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Friday, August 19, 2011

Is It Safe to Give Salted Peanuts to Squirrels?

“My husband and I enjoy feeding the squirrels peanuts in the shell. We recently bought salted ones and my niece told me it wasn’t safe to give them salted ones. Is that true?” The Newton Falls Public Library staff understands people wanting to make sure they are giving animals proper foods.

The library’s copy of Squirrels: A Wildlife Handbook by Kim Long had a great deal of interesting information including the favorite foods of different kinds of squirrels. Unfortunately it did not address the issue of salted nuts.

We visited the website of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). The section on squirrels did not have the information we needed, so we telephoned them. While waiting we listened to bird sounds and their identification.  When we spoke with an individual, we were told that they “recommend not feeding wildlife.”

Continuing our online search, the website Black Mouth Cur had the following pertaining to gray squirrels: “The amount of salt a squirrel requires can be easily obtained in its diet and the extra amount of salt . . . can affect its heart, raises the blood pressure and increases its pulse. This tends to shorten a squirrel’s lifespan. This is not too dissimilar to salt’s effects on a human.”

AvianWeb.com has an entire section titled Attracting to & Controlling Squirrels in Your Garden. Within are several paragraphs about peanuts. While a good source of protein, the site discourages feeding raw peanuts to animals because it often contains “aflatoxin, a fungal toxin. Aflatoxin is carcinogenic and causes liver damage in birds, squirrels and other animals -- even humans.” Roasting can reduce the toxin but does not eliminate it. “Also, raw peanuts and other legumes contain a . . . substance that inhibits or prevents the pancreas from producing trypsin, an enzyme essential for the absorption of protein by the intestine. . . Squirrels fed a steady diet of raw peanuts, soybeans, other legumes, and sweet potatoes could easily develop severe malnutrition. . . According to the Washington State Cooperative Extension Service, roasting hulled raw peanuts for 20 to 30 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring them frequently, will destroy the trypsin inhibitor and render them suitable for feed. If that sounds like a lot of work, buy roasted peanuts but be sure they aren't salted. (Salted nuts of any kind should never be fed to wild animals.)”


We passed the information on to our patron so she could determine what they would choose to feed their backyard wildlife.

24 comments:

Adam said...

Thank you for this information!

Julia said...

I have a lot of wildlife around my forested home and I like to help out some of the creatures large and small like squirrels and raccoons however rats are taking advantage of the buffet in my backyard. My house is an older loghouse and have lots of entry points for the rats to come into the house, especially through the basement. I rent the home and the owner has basically told us this is an ongoing problem, many renters and even his family have had to deal with the rat problem. My sister is disabled and feeding the birds, squirrels and raccoons brings her much joy so stopping the feedings isn't feasible plus the rats were an issue before we started feeding the others.

The owner of the house sent over a "wildlife conservationist" and he lay down a few traps and bait stations outside. Neither of us were wild about collecting dead rats from the traps but when one, bloody and half dead flung himself 6ft in the air at me, in the middle of the night, I knew my rat trap days were over. Same for the bait stations when I realized it was killing indiscriminately. I did use rat zappers in the basement which worked, again having to deal with a dead critter but I could just dump him in a bag w/o looking. Eventually they do catch on to it though and you have to remove it and clean it for a length of time. Finally I decided to take the smell approach and have fox urine spray, gravel with an unfavorable odor and lavender oil on cotton balls...this is actually working! In the basement at least it is but it is summer so they could be camping outdoors for now, to return when it gets cold.

