Squirrels love eating fried and potato chips however you should avoid feeding them those food items. No matter how cute they look while eating that food, fries, and chips are very bad for their health as junk foods are not at all suitable for wild animals. In the long run, it can be fatal for their health.
Let’s do a deeper dive on this topic…
Is it OK to feed squirrels fries?
The thing is squirrels are like children, if you offer them tasty junk foods, they will eat them without any sort of an issue. They won’t eat those food items thinking about whether they are good for their health or not.
So as a human, if you are taking the duty of feeding them, you should not feed them something that is bad for their health. Just because you are eating fries and chips, it doesn’t mean you should feed them those items as well.
No matter how adorable these videos of them eating chips look, we should never let them eat any food items which may hurt them in the future and may even cut their life short.
One may think that “Oh what”s the harm in feeding them just one or two chips”, but the thing is squirrels living in public places often feed on the food scraps left behind by humans. In most instances those are processed food items.
Hence if you wanna feed them something, try feeding them nuts,leafy veggies,herbs and other food items which are healthier for them instead of providing them junk foods like french fries, tortilla or potato chips.
They will surely look cute while eating those food items as well!
Reasons Why You Should Not Feed Squirrels French Fries and Potato Chips
Stuffed with oil
Anything that is oily is not a good food option for any wild animal including squirrels. Their digestive system is not well equipped to process that food and they can develop certain obesity-related problems if you keep them on an oily food diet.
Rich in Sodium
Fast food items are in most cases rich in sodium often times in more than the required amounts. However, squirrels have a very small body and have a need for a very low salt intake.
They obtain the necessary amount of salt they need from their wildlife diet. By consuming these sorts of junk foods they are getting stuffed with enormous amounts of salts, in excessive amounts. Consuming salts in more than required amounts can have really difficult consequences down the line.
The sophisticated stomach of squirrels won’t be able to handle junk foods
Processed food is something that is not only bad for wild animals but is also bad for us. However even if our digestive system is better equipped to handle such food items, theirs is not.
In the short term, it can lead to stomach upsets, diarrhea, loss of appetite, etc. In the long term, this can make them obese and can lead to the development of heart, liver and kidney-related disorders.
You are making them habituated to eating junk food
Squirrels like all animals are creatures of habit. For example, people who keep squirrels as pets (which btw is illegal in many place) often find that once the squirrels get habituated in eating food from the hand of their caregivers, they get less reluctant in eating food by themselves.
So introducing them to junk food items that tastes good are not a good thing to do as after eating such food a few times they can develop a knack of eating more such food items and if they can find such food items there is a chance that they will feed more on these sort of food items and less on the veggies and fruits.
So are potatoes bad for squirrels ?
Potatoes are not bad for squirrels in fact from time to time, you can feed squirrels cooked potatoes.
However the nutrition they can obtain from potatoes can be easily obtained by them from other veggies and herbs, moreover potatoes also contain a component called solanine which can be bad for them if consumed in higher amounts. So you can feed them potatoes after a gap of a few days in cooked form and in small amounts.
What should Squirrels eat ?
Squirrels should eat food items that are totally natural and free of any kind of preservatives, oil and seasonings i.e, even squirrels living in the cities should stick to the diet they would have stuck by if they were living out in the wild. This will ensure that they have a long and healthy life.
Squirrels should eat nuts, veggies, herbs and some selective fruits that are rich in fiber, vitamin, essential minerals and act as a good source for carbohydrate, healthy fat and protein.
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