Bridget Swain

Votes: 1608

They sure can be. Squirrels eat eat baby birds, eggs, small grubs and mice. While they seem to primarily eat nuts and seeds they are very happy to supplement their diet with meat.

A few winters ago I and my husband witnessed much the same thing. We had a rare snow, something we just don’t get often here, by the 4th day, our grey squirrel population was scouring the pasture next to the house and we assumed they were just looking for buried nuts. Suddenly one of the grey’s jumped up in the air and made a clean fox like predators dive into the 6 inch covering of snow. A second later he popped up with a struggling mouse in his mouth.

As both of us watched in astonishment he quite deliberate chomped it and killed it, then sat down and devoured it on the spot before racing back to the walnut tree at the edge of the field and up the tree. After watching a while longer we saw a second squirrel also make a mouse kill. Although we could hardly believe it, we decided the squirrels weren’t hunting buried nuts at all but rather were systematically searching for mice under the snow.

Warning! Very graphic video below. Click at your own risk.

Jennifer Lynn Leible

Votes: 9762

Yes, I saw the same thing today. Thought I was seeing things! This is too funny. The squirrel is in the tree next to my house right now. 😆

Virginia Cioffletti

Votes: 1051

Wow, that’s pretty interesting! I honestly have never heard of this but someone always defies the rules! I will have to look this up and ask some of the Wildlife staff I work with!

Carrie Gardner

Votes: 3810

There are a lot of herbivores that are going to turn scientist on to their heads because they also eat meat. Deer, rabbits, cows, hippos, sheep, horses, gorillas, lorikeets, elephants and probably most of them.

And squirrels have been seen eating lemmings brains.

It shouldn’t be surprising – my obligate carnivore cats all have their favorite fruits and veggies.

Jane Leavell

Votes: 9698

You did indeed see a squirrel carrying off a mouse. Although primarily herbivores, squirrels will eat insects, eggs, small birds, and reptiles when they’re hungry enough.

Stephanie Jacklin

Votes: 1697

What do squirrels eat?

From observation of the squirrels in my garden:

Squirrels like:

Nuts, any

Bulbs, the more expensive the better

Figs, the day before you intend to pick them

Toast, buttered, an entire piece, from goodness knows where, preferably held in both paws and eaten on the windowsill while watching a human try to exercise. You try doing lunges while being observed by a squirrel eating toast.

Squirrels do not like:

Radishes

I watched a squirrel furtively pull a radish out of the earth, take a bite, recoil, and throw it across the garden in disgust. What goes around, comes around, squirrel. That’s for the lunges.

Mairi Beaton

Votes: 8258

I suspect the squirrels would be suspicious of you handing out raw meat, especially if they are not used to getting food from you. If you think about it from their point of view, they are very sensible not to go near a large predator who smells of blood.

Anyway, getting squirrels to try new food is hard. I’ve been trying to get the squirrels in my local park to eat natural food rather than raiding dutsbins and getting nuts from people. It took me two weeks to get them to try hazelnuts off a park tree, and I had to sprinkle them with nut dust before one of them finally gave them a go. Even now, not all of them will eat nuts straight from the tree – they pefer the nuts fom the supermaket.

The squirrel in this picture is one of the very spoilt park squirrels.

Annette Blankenship

Votes: 1973

Do cats eat squirrels?

Yes. One of my outdoor cats brought me a partially-consumed squirrel for breakfast. I respectfully declined, but sat and chatted with him while he finished his meal.

Louis Juliot

Votes: 3027

Why does a carnivore choose to only prey and kill a herbivore and not another carnivore?

Oh, they do. Lions are known to hunt and kill hyenas.

Hyenas are not only a source of food, but by killing them, the lion is able to eliminate a potential rival for the other yummy food such as a tasty zebra.

Mark R Frank

Votes: 1907

It makes you want to quote Macbeth. Squirrels are opportunistic feeders who don’t shy away from protein. They are known to eat insects, baby birds and the occasional mouse.

John Burgess

Votes: 3905

Are squirrels good meat to eat?

