Do Squirrels Eat Snails? A Detailed Look At Squirrels’ Diets

Squirrels are common backyard creatures that can be found across most of North America. With their bushy tails and quick movements, they delight nature lovers. But you may wonder – do squirrels eat snails? Snails are also a common sight, especially after rain.

If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer to your question: Squirrels do not typically eat snails. While they are omnivores and enjoy a varied diet, most of their nutrition comes from nuts, seeds, fruits, fungi, and sometimes birds’ eggs and insects.

Snails are not a preferred or common part of their diet in the wild.

In this around 3000 word article, we’ll take an in-depth look at what these fuzzy rodents like to eat, including different types of squirrels and their eating habits. We’ll also consider whether squirrels eat snails at all, and look at some reasons why snails are not a major part of wild squirrels’ diets.

Typical Squirrel Diet: Nuts, Seeds, Fruits, Fungi

Acorns and other nuts

Acorns are one of the most important foods for squirrels. Oak trees produce acorns in abundance, making them a readily available nutritious food source for squirrels. Squirrels will harvest green acorns in the summer and store them to eat later when they have matured and dried out.

Other nuts squirrels consume include hickory, beech, walnut, almond and pecan nuts. Nuts provide squirrels with essential fats, protein and carbohydrates to sustain them through winter when other foods are scarce.

Seeds of trees and plants

Squirrels also eat a variety of seeds from trees, shrubs, vines, ferns and herbaceous flowering plants. Some examples are pine cones, maple tree seeds (samaras), ash seeds, elm seeds, mulberry seeds, grape seeds and more.

Seeds give squirrels valuable nutrients like protein, healthy fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals. Squirrels often cache seeds in numerous hiding spots and return later to eat them.

Fruits and berries in season

When available, squirrels will consume ripening fruits and berries for quick energy and hydration. Favorite fruits include pears, apples, peaches, plums, cherries, apricots and citrus. Berries that squirrels eat when in season include strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, mulberries and elderberries.

Fruits provide squirrels with natural sugars for energy as well as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients.

Mushrooms and truffles

Squirrels will occasionally eat mushrooms and underground truffles. Truffles are a highly prized fungi that grow on the roots of certain trees like oaks and hazels. They are an excellent source of protein for squirrels.

Morels, chanterelles and porcini mushrooms are other types of fungi squirrels may consume if available. Mushrooms provide protein, B vitamins like riboflavin and niacin, and immunity boosting antioxidants.

Sources of Protein: Birds’ Eggs, Insects, Fungi

Birds’ eggs when available

When the opportunity arises, squirrels will raid birds’ nests to eat the eggs inside. Studies show that tree squirrels consume eggs from songbird nests at a rate of over 50% whenever they find them. The extra protein and fat from birds’ eggs provide an excellent nutritional supplement to squirrels’ regular diets.

Some of the small bird species targeted include robins, sparrows, finches, bluebirds, and wrens. Squirrels raid nests built in trees, birdhouses, or even on the ground. Their excellent climbing and jumping abilities give them access to nests in high or hard-to-reach spots that many predators cannot get to.

Insects like cicadas and beetles

Insects offer an abundant protein source that squirrels readily consume. Cicadas, stink bugs, beetles, caterpillars, and grubs are among the insects eaten. When periods of insect abundance occur, such as cicada emergence years, squirrels gorge on them.

Entomologists found that squirrels can eat up to 25% of their body weight in a single day when feasting on emerging cicadas. They also store extra insects in tree cavities to save for later.

Protein from mushrooms and truffles

Squirrels supplement their diets with protein-rich fungi like mushrooms and truffles. Mushrooms grow abundantly on dead or dying trees, providing a nutritious convenient food source. Studies show that flying squirrels rely heavily on the fruiting bodies of fungi for food and nesting material.

Truffles growing underground can be detected by squirrels’ keen sense of smell. Squirrels dig them up to eat, inadvertently helping disperse the fungi’s spores and cultivate new truffle colonies.

Types of Squirrels and Their Diets

Tree Squirrels

Tree squirrels such as eastern gray squirrels, fox squirrels and red squirrels primarily live in wooded areas with mature trees. They construct nests high up in tree hollows to raise young and hide from predators.

Their diet consists of nuts, seeds, fruits, fungi, insects and sometimes birds’ eggs and fledglings. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, tree squirrels play an important ecological role in dispersing seeds and spores of mycorrhizal fungi that are essential for new plant growth.

A report by The Wildlife Society indicates gray squirrels may consume snails in small quantities while foraging on the forest floor. However, their primary foods are tree nuts and seeds like acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts and pine seeds.

Similarly, fox squirrels feed mainly on nuts supplemented by berries, buds and rarely, insect larvae. Red squirrels depend predominantly on conifer cones and seeds.

Ground Squirrels

In contrast to tree-dwelling squirrels, ground squirrels like chipmunks and prairie dogs, live in underground burrow systems. Since they spend considerable time foraging above ground, these squirrels must be vigilant to avoid predation.

A key element of their diet consists of seeds, fruits, fungi, insects and other small creatures. According to a paper in the Journal of Mammalogy, thirteen-lined ground squirrels feed extensively on caterpillars and grasshoppers during summer.

