Can Squirrels Eat Oranges?

Squirrels roll out during the summer a lot that you tend to find them on an orange tree all through. It gives a very good view looking at them jumping from one tree to another. However, it makes you wonder if squirrels do take oranges and also how you can protect your tree from squirrels in case they pose a threat.

Squirrels are very good eaters of Orange and they do so with joy as they enjoy it specifically. You might get to realize your garden has a lot of bite marks. Then you should know there must have been an external force. Examples of which might be the squirrels. Especially if your backyard is infected by these creatures, you should be rest assured this is an aftermath of their effect. They do need orange and water also to stay hydrated.

Squirrels usually live in wooded areas in deciduous forests, but they prefer to live in trees as well. There are squirrels living up to their names. They make holes in the earth, a series of underground bunkers, to live in. Many squirrels also defrost in the cold in burrows to keep warm.

Read :- What To Feed Squirrels

Any human foods are clearly very healthy for squirrels but care must be taken as regards their constituents so as not to have foods that are harmful to these squirrels, but only the beneficial ones.

The fact is that squirrels are actually omnivore but they thrive the best on normal diets that consist of nuts, eggs, fungi, fruits, insects, plants, and also vegetables that they can find easily in their habitat.

Apart from feeding on diets in their habitat, squirrels have been adapted to living around people’s environments and they tend to feed on foods that are very beneficial in human habitats like pets, food, pizza, chocolate, birdseed, cheesy and trash also in some cases.

Squirrels always prefer to be herbivores, but if other foods are in short supply, they are known to feast heavily on the occasional bird egg. Squirrels will usually adapt to the conditions and food available to them, and so they will consume a wide range of items. They are both experienced foragers and enjoy nothing more than digging around for a tasty morsel in the undergrowth.

The beautiful thing about squirrels is that they are not picky in the feed they eat and perhaps you might have seen them eating an orange in some cases mad you might have seen so many videos around even on YouTube channels or many social media post and you might be thinking if it is very okay to feed these creatures with fruits.

With joy and great zeal, squirrels eat berries. When you live close to fruit trees or fruit bushes and vines, this can be evident. You’ll see these lovely animals munching and gnawing their jaws on these delicious treats, also oranges.

They can climb through fruit trees quickly to tap fruits with so much ease. Oranges, in particular. They also feed on pears, oranges, kiwi, citrus fruits, mango, avocados, etc.

Squirrels can scale up fruit trees with ease to steal their fruit. Squirrels eat a variety of fruit trees, including, but not limited to, pears, grapes , apples, kiwi, avocados, peaches, nectarines, figs, plums, mangoes, and citrus crops. Some berries, such as oranges, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, mulberries, and many others, can also be consumed by squirrels. They enjoy bananas, cantaloupes, and cherries as well. These fruits provide them with the primary increase in sugar that helps provide

Some species of squirrels which are the red squirrels do feed on seed and berries. Squirrels do love to have food content that is high in fat, high in phosphate, and also low in calcium. This low calcium to phosphate ratio, however, helps prevent the calcium absorption in the gut which leads to metabolic bone diseases which might affect the squirrels.  In other words, having to supply so many peanuts to squirrels will cause a lot of bone thinning for these beautiful creatures.

Must Read: Do Squirrel Eat Tomatoes

Some facts about Orange.

Oranges are known to originate from southeast Asia and have about 690 different species around the world. They have trees that are always evergreen and have a whole lot of flowers which makes it very attractive to squirrels. The citrus plant does have as much as 60,000 flowers and also produces fruits with it occupying just 1%.

A lot of people in the world take a lot of orange juice and leave just a few as droplets also for other rodents to feed on.

Oranges are known to contain: 0% of fat, 0% of Sodium, 1gram of Protein, 70 milligrams of Vitamin C, 60% of the Recommended Daily Allowance, 12 grams of Sugar, and also 14 micrograms of Vitamin A.

For people that grow fruits, stopping squirrels from damaging a harvest of fruit is often a challenge. All kinds of fruits, like citrus, can be eaten easily or damaged by squirrels (Sciuridae). Although there is no permanent method known to keep squirrels away from fruits, some of these preventive control however work better than others. Since squirrels learn easily, using different strategies is the best solution, often switching them to help discourage wise animals from working out ways around them. Here are some of the measures that can be used:

 

• Using Traps 

 

Removing the animals by trapping or baiting is one of the most successful ways to discourage squirrels from consuming fruits. For the finest results, kill traps should be set along established squirrel routes. However, trapping comes with its own set of problems, since in some areas it is illegal to release live squirrels and killing them is illegal in other locations. Trapping and baiting often require you or a specialist to properly bait, trap, and dispose of the squirrels without harming other pets or animals in the environment.

 

• Using Wraps

 

Also wrapping plastic, small-holed netting, or deer cloth with your fruit trees can help keep these squirrels away from their fruits. You can use loops, clothespins, or soft ties to anchor the cover to the trees and close all the slits and all other holes through which squirrels can tend to escape. Trim the branches of the trees so that they are hidden from objects that can be used by squirrels to climb on the trees. High winds are two drawbacks to wrapping fruit trees, which can loosen the wrap material and the ability of squirrels to chew holes therefore giving entry to the fruits.

Finding and storing food is an important practice for squirrels and 70-90 percent of the time is spent on these operations of the day. Reds and Greys feed mainly on high-energy seeds, and the numbers of squirrels fluctuate according to the seed crop (more so for Reds than Greys). Plant matter, particularly berries and other fruits, is also prominently characterized, according to species.

It seems like squirrels can eat anything and everything and be just fine. If you think about it, it’s like they are like a garbage disposal that eats everything that goes down.

Like human beings, squirrels need to consume foods that provide them the nutrients their bodies need. Oranges are high in sugar, which will make a poor diet for them in some cases, similar to how candy is bad for us.Even if your squirrels love eating oranges, keep them out of the squirrel feeders.

However, feeding these creatures in your backyard can be so enticing and very interesting. But if you are feeding them, doing it the right way would be the best so as to help them live a healthy life.

Other methods you can use to prevent these squirrels from entering your backyard include having habitat modification and trapping also. Some repellants also help retard squirrels but some are bad as they serve as taste repellant in plants.

However you can feed them with so many other raw vegetables like apples, broccoli, yellow squash, peas, water melon and also blue berries.

Conclusion

In my backyard, I do enjoy feeding squirrels and think it’s okay. But if you’re going to feed wild life, you want to make sure you have the right things to feed them. If you’re going to feed squirrels from your backyard, make sure you feed them foods that help them live a happy, safe  and good life.

To defend your garden from squirrels, there are a handful of steps that you can take. To help protect plant and crop rows, the use of protective instruments, including wire mesh, plastic netting, wire cages or cheese cloth, is recommended. You may use wraps or put bags around them to safeguard clusters or individual ripened fruit and vegetables. Prickly plants will suffice if you’re looking for a natural solution. Thorn plants can be put around plants or to grow seeds to help deter squirrels.

Habitat modification and trapping are other strategies to help discourage squirrels from entering your yard. Trim tree branches and remove bird feeders near your home as far as habitat modification is concerned.