They’re okay… certainly better than starving to death if you’ve nothing else. A mess of squirrels, though, can make a good stew, or be grilled.

They aren’t eaten much — more in the US than in Europe — and they don’t have much meat on them. They take a certain amount of care in cleaning, too, as they have scent glands that many prefer to remove before eating. The glands, if left in the squirrel, can add a gamey flavor that some, though not all, find objectionable.

Scott Goldman

Votes: 689

No. Red squirrels are the most territorial of all squirrels in North America. This, despite their being about half the size of most others.

The most probable reason for their willingness to attack much larger opponents, including the eastern and western greys, is that the diet of the red squirrels is extremely limited in the colder months to seeds from evergreens. Unlike the greys, they can’t bury several thousand nuts as a safety net for the winter. A hungry intruder is potentially life threatening.

Many omnivores immediately go for the testicles because of their tenderness and exposure. Squirrels are generally vegetarian and are not interested in eating intruders. They just want to protect their food supply and relatives; most squirrels are living with their extended family.

Virtually all squirrel attacks are biting of the opponents tails. It’s simply the easiest target. The damaged tail may eventually break off, leaving the squirrel with an inability to maintain balance. Squirrels are known for eating nuts – but not the kind hanging from anything but trees.

Leslie Anthony

Votes: 8050

You may have mistaken a hairless baby squirrel for a mouse cause that’s what newborn squirrels look like. Not to say herbivores have never eaten meat because it’s been supposedly documented but the internet is notorious for these kind of doctored videos. I find it hard to believe a tiny squirrel could even hunt a small mouse successfully. Not their instinct at all.

David King

Votes: 763

What eats squirrels?

When I was young, I grew up on a farm in Missouri surrounded by great forest lands. We commonly hunted and ate squirrels, along with almost any other small game that was in season from rabbits to raccoons to groundhogs. We also hunted pheasants, doves, quail, geese, and fished for almost anything that swam. Squirrels were good tasting but had very tough hide and were a major chore to dress out. We used to joke we expended more calories skinning them than we got from eating them. As was typical back then, they were usually fried like chicken.

Simon Janevic

Votes: 1706

Flying squirrels are omnivores. They consume plant material such as seeds, nuts, and fruits, in addition to fungi. Animal matter is also eaten such as eggs, baby birds, insects, and carrion. Flying squirrels do eat more meat than most other squirrels do.

Aww… a little hard to believe when you see those eyes!

As for if they eat mice? Probably happens occasionally. One of these rodents is an ounce of pure mammalian protein that any squirrel would be lucky to have access to.

Also aww.

However, they’re also pretty quick, and since flying squirrels don’t solely depend on eating prey like mice, pursuing one would in most cases not be worth the effort. Easier to just find some hickory nuts to munch on— they won’t run away.

A sick or injured mouse, or a nest of unguarded babies, would be much more vulnerable to flying squirrel predation.

Sad aww.

TL;DR flying squirrels will eat mice if a good opportunity presents itself, but this probably doesn’t happen all that often.

Yvonne Thompson

Votes: 5909

Why are red squirrels a problem?

Red squirrels, are the native European squirrel. The grey ones, invaded after humans brought them over. The grey ones, brought germs, and then the grey ones outcompeted so it’s actually dependent on where you are looking at.

Sugar Bouche

Votes: 6196

If the squirrels feel threatened or are protecting their young, they can attack. Squirrels have been known to attack children, pets, and adults.

Idaho Squirrel attacks burglar.

Squirrels eat mostly fruit and nuts, but they are sometimes found to eat meat. “All the urban animals you’re seeing, from birds to squirrels to raccoons, are eating what’s available to them and adopting unconventional diets.”

Is the common type of squirrel in America stronger than a poodle or a schnauzer?

A few years back my Chihuahua and a Miniature Pinscher went after a squirrel and the poor squirrel didn’t stand a chance. The Chihuahua grabbed a squirrel by the neck and killed her within seconds.

“But, if the squirrel bites your dog during the fight the only danger is from routine infections as squirrels do not carry rabies.”

Brian Wheater

Votes: 1793

Because mice roar, do squirrels cluck?