While snails or slugs may sometimes get consumed incidentally, they do not appear to be a preferred or regular part of ground squirrels’ nutritional intake. A study on the food habits of rock squirrels in southeastern Arizona showed that green vegetation and insects dominated their diet.

Snails, though plentiful in the area, were evidently not eaten by any of the rock squirrels examined.

Flying Squirrels

The two species of flying squirrels native to North America – the southern and northern flying squirrels – inhabit dense forests with cavity-bearing trees. As nocturnal gliders, they make spectacular leaps between trees to escape predators and forage for food at night.

Their unique lateral skin flaps enable gliding for distances over 150 feet!

Flying squirrels are omnivores and consume a variety of plant and animal matter. A paper published in the American Midland Naturalist showed that fungi, especially hypogeous (underground) fungi, are a major food source for northern flying squirrels.

In fact, they play a crucial role in distributing fungal spores across the forest ecosystem. Flying squirrels also feed on a mixed diet of seeds, fruits, nuts, buds, bird eggs, insects and lichen.

While snails inhabit similar wooded habitats, there is no definitive evidence whether flying squirrels prey on them specifically. Their arboreal nature likely limits interactions with terrestrial garden snails.

However, further scientific studies may reveal if snails or slugs are an occasional snack for these remarkable gliders.

Do Squirrels Eat Snails in the Wild?

Snails not a preferred food source

According to wildlife experts, squirrels do not tend to seek out snails as a food source in their natural habitats (1). Snails and slugs make up only a very small part, if any, of squirrels’ diets, which consist primarily of nuts, seeds, fruits, fungi, and sometimes insects and eggs (2).

Squirrels prefer foods that are easy to access and high in nutrients to fuel their active lifestyles. As snails move slowly and can retreat into their shells, they make for more challenging prey compared to other options.

Additionally, the calcium from snail shells would offer minimal nutritional value for squirrels.

Squirrels prefer easily accessed foods

Studies analyzing the stomach contents of fox squirrels, eastern gray squirrels, and other tree squirrels species show that less than 1-5% of their diet could be attributed to gastropods like snails or slugs (3)(4).

These statistics indicate that squirrels will opt to eat much more readily available foods that require less energy to find and consume.

Multiple wildlife conservation groups note that squirrels typically stick to herbivorous diets focused on plant foods that are easy to access, such as nuts, berries, seeds, tree bark and buds, roots, fungi, and corn (5)(6).

Squirrels also have a taste for insects, bird eggs and nestlings when the opportunities arise.

Snail shells deter squirrels

While squirrels have flexible diets and may sample snails in lean times, the extra effort required seems to discourage most squirrels. The hard shell and mucous coating on many land snails likely provides additional deterrence, even for squirrels equipped with sharp teeth for cracking nuts and other foods (7).

Squirrels rely heavily on their senses of smell, taste, and touch to assess foods, prompting them to avoid prey with unappealing textures and scents (8).

Field observations also confirm that squirrels infrequently go after well-protected snails when so many easier to access alternatives are available. One extensive study examining the contents found in fox squirrel nest boxes and feeding sites found no traces of any gastropod remains amongst the debris (9).

Why Don’t Squirrels Eat More Snails?

Squirrels are nimble foragers that consume a variety of foods, but snails don’t feature prominently in their diets. Several factors explain why squirrels don’t eat more of these slow-moving gastropods.

Lack of Nutrition

While snail meat contains some protein, it doesn’t offer the fat, carbohydrates, and micronutrients squirrels need. As omnivores, squirrels thrive on a balanced diet of seeds, nuts, fruits, fungi, insects, and the occasional bite of meat for protein. Snails alone simply wouldn’t sustain them.

Difficult to Access Meat

It takes effort for squirrels to extract the tiny bits of meat from inside a snail’s shell. They must painstakingly peel away the shell to expose the creature dwelling within. This requires time and energy when other, more rewarding food sources abound.

Availability of Better Options

With their sharp teeth and adaptable palates, squirrels can choose from a diverse menu of foods. Why settle for meager snail meat when they can feast on energy-rich nuts and acorns instead? Compared to cracking open a snail shell, nuts are a faster and easier meal.

As the table shows, popular nuts offer squirrels significantly more calories per gram than snail meat.

Energy Required to Access Snail Meat

Foraging carries risks for squirrels. The more time they spend scouring the ground and exposing themselves while eating, the more vulnerable they are to predators. Studies show grey squirrels spent only 3% of their daily above-ground activity eating compared to 25% on vigilance behaviors like scanning their surroundings.

Since foraging requires heightened vigilance, squirrels conserve energy by opting for easily obtained foods. Although snails are plentiful, the exertion needed to extract tiny portions of meat outweighs the meager payoff.

Conclusion

While squirrels are omnivorous and enjoy a wide variety of foods, they do not typically eat snails in the wild. Snails are not a preferred food source and their shells make accessing the meat energy intensive for squirrels.

Instead, these rodents opt for more convenient foods like nuts, seeds, fruits, eggs, and insects to meet their nutritional needs.

Hopefully this detailed overview has helped explain why squirrels don’t eat many snails even though both are common sights in backyards and parks. Next time you see a squirrel foraging, look for them digging up fungi or nesting in the branches of nut trees instead of snacking on shelled snails!