Squirrels will chew on your plants when they are hungry....feeding them discourages that. Squirrels also chew on my house....and feeding them discourages that behavior but also attracts more squirrels...so you are dammed if you do and...you know! Also I find that when things are dry, the squirrels will chew my more "juicy" plants....so I am careful to provide squirrel water. Yes...I am a slave to squirrels and their threats. Linda C

Squirrels generally find plenty in nature to eat so what we give them is something of a treat, easy to find food. Peanuts are fine as long as they're unsalted and they also like sunflower seeds, cracked corn and fruit. I feed ours all three but mostly the peanuts, cracked corn and sunflower seeds. The fruit(Apples, bananas) I give them infrequently since it's a little more expensive and not something I want them to grow accustomed to eating. I buy bulk peanuts from a local garden center. They're feed peanuts and I buy them fifty pounds at a time for around a dollar a pound. I give them the striped sunflower seeds. They're bigger and they get more out of them than the black oil sunflower seeds. They're a little more economical than peanuts as well. If you buy cracked corn, don't get more than you'll use. If it sits for a long time it will start to get moldy and you'll likely end up with bunches of little moths. Like you, we have around a dozen or so daily visitors. They come around anywhere from 8 in the AM to 7, sometimes 8 at night. Fifty pounds of peanuts lasts us anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 months. On average, probably one pound a day. Our garden center also sells shelled peanuts that are actually cheaper than the unshelled. Overall, more food for the money, but I've found they have a little more trouble in the winter when it's snowed and we throw them out there. They go right down into the snow. The unshelled ones will usually stay on top or go part way down and since they're larger, they're easier for them to find. It also allows them to take it up into the tree away from the snow to eat. Our grandaughter and little niece like watching them eat the unshelled ones as well. They'll sit right there and systematically strip the shell away and hold the nut above it like a little ice cream cone or something. Those cute little chipmunks are h-o-a-r-d-e-r-s, especially in the fall. If you throw the unshelled ones out, they'll stuff 8 or 9 in their mouths, take them back to their den and be back for more by the time a squirrel has eaten one or two. Throwing out the unshelled ones, they'll take two or three away and be back by the time a squirrel has eaten or buried one. Remember that when you put a bunch of food out because you might think you're putting out enough for everyone, but the chipmunks might feel otherwise. :-) Bulk peanuts, striped sunflower seed or cracked corn can be found at some garden centers and most certainly a feed store if you have one around. Unsalted is important because salt increases their already rapid hear rates. I have one caveat for you and I'm by no means assuming you're naive or anything, but we can't protect our "yard pets" from nature. I've seen stray cats, raccoons and different kinds of hawks take runs at our little creatures. There have been times when they've been successful and I've seen it happen as well as stumbled across the end result. It's easy to become somewhat attached to them and can be something of a shock when something like that does happen. We occasionally have flying squirrels in our yard at night, with one that made regular nightly visits to the jar squirrel feeder we have in one tree by the house. One day I woke up and found the poor little fellow in the yard. It about broke my heart, but you just have to remember it's nature and steel yourself for such things. We keep our dogs and cats inside at night, safe from predators but once we shut the doors or turn off the lights we can't do the same for our outdoor visitors. You may never see or come across anything but be prepared for the possibility. It's sad when it does happen, but in the long run it doesn't diminish the feeling I get from seeing them running across the yard or sitting there waiting for a treat. Now that I've gotten past the gloom and doom part, enjoy your extended family! I've enjoyed hundreds of smiles from our little critters and expect hundreds more in the years to come.

