What do squirrels eat?

Have you noticed a few squirrel friends scurrying around your garden to see what snacks they can forage? If you're looking to provide a food source for any bushy tailed grey or (if you're lucky) red squirrels, it's important you know what nuts and seeds are safe to feed them.

Here's our guide on what to feed squirrels plus the best ways to ensure they don't go eating something they shouldn't!

Feeding squirrels

Before you feed squirrels, you should think about whether feeding them may actually put them in danger in some way. For example if it encourages them to cross the road, potentially resulting in them being hit by a car. Or if eating from a feeder would make them vulnerable to cats.

It is typically best to leave squirrels to find their own food.

What do squirrels like to eat?

If you want to feed squirrels however, their favourite foods are...

• Unsweetened and unsalted nuts such as hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds and aflatoxin-free peanuts.

• Seeds (particularly sunflower seeds)

• Chopped apple

• Vegetables including carrots, bean sprouts, spinach, celery and green beans

• Fungi

• Grains

• Bark

• Bulbs

• Roots

Now you know the best foods to use for squirrels, you'll want to create a spot to put food out for them.

Create a squirrel feeding station

It's quite common for squirrels to try to steal food from your bird feeders in your garden. That's why it's a good idea think about including a squirrel feeding station - that way they'll leave the bird feed alone, preferring to nibble on their favourite (and more easily accessible) snacks.

Just as you would with a bird, having a place for your squirrel friends to have a bite to eat is important. Not only will they avoid eating your bird's food, but they're likely to keep on returning to your garden too.

Like garden birds, they also need a little extra help through the winter months and when they're busy feeding baby squirrels in March/April time.

Squirrels also find a lot of their minerals in roughage such as bark, twigs, small insects and soil, so ensure you have a patch of this close by to your feeding station to make sure you're providing your bushy tailed visitors with all the nutrients they need.

What nuts do squirrels eat?

Red and grey squirrels eat most kinds of nuts but they particularly love acorns, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, beech nuts, pine nuts and macadamia nuts. If serving nuts to your squirrel guests, leave the nuts in the shell. Removing the shell provides squirrels with a way of sharpening their teeth and staying active.

What do grey squirrels eat?

Diet wise, both species of squirrels tend to be herbivores, although both type of squirrel are known to eat the odd bird egg if they are struggling to source other food.

You'll probably find that grey squirrels take quite a bit of the food for later as they love to bury their food supplies and return to it when they need it most.

What do red squirrels eat?

In fact red squirrels have the same diet to grey squirrels, which is where competitiveness over food and habitat has unfortunately led to this gentler squirrel's decline.

The biggest difference in grey and red squirrels is that while grey squirrels bury their food stash and remember exactly where they hid it away, red squirrels tend to be a tad forgetful and don't remember where they put their food!

Foods to avoid

We'd hate for any squirrels to get poorly from eating in our gardens, so there are a few foods to avoid when preparing foods for them.

 • Peanuts - and especially salted ones. They are also nutritionally poor.

 • Flowers - there are a few flowers you might see squirrels avoiding including daffodils, snowdrops and hyacinth so it might be a good idea to put your squirrel feeding station away from these plants if you have them in your garden.

 • Spicy food - squirrels hate anything hot so avoid any nuts that have any spicy coating and especially anything containing chilli.

 • Raw onions and garlic - they really don't like these smelly foods.

Special squirrel foods

There are now special foods you can buy specifically made for squirrels, such as:

Popular articles to read next

8 red squirrel facts - why they are endangered and more

The best bird feeding stations for your garden

The best squirrel baffles for your bird feeder