Squirrels bark.

Its more like a grunt. They do it to tell you to leave or to warn other squirrels of humans or cats.

If you are obviously hunting them. They get quiet. If you are deer hunting, their barking warns deer of human hunters. A good, legal (by state) way of stopping this is with a healthy air pistol.

Squirrel, cooked rare, tastes like beef.

Peter Greene

Votes: 3687

If you already have pet roaches, do NOT add a squirrel to that bag of trail mix.

Squirrels are pretty much capable of eating damn near anything, including you. They do seem do have a preference for things like the endless walnuts pouring off my tree out back, but I expect they are also eating a lot of the worms and bugs that go with walnuts.

Pretty good when pickled in an unripe state, those walnuts. You pick them in late June, and you pickle the whole thing.

I would guess that if you left a starving squirrel locked in a roach-infested apartment, it would probably eat some roaches.

You don’t want a squirrel in your house. You would have less trouble in the long run just having all your linens dry-cleaned, cleaning your house heavily, and having it fumigated.

Squirrels are wild animals, and do not make good pets. Also, one squirrel would not eat enough roaches to fix a roach problem, or in fact be able to get at most of the roaches – roaches hide.

MarkIXc

Votes: 1186

Do squirrels eat their own nuts?

I love it when children come onto this site and ask “questions”. I bet you laughed a lot when you posted this. Truly sad.

Kanhaiya Bhatulkar

Votes: 6343

Is squirrel a carnivore?

Squirrels are omnivores, which means they like to eat plants and meat. Squirrels mainly eat fungi, seeds, nuts and fruits, but they will also munch on eggs, small insects, caterpillars, small animals and even young snakes.

Diane Burrell

Votes: 102

Can squirrels eat pizza?

I had a squirrel friend that lived in the trees next to our building that I called Ernie. I started leaving Ernie peanuts and peanut butter crackers, and pretty soon he would be waiting on the wall of the parking garage for me nearly every morning before I went to work and every evening when I got him. And he would chirp and chitter, getting louder and louder, demanding his treat if I didn’t move fast enough or didn’t have anything at the time.

He eventually would approach me and take the food from my hand; once, when he thought I was opening the crackers too slow, he ran up onto my hand and ju

Jack Lurhstaap Romero

Votes: 3411

Why are some animals like bears, part of Carnivora, though they’re not carnivores, they’re omnivores?

Because they’re closely related to other animals in that group. Clades are about genetic relationships, not superficial features like how they eat.

Chas Dart

Votes: 7327

How come carnivores do not eat other carnivores? How do they differentiate herbivores from other carnivore?

I am sure that some do. However, the main resons are probably;

A: Many carnivores can fight back more effectively than most herbivores.

B: There are far more herbivores than carnivores. This is just the natural food-chain.

C: Speaking purely from personal omnivore experience, herbivore meat is almost always better tasting than carnivore meat, so that may well be true for carnivores.

Scott Rivers

Votes: 524

Squirrels hoard nuts for the winter, but if another squirrel happens upon the stash, will it take the nuts or respect territory?

Squirrels are great thieves and remember what your Mom told you about thieves?

“There is no honor amount thieves”.

It don’t matter who hid them, possession is 100% of the law to squirrels.

Cathy McDonagh

Votes: 9077

Are mice, voles, and rats all related? If so, why aren’t squirrels included in this group?

They are.

Mice, voles, rats, squirrels, chipmunks, gophers, guinea pigs, capybaras, prairie dogs, beavers and over 4,000 other species are all RODENTS.

I’m not familiar with the technical classification system, but if you want to study it, you’ll learn that rodentia is a group that accounts for almost half of all mammals.

Jim Miller

Votes: 3056

How do squirrels open hard nuts?

With their extremely sharp and powerful teeth. They just start gnawing away at a black walnut that takes a sledgehammer to crack or hickory nut which only takes a framing hammer and get the meat out. You do not want one to bite you. Yep. That’s another “Jim learned that the hard way” example.

Rose McCarver

Votes: 9449

Why do mice eat each other sometimes?