I live in an urban northern Ohio suburb, and have to add a few notes here please! In such an area, what with driveways, sidewalks, pavement all too close on a city's aging grid plan, the mature trees are vanishing rapidly now. I lost my 350 yr old oak tree in the front yard, as it was slowly dying from the top down, and became too dangerous after YEARS of nursing it along. That tree, housed fox and flying squirrels both, fed them, and even stored their winter caches. Plus shielded us from the hot summer afternoon sun. What brought about the decision to have it removed, was, of course, a disaster in the backyard...we lost our very old HUGE American Beech tree, felled in a 94mph windstorm. It was on its way out too, from BBD, Beech Bark Disease (a symbiotic death trap for beeches all over the north). This Beech tree likewise, housed and fed both types of squirrels. Due to the horrific costs of dealing with the removal of the Beech's downed trunk, we had to face the facts..the equipment was already here, and the quote on taking down the oak was about $7,000.00 less than all other quotes on our skyscaper, so we no longer could wait it out. We were now out of large mast bearing trees. BUT...the same thing is happening ALL OVER...these large trees are reaching their limits, with space too small to support an endless lifetime, and tree diseases becoming more and more prevalent, including emerald ash borer, just to name yet another..Just within a 10 house stretch in my neighborhood, looking down the backyards, we have lost 3 Hickories, 2 spruces, a Magnolia, 2 Dogwoods, 8 Beeches, 11 Oaks, a Buckeye, and more... THERE IS NO SQUIRREL FOOD.... And I am one of those who has maintained all along, for years, that if you take away the squirrels, you will indeed have more problems with rats and mice. Why? Because the squirrels cannot support, nor house themselves, in such a barren sky, without an arbor full of rotating mast crops, and the niches available within aging trees. Naturally, as our aging beauties became thinner along our streets, the remaining squirrels are forced to cross streets, rather than travel by branches as they used to. So their mortality rate grows even more desperate. And the squirrels are NOT there to help clean up the dropped overflow from bird feeders people think they need to use, not there to clean up garden 'junk', etc, which squirrels would be tidying up on a daily basis for all of us. IF YOU LIKE BIRDS... I have planted literally dozens of conifers, spruces, pines, hemlocks, junipers, etc, (even several ornamental hinoki just for my own fun), cedars, etc...I've planted 3 redbuds, an oak, and I've placed a peach tree deliberately at the back of the fence line, where squirrels travel, just for them. (hey, if I ever get one myself, and I don't hope to, it will be a very sad day!!) So far, the baby peach tree has already helped feed the little guys for 2 years, and this spring looks even more promising. I've planted a Black Tupelo (a.k.a Black Gum, or Pepperidge, they have berries for wildlife) in the front yard. I have blueberries interspersed with the conifers, as they like acid soil too. We have raspberries, which the robins hardly ever let any squirrels near. BIRDS..In this busy city area, I not only found a woodcock resting on his journey and feeding on worms in the lawn all one evening in the backyard, but have found migrating warblers at our Northern Bayberry shrub this week, feeding on the berries left from winter. Our old crabapple is still going strong, I planted that one 30 years ago, and it is HUGE!! We have a couple Holly trees too, also providing food. Plus, I find that the birds really love the winter's berries provided by the barberry shrubs I used as fillers in the border, (available in so many pretty colors, too! Like purple leaved, chartreuse leaved, you name it) Last fall I added a dogwood. Today I just dragged home a sweet cherry tree to plant this week. (not sure how I'm going to fit it in, but we will!) Even with all of these efforts, there is really nothing for squirrels to eat at this time of year, without stored nuts leftover. At least there are still some scraps left for the migratories, and this yard seems to be their only stop in the 'hood'. (Imagine if my neighbors didn't insist on treeless lawns full of nothing but weedkiller & bluegrass!!) My point is, I don't buy birdseed. I buy bushes and trees that feed both birds and squirrels. Squirrels have to eat too!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (unless you really prefer rats and mice!) And you are quite right, water is essential. I have a watering holeformed of stonework, which all wildlife makes use of, for drinks and baths. Plus a few bowls under shrubs on the ground, when it gets hot, so even the rabbits can get a drink if they like. Even the insects have their tiny still spot for water. What I have noticed, in a few shorts years of large trees being lost, is that the fox squirrel population has RADICALLY declined, it is scary, and so, so sad. I love fox squirrels..they're so personable!! I no longer see or hear ANY flying squirrels. I do see an increase in grey squirrels, and I think it is only because they are ranging father to find food than the fox usually will do. Just my own observation, but I base that on the fact that, in just 1 year, with a couple more oaks down, the greys arrived. And in just 1 subsequent year since arriving to this neighborhood, they have intermingled with a small group of blacks about 2 miles from here, and are all turning black HERE, 2 miles away. So, my guess is, that the grey squirrels probably range a lot father, than fox squirrels can do. Fox squirrels are bigger, need more food, and need safe homes, do not fit into as small of cavities, etc. They are also very home-based, and do not stray far from where they were born as they mature. I've raised 5 different orphaned fox squirrels along the way, at different times, and since they always came back just to say "Hi Mom!!", I know they do not go very far. Plus, I see the babies from intact families staying close to home base as they grow up, maybe only a tree or two away, in the good old days. PLEASE think of squirrels...Plant for wildlife, birds and squirrels both! It takes years for an oak, butternut, hickory, etc to start bearing mast. Plant NOW, this year, for future generations! Okay thanks if you have read this far! :)

Could be a coon. or I once had a knotted black sock appear on my back porch...there was a batch of feral kitten coming up at night to drink water from my water pail and play so i assume they brought it from somewhere.