When I put kibble out for the raccoons, just before sunset, rats come from all directions to get the kibble. I can't be monitoring it 24/7 to shoo away the rats and I don't want to leave the raccoons w/o food as they all have 4 or 5 young babies with them. I know by leaving food out that I am attracting the rats; I can't have one w/o the other. I read up on rats and found that raw sweet potato converts into cyanide in a rats stomach and kills it. I've googled and googled it and can't find any information that raw sweet potato is harmful to any other animal including squirrels, raccoons and my two Chihuahuas... In fact it seems to be recommended. My question is (finally) if another animal ate a dead rat who had died from the potato approach, would the cyanide be harmful or kill the other animal. I can't imagine what animal would eat a dead rat other than a cannibalistic rat but I just don't know. I would hate to kill one of our squirrels or raccoons with babies. Does anyone know a) if raw potato is harmful to any other animals than rats? b) Can a secondary animal be poisoned by eating a poisoned dead rat?? Thanks for any help/ suggestions!

tbeaux said...

Thanks for the information about the salted peanuts. I normally provide the local squirrels with non-salted, roasted peanuts but the grocery store was out of the non-salted and had only the big-bag roasted and salted. I bought a bag yesterday evening and before feeding anybody (the local raccoons and possums also really like the peanuts) I started thinking if salt in humans can have such a deleterious effect upon humans, what would be the effect upon animals a fraction the size of humans. Ergo, to your site and no salted peanuts for squirrels, raccoons and possums.

I was curious if the whole roasted peanuts would create the same problem of the salt, but the animal has to crack the shell to get to the peanut. And the salt is on the shell and the animals use their mouths to crack the shell (but I have watched raccoons use their fingers to split the sheel and then eat the nut) but the chance isn't worth the risk, so no peanuts until the store gets a refill this next Tuesday.

Thanks peoples for the information.

Unknown said...

Thanks glad I found this information. We ended up buying peanuts for the squirrels then once home realized they were salted. I thought better safe then sorry don't feed them the salted ones till you do some internet search. This is my answer don't feed them the salted ones. Thanks.

Unknown said...

One time feeding of salted nuts peobavly won't give them high blood pressure or liver damage.

Unknown said...

Im thinking a one time feeding of salted peanuts isnt going ti give them high blood pressure and heart attacks. Just follow the old adage, "everything in moderation". If you gave them salted nuts once, I doubt it would do much harm.

Unknown said...

Thanks my son ate the salted ones I got the others for the squirrels.

David Baka said...

I live in an area that has all the high squirrel population. My landlord heard that giving squirrels salted peanuts is a way of eliminating squirrels. Now the squirrels have all disappeared and I don't know where they went. I don't know if giving the squirrels salted peanuts is deadly or not. But I am not happy with my landlord for doing this..

Unknown said...

I just took the advice and did not give them any of the salted ones. My son ate them and unfortunately this year no squirrel's around our apartment. Due to construction noise as our parking lot is being done think the noise is keeping them away. I loved to give them nuts. Some became very friendly and would follow me till I gave him or her some nuts. Hope next summer they will be around.

Virginia said...

Some great info here. Thanks! I'll try the lavender scented cotton balls to keep possums out of my attic. I used 3 boxes of mothballs to get them to leave & it worked but my entire house reeked! I would prefer lavender!

Virginia said...

Oh, forgot to add, that's good advice on the peanuts. I'll buy roasted instead of raw now. I had only salted & put some out but found the unsalted finally so will use the roasted kind.

ReneeRose said...

Peanuts, any type, are not good for squirrels or chipmunks. Peanuts, are not nuts. They are legumes (beans). Raw sunflower or raw pumpkin seeds are best for summer and walnuts or filberts (raw in the shell) are good during the fall months. With that being said, nuts and seeds are a treat and a fat. Most squirrels are herbivores and enjoy lettuce, baby carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and other brightly colored vegetables. Please, don't give them peanuts.

Lee said...

Shade animals should not be fed salt since squirrels are a shade animal they should not be fed salt

Unknown said...

Oh no, so it's no good giving squirrels peanuts?? I kinda knew about the salt not being ideal, it's not ideal for us. I've not been able to get them to eat any fruit. I read somewhere they like cheese, but the 1st squirrel I got friendly with, relocated the cheese away from the pile of nuts I offered. So I nixed the cheese. I noticed they like graham crackers as well. Funny to me I see bluejays swoop down and take off with a whole peanut. I just want to help them through winter and enjoy their antics and energy. Guess I need to research further. They really love the peanuts, when they see me they start scampering over, sitting up on their hind legs with their little paws folded by their chests. Cuties they are!