A common phenomena in many rodents is the eating of each other when one is sick or dying. This occurs most oftenly when a mother is nursing her young and one dies/gets sick: soon after she will eat the child. This serves a couple purposes, the first is that the protein and nutrition will be reabsorbed to her system so she can better provide for her other children. Another purpose is that, in the wild, a sick or dying rodent would attract a predator to the entire family. Lastly, it would keep the disease from spreading to the other animals of the same species and infecting them.

To survive as a

Claire Jordan

Votes: 6313

Are there any carnivorous mice?

Yes. The American grasshopper mouse, aka the singing or wolf mouse, is a ferocious little predator which communicates by howling and can even kill giant centipedes.

Rex Trulove

Votes: 6750

What predators eat squirrels?

Squirrels and mice are tremendously important to many predators and often the population of those predators will rise and fall with the population of mice. The number of predators that eat squirrels is quite large. Here are just some of those that will eat squirrels if they have the chance:

Hawks, owls, eagles, magpies, ravens, shrikes, skunks, weasels, martens, minks, badgers, wolverines, foxes, coyotes, wolves, bobcats, lynxes, cougars, black-footed ferrets, black and grizzly bears, domesticated cats and dogs, snakes of many sorts, possums, and humans. This is by no means a complete list. How

Bonnie Wingate

Votes: 8263

Is there such a thing as a carnivorous squirrel?

Yup. All of them. Actually squirrels are omnivores. Yeah the acorns, chestnuts, and walnuts are terrific and make for excellent winter storage. But squirrels also eat earth worms, grubs, the occasional cricket.

One summer afternoon of torrential rain I rescued a handful of earthworms drowning in a puddle between tree roots. I picked up the worms in two hands and placed them on a high root out of the water. Even before I could make it back to the house two squirrels skittered down the tree and began stuffing their faces with the writhing worms like so much spaghetti.

Yes, tree rats are omnivores.

Miguel Valdespino

Votes: 9729

Why do squirrels eat nuts?

Squirrels actually have quite a varied diet. Though they primarily eat plants they are omnivores and will eat insects, eggs, and even small animals. They will eat fungi, fruits and greens in addition to nuts.

But squirrels are associated with nuts because nuts store well. When food is plentiful, they often hide or bury nuts so that they can survive winter or other lean times. Some species of squirrels hibernate, and the high fat content of many nuts helps them gain weight to survive their hibernation.

Rex Trulove

Votes: 7539

Do squirrels eat other squirrels?

Like most rodents, squirrels aren’t omnivores, they are herbivores. Their diet mostly consists of vegetation and seeds. That said, they aren’t strictly herbivores in the way that cats are strictly carnivores. That is, they will occasionally eat an insect, carrion, or occasionally chew on bones and antlers from other animals. This makes up a tiny part of their diet. Certainly, and also like other rodents, if the females are stressed at or soon after they give birth, they may eat their own young. This happens with mice, hamsters, rats, and so forth.

If the squirrel is healthy and there is plenty

K.A. Green-Wall

Votes: 3452

What does a black squirrel eat?

Seeds, eggs, buds, and roots. Black squirrels are not a distinct species; they are a pigment mutation of gray or fox squirrels.

Amyas Cavit

Votes: 6654

Are squirrels considered to be omnivores?

They sure are. Opportunistic omnivores. They prefer nuts, fruits, and vegetables, but they will also eat lots of other stuff, from candy bars (given to them by people) to baby birds. I’ve even seen them eat ice cream.

Steve Heard

Votes: 7538

Do raccoons eat squirrels?

A raccoon just isn’t fast enough to catch an alert squirrel. One in my back yard developed a successful hunting tactic, though. This raccoon stalks a sleeping squirrel in a pine tree around 3:00AM. When engaging in mortal combat lots of noise and small branches emanate from the pine tree, followed by a deceased squirrel a minute or two later. The raccoon then climbs down the trunk head first to retrieve his dinner. After observing this twice my wife claims she will never nap in the back yard again.

Alys Richards

Votes: 4088

Do squirrels like tomatoes?

I don’t know if they “like” them but, if available, they’ll eat them.