of which are rich in fats and proteins, are all things squirrels adore, but it’s the fat build-up in winter they indulge in it for.
So, in fact, squirrels do have a very good reputation for covering a nut and putting the food in storage for a later time. Some of those buried nuts shoot into trees, a behavior important to forest ecosystems because it promotes plant growth.
Cheese
A squirrel’s natural eating habits should include cheese’s rich and salty quality yet a squirrel’s diet exists without cheese. The high fat content of cheese together with sodium makes it necessary to feed limited amounts to squirrels or such an abundance can create health problems[1].
Despite a little bit of nibbled cheese, squirrels are really not accustomed to this type of snack. Please encourage them to consume natural, non-processed food and not have digestive issues when eating human food.
Cereals
Cereals made from whole grains are good to feed squirrels; oatmeal, shredded wheat, and unsweetened cereals are staples in the house. Fiber and energy-wise, they are a good source and a great supplement to squirrels’ normal diet.
But don’t forget that cereals with added sugar, salt or artificial flavor aren’t a good idea. Many highly processed breakfast cereals are the most popular — but frequent consumption can cause health problems. There should always be minimal cereal and always be plain and natural.
Birdseed
Squirrels are known to raid the bird feeders with corn and millet, but they like birdseed, including sunflower seeds. Good fat and protein are also packed with these seeds, and these are the seeds that also require the fat and protein to help fuel their active lives.
There is no problem in supplementing a squirrel’s diet with bird seed, but squirrels overeat, and feeders are always available. If you want to feed them birdseed, try not to give so much or else you will need special squirrel feeders.
Insects
Less often, squirrels eat insects, but they do. When other foods are scarce, they get an immediate shot of protein from grubs, caterpillars and little bugs. The protein that wild squirrels need can come from insects.
Squirrels are normally not insect hunters but will hunt insects if they find them on the way foraging. This is where they get their ability to adjust to their environment because plants aren’t always part of their normal diet.
Fungi

Fungi constitute a nutritionally beneficial food choice for squirrels because they love to eat mushrooms and truffles.
Wild squirrels come naturally seeking out fungi, but not all mushrooms are safe for them. But they have an instinct to avoid eating the bad types, and it is good not to feed them wild mushrooms.
Eggs
Squirrels can eat bird eggs; the fatty and protein-rich eggs can help a lot of squirrels to survive in winter. They may plunder bird nests for the eggs, and, during the season, eggs are not heavy.
If you are feeding them, it is best to give them a plant-based diet, as too many eggs are bad for their long-term health.
Human Trash
Because so many of them are highly opportunistic feeders, there are many opportunities for squirrels in human trash. They don’t care what they eat but they are good foragers for rejected food scraps, garbage, or food remnants that have collected in packaging.
Squirrels show special interest in eating snacks which contain sugar or salt from trash receptacles yet excessive consumption can create risks to their physical health.
To protect your trash from squirrels you must use proper trash cover. Squirrels tend to eat junk food items sometimes leading to negative health consequences such as both poor diet and obesity and malnutrition.
Plant Material
The diet of squirrels is plant material. The variety of leaves, bark, twigs, or stems of different plants is included. They will eat tree bark and leaves to eat in times of scarcity, but especially in winter. This roughage helps them keep active and supplies the energy that stays when nutrient dense food is not available.
Surviving the lean months in the wild they do by feeding on plant material. But if you’re feeding them, you’re better off giving them more nutritious options like fruits, vegetables and nuts rather than just plant matter.
Dog and cat food
If you happen to find squirrels, they may nibble on pets’ food. The body of squirrels that eat this food is high in protein and fat, and the squirrels are particularly excited about this food in pet bowls.
Now, they can tolerate a bite and then taste between meals, but this doesn’t make it a long-term food, and there isn’t much nutritional diversity.
If you feed your pets outdoors, watch your food bowls, squirrels eat dog or cat food that does not sound so bad until you are eating this food often.
Scraps and Waste
Squirrels love to hang out in compost piles and food scraps and they will eat vegetable peels, or even bread that has gone stale.
Not all human food waste is good for them, high sugar, salt or artificially added foods harm them rather than good. Instead of processed scraps, it is good to feed fresh fruits and vegetables.
What don’t they eat, and what do they eat?
Squirrels accept most food but they reject both spicy ingredients and natural repellents with powerful tastes along with aromatic compounds such as garlic.
Living with them has some of our responsibilities, that we should avoid foods that are toxic – like chocolate, artificial sweeteners, and moldy produce.
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People also ask for FAQs
Conclusion
Foods that have naturally, a lot of nutrients, keep squirrels healthy and energetic. Foods that squirrels enjoy eating include nuts, fruits, or fungi, or insects. If you like to watch squirrels in your yard, you’ll like feeding them, they’ll come and stay energy on the food!
Simple items like nuts, fruits and vegetables are perfect to supplement their diet. Just avoid processed or junk foods, which would harm their health.
If you prevent toxic foods and stick with natural, whole foods they will keep coming back in good health. They are good at surviving, but we can help them survive in our human world, when we come into contact with them.
We can keep ourselves healthy and enjoy them for years with a simple rule: what they eat is what we feed them and feed them healthy food.
References
- Squirrels health status