The various squirrel populations in both North America and Europe are moving further and further into our towns and cities due to the abundance of food available too them increasing the amount of interaction that humans and wild squirrels have.
This has raised a few questions amongst people looking to try and help the local wild squirrels in their area by feeding them or trying to provide them with fresh drinking water.
One thing that we have noticed more and more people reaching out about is if squirrels drink water or not.
Although this may sound like an obvious question, a huge number of people reach out about it each month and we think that it is more to do with people wondering how a squirrel drinks water due to their teeth presenting a possible problem for a squirrel to drink in the same way as most other animals.
With so many people asking about squirrels drinking water as well as a large number of people asking related questions to squirrels and their water intake requirements, we wanted to publish our own article on the topic.
Our table of contents below makes it so much easier to navigate though so you should still be able to quickly and easily get to the specific sections that you may need information for.
Do Squirrels Drink Water?
All squirrels drink water with the average healthy squirrel actually drinking a large amount of water per day relative to its body size than similar-sized animals due to being so active.
Squirrels will usually require more water when pregnant, lactating or when the weather in their local area is hot to keep them hydrated and healthy.
Although it may be tempting to give a squirrel in your local area a drink on a hot day, you should avoid giving them anything other than water as soda and other flavored drinks can cause issues in squirrels due to their bodies not having been designed to drink those liquids.
In certain areas, some people have chosen to leave out various water bowls or water bottles for the local squirrels to drink from as and when they need water with this being a good idea in many locations.
Just keep in mind that although squirrels may look cute and cuddly, they have been known to steal things from unsuspecting people trying to help them with food and water.
There are a number of videos on YouTube of people giving a squirrel water or food only for the squirrel to see something it likes the look of in the person’s hand and then steal it before running off never to be seen again.
How Much Water Does A Squirrel Drink In A Day?
The average squirrel will usually require between two and five tablespoons of water per day with the wide fluctuation of the water required per squirrel being due to the vast range of temperatures that squirrels inhabit naturally.
Squirrels in warmer climates will require closer to the five tablespoons of water per day while squirrels in cooler climates will require less water.
As we touched on earlier in the article, both pregnant and lactating squirrels will also require more water than average too but this will also depend on the local temperature.
You should also factor in that some squirrels have to work much harder to get their food than others, even if you do try to feed the local squirrels in your local area.
This increases the activity of the local squirrels and thus their water requirements to stay healthy.
This is why it’s so difficult to recommend a specific amount of water that is required by squirrels on a daily basis as it can fluctuate by a huge amount depending on the points we just covered.
How Do You Give A Squirrel Water?
The most common way to give a squirrel water is to leave a water bowl filled with freshwater out in your yard or garden where local squirrels live.
Some people choose to use a water bottle system to give wild squirrels fresh drinking water with this method growing in popularity too.
Both methods can work well but in our opinion, the water bowl method is far more common due to it being so much easier for the average person.
People live very busy lives these days so the less time and effort required to give the local wild squirrels water the better with a rodent water bowl being the best option for most people by far due to it being so quick and easy.
If you have a garden pond or some other type of water feature in your yard or garden this can also work well too but you have to keep in mind that pond water is often not the cleanest for animals to drink from.
Still, on a hot day many animals, including squirrels will happily drink from your pond without issue although a water bowl or a water bottle is probably going to be the better options for safe drinking water.
How Long Can Squirrels Go Without Water?
Depending on the situation, squirrels can start to have health issues due to a lack of water after as little as one day making it very important for a squirrel to have regular access to drinking water.
The average squirrel living in a moderate climate can probably go two to three days without water before having any serious problems though.
As we mentioned earlier in our article, some squirrels live in areas where they will require more water on a more frequent basis to stay healthy too due to their local temperature being far warmer than other areas.
This can cause some squirrel to have problems with dehydration, especially pregnant or nursing squirrels and these areas are often where local community groups can be found on social media who will try to make sure the local squirrel population have plenty of water sources.
Conclusion
That concludes our article going over if squirrels drink water, how much water squirrels require, and how you are able to give squirrels water. We hope that we have been able to help you better understand the water requirements of squirrels as well as the importance of trying to make sure that any wild squirrels in your area do have access to water as many of their natural water sources are often destroyed due to developments.
