Water is an important resource for every living organism. Every living thing, squirrels included, needs some form of liquid to survive. But, if they need water so vitally, how do squirrels get water in their day-to-day lives?
Squirrels get water from several sources in the wild. They can get water from lakes, streams, ponds, puddles, and rivers. Urban squirrels can drink from bird feeders.
Squirrels don’t need water as often as we do because the food they usually eat fulfils their hydration needs. They do, of course, still need a little water daily.
There aren’t specific places for squirrels to get water. They get their water from places you’d expect animals to get water from. Lakes, ponds, rivers, and puddles of water are usually where a squirrel would get its water from.
Squirrels aren’t limited to these places only; if squirrels live close to people’s homes, they’ll also drink water from pet bowls, bird feeders, bird baths, and standing water in buckets, plant pots and troughs.
They can even drink water from the dew that collects on leaves, plants, fruits, and veggies.
As rivers, ponds, and lakes can become frozen in winter, getting water can be a little harder for them as they don’t hibernate either. To stay hydrated, squirrels will eat snow in winter!
Will Squirrels Drink From a Water Bowl?
Squirrels are capable of finding water to drink themselves from rivers, ponds, lakes, and puddles of standing water.
However, if the weather is dry and hot, clean and fresh water may be scarce, so it could be difficult for a squirrel to stay hydrated in such warm temperatures.
The same problem arises in winter, as all the places where a squirrel usually gets water can become frozen.
You can help them out in both cold and hot temperatures by putting out a bowl of water for them so they don’t have to tire themselves out in search of water in such harsh temperatures. This is only viable, of course, if you don’t mind encouraging squirrels into your garden.
It’s not necessary to put a bowl out if you have a fountain, a bird bath, a bird feeder, or if you put water bowls out for your pets. In this case, a squirrel will have plenty of accessible water from either of these things.
Avoid putting anything other than water out, such as milk, alcohol, or soda. A squirrel will drink these but aren’t good for squirrels.
If you’re going to put water out, then the best place to put a bowl is under a tree where you often see squirrels. The squirrel can climb down the tree, drink the water and climb back up without being spotted by any of its aerial predators.
Do Squirrels Drink Rain Water?
Squirrels drink rainwater and also drink it when it collects on leaves and grass. Squirrels also get water from their food, such as vegetables, fruits, and plants like mushrooms. Their diet sometimes fulfils their hydration needs.
They don’t require a lot of water like other animals and us, so their diet helps with hydrating themselves. Squirrels only need between 30ml and 60ml of water per day.
Squirrels aren’t picky when it comes to drinking and will drink whatever they find. If rainwater has settled in cracks, crevices, pots, dips in rocks or holes in tree stumps then they will happily drink it up.
Yes, squirrels will obtain water from any source they can find. This will include bird baths. They can easily climb onto the bird bath, quench their thirst and then hop off and continue foraging.
Squirrels are not fussy about the cleanliness of their water source. You might think that a pond is dirty and murky but squirrels will happily drink from ponds. 
Do Squirrels Need Water?
Squirrels require water just like us and any other living thing to thrive and survive. However, they don’t need as much as we do as their diet takes care of their hydration needs. An average squirrel will drink water two times every day.
For a mother with babies, more water will be needed, and they will drink three to five times a day.
During winter, as many water sources are frozen, squirrels will warm up snow and then eat the slushy, melted snow to hydrate themselves, and this will be done once a day.
Babies drink their mother’s milk and don’t require water. After ten weeks, when babies get a little older, they will go outside to drink water wherever their mother drinks from.
The amount of water a squirrel needs in a day depends on the weather and temperature. On average, however, a squirrel requires 30ml to 60ml water daily. This increases in summer and decreases in winter.
Water isn’t the only liquid that they can drink. They will drink sodas, beers, alcohol, milk, and sugary drinks. As you can imagine, they are not particularly nutritional so, even though they can drink them, they should not be left out for them.
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Summary
Like any living thing, squirrels require water to survive. They tend to only drink twice a day as they don’t need to drink much water like us because their diet of nuts, fruits, and seeds provides them with enough hydration.
Generally speaking, squirrels need around 45ml of water per day.
Squirrels can get water from several different sources, such as ponds, lakes, rivers, and puddles. They will drink from bird feeders, bird baths, and fountains.
Ryan is a keen gardener from the UK who’s spent years dealing with countless, common pests over the years so knows the ins and outs of how to deal with pests in the garden
