I have two ponds: a small 4x6 which is one foot deep, and it flows into a larger 8x10 pond that is 2-3 feet deep. Both have (had) a lot of fish.
The upper small pond had 15 comet and smaller fish up to 5 inches. The deeper pond has 20 or so larger fish, including 5 Koi that are about 12 inches.
A week or so ago I discovered that ALL of the fish in the upper pond were GONE!
The lower pond fish weren't touched. I have never seen a heron, and racoons are rare. But there are a plethora of squirrels.
My question is: Do squirrels eat fish? If it had been a racoon, I would think he would have gotten the bigger fish in the larger pond. I'm guessing that whatever it was could not swim deep enuf to get at the fish in the deeper pond.
Again, could it have been squirrels?
Suirrels as predators?
Squirrels are omnivorous .... This is from Wikipedia, so consider the info with a grain of salt.
Unlike rabbits or deer, squirrels cannot digest cellulose and must rely on foods rich in protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
In temperate regions early spring is the hardest time of year for squirrels, since buried nuts begin to sprout and are no longer available for the squirrel to eat, and new food sources have not become available yet.
During these times squirrels rely heavily on the buds of trees. Squirrels are omnivores; they eat a wide variety of plant food, including nuts, seeds, conifer cones, fruits, fungi and green vegetation, as well as insects.
Ground and tree squirrels are typically diurnal, while flying squirrels tend to be nocturnal – except for lactating flying squirrels and their offspring, who have a period of diurnality during the summer.
INTERESTING PART:
Predatory behavior by various species of ground squirrels, particularly the thirteen-lined ground squirrel, has been noted.
Bailey, for example, observed a thirteen-lined ground squirrel preying upon a young chicken.
Wistrand reported seeing this same species eating a freshly-killed snake.
Whitaker examined the stomachs of 139 thirteen-lined ground squirrels, and found bird flesh in four of the specimens and the remains of a short-tailed shrew in one; Bradley, examining white-tailed antelope squirrels' stomachs, found at least 10% of his 609 specimens' stomachs contained some type of vertebrate — mostly lizards and rodents.
Morgart (1985) observed a white-tailed antelope squirrel capturing and eating a silky pocket mouse. Black squirrels in Russia have been accused of pack behavior in the killing and consumption of a dog.
Guys I have seen fox squirrels here in Ohio eat minnows from small streams that get trapped in pools when the water goes down, but I dont think they would go swimming for fish unless they were starving. In this area of the country all the nut trees are loaded right now so I think you probably have a racoon or opossum problem.
Well I'll be. All this time I thought squirrels were herbivores. I can say that in the 35 years I've lived here among giant oaks and hoardes of squirrels and two ponds for 8 years, I've never seen them eat any thing close to meat. It's always some of my best flower buds in spring, crocus bulbs in the late fall/winter and the bark right off the branches of my magnolias. Not to mention chewing right through the side of a metal bird feeder.
Snapple thats why they eat normally in your area, plenty of good stuff to eat. Thats why I dont think its squirrels eating weidner's fish there are just too many nuts on the trees this year.
Yes to the plentiful acorns. Our deck under the oaks is a hard hat area!
Number of acorns: same here in Southern NJ -- tons of acorns this year -- more than I have seen before. As one responder noted: truly a hardhat area (been knocked almost unconscious several time by errant nuts).
Abdicating squirrels in favor of possums.