Unknown said...

Words can’t explain how much I appreciate the Internet!!
Just wanted to thank everyone for sharing their info!
I had about 3 lbs of leftover peanuts (salted & shelled). I’m in the country surrounded by woods and was planning on tossing them out for my furry friends. Then I got to thinking about all the salt. It only took a couple searches... and voilà!! Questions answered!
Thanks again for the info... especially “ccbaker” for the extensive research! Truly grateful... Kyle.

P.S. I took the peanuts to work... they didn’t last until the end of the day... shocker!! LOL

Anonymous said...

I really don't think salt hurts animals. After all, cattle are given lumps of salt (cow lick)
while grazing and it doesn't hurt them. Also, there are small amounts of sodium in just about all of nature's food. And peanuts are very high in nutrition. So the idea that they can somehow lead to malnutrition in squirrels sounds like hype to me. I've been fedding my backyard squirrels for years and they all look pretty healthy to me.

Unknown said...

Can u wash the salt off of shelled peanuts for squirrels ?

Roscoe's friend said...

I was thinking the same thing, so I washed the salt off 2-3 rinses, they patted dry, and popped them in my nuwave air "fryer" just to dry them for a few minutes, left them to dry overnight on paper towels. Gave them to my favorite chipmunck the next day, he loved them! Also loves raw sunflower kernals.

Snowbrush said...

Thank you for this valuable information.

Anonymous said...

I always wondered why squirrels couldn't have salted peanuts and I am so glad that there was alot of Information in this forum.Thanks to all! I live out in the country on a very busy road.Our landlord cut 2 trees down that had a few squirrels but they ended up getting hit on the road, very sad because I love all animals.We have groundhogs, raccoons, skunks,foxes,and alot of birds.But today I was leaving my home to go to town and there was a squirrel on the bottom step,mind you my porch has lattice all the way around and a gate to go down my 2 steps because my dogs have a doggie door to go in and out and a ramp that goes down to their pen.But seeing this squirrel didnt run off at first, it went into our yard then ran down the fence line into a huge tree that's in the cow pasture. Sorry this was a long story but I bought some salted shell peanuts and washed them and they were still salty, so I dont want to hurt it by feeding them to it, and there is a corn field across the road. Makes me wonder what this little fella was up to.

Anonymous said...

I always wondered why squirrels couldn't have salted peanuts and I am so glad that there was alot of Information in this forum.Thanks to all! I live out in the country on a very busy road.Our landlord cut 2 trees down that had a few squirrels but they ended up getting hit on the road, very sad because I love all animals.We have groundhogs, raccoons, skunks,foxes,and alot of birds.But today I was leaving my home to go to town and there was a squirrel on the bottom step,mind you my porch has lattice all the way around and a gate to go down my 2 steps because my dogs have a doggie door to go in and out and a ramp that goes down to their pen.But seeing this squirrel didnt run off at first, it went into our yard then ran down the fence line into a huge tree that's in the cow pasture. Sorry this was a long story but I bought some salted shell peanuts and washed them and they were still salty, so I dont want to hurt it by feeding them to it, and there is a corn field across the road. Makes me wonder what this little fella was up to.

Cheap Theatrics TM said...

All good info, but as one poster observed, everything in moderation. My neighborhood squirrels come up and take peanuts from my hand. I mostly feed them unsalted but I offer the salted variety if that's all I have. I haven't yet had a squirrel bring one back and demand a refund.

Unknown said...

Lol! This is helpful, thank you. I normally only give them unsalted but of course my grocery store was out of them. So I decided that once in awhile it's not going to stop their little hearts or give them kidney failure lol. So yes, also in moderation. Thanks for not making me feel like an evil monster😁

Unknown said...

I agree and thanks for the laugh this morning 😄