Raccoons steal the food of other animals. If you’re feeding birds in your backyard, are growing crops, or have pets, you’ll quickly realize that raccoons will sneak into your garden at night to eat bird seeds, feed on your crops, or eat pet food.

These animals will eat whatever’s available. So how about hummingbird food? Do raccoons eat hummingbird food? This article looks into it. 

Raccoons definitely eat hummingbird food, this sugar water is enjoyed and is sought after by raccoons. They enjoy not only the sugary taste of sugar water, but they also enjoy the boost of energy it gives them after they eat it. 

Do raccoons eat hummingbird food?

Raccoons will eat, and enjoy a variety of foods, they are opportunistic feeders.

They can eat both plant matter and animal matter. They will even eat hummingbird food. 

Why raccoons love hummingbird food:

Hummingbird food is simply a mixture usually comprised of one part sugar and four parts water. Raccoons love sweet foods, naturally, they will enjoy hummingbird food as well.

These animals like the sugar water so much that they will try to remove the covers of the hummingbird feeder in order to get to the sugar water quicker. Raccoons will also pull feeders off of their hooks or flip the feeders over while looking for this food. 

Not only do raccoons enjoy the sweet taste of sugar water, they will also benefit from the energy boost that it gives them. They also enjoy that this food source is relatively easy to find.

Raccoons don’t have to go out foraging for food or hunting for live prey to find this food, they can simply make their way into your garden and drink the liquid up.

This favoritism towards easy-to-find food is natural to raccoons, they do not like to exert too much energy when looking for food. 

Raccoons will not only eat hummingbird food, they can also cause damage to the feeders in the process of trying to get the food from the feeder 

Other animals that will try to eat hummingbird food include bats, squirrels, and bears, bears can also destroy the feeder 

How to keep raccoons away from hummingbird feeders?

Do not leave food out:

Hummingbirds will likely only take a certain amount of sugar water in a day. Take note of how much this is and only serve birds this much food in a day. This way, the birds will have their fill for the day leaving no food for raccoons at night when raccoons are out looking for food 

Hang the feeder:

Raccoons may be able to climb trees, fences, and poles but they won’t be able to reach a bird feeder suspended on a wire between two trees. Birds will still be able to fly up and access the feeder if suspended. 

Make the pole slippery:

If your hummingbird feeder is on a pole you can spread some cooking oil on the pole every three or four days.

This oil will cause raccoons to slide down as they try to climb up to the feeder. Raccoons will eventually stop trying to get to the feeder because they don’t like oil on their fur 

Bright lights:

Raccoons are nocturnal creatures, they are not used to the bright light of the day or bright lights in general.

You can use this to your advantage by installing motion-activated lights around your hummingbird feeders at night. When the raccoons make their way to the feeders, they will be scared off when the lights turn on 

Smell:

Raccoons have an advanced sense of smell, this sense of smell helps them find food very easily in the wild. It also keeps them from scents that they don’t like.

Scents that raccoons don’t like include citrus and ammonia. Keep raccoons away by leaving orange peels or ammonia-soaked rags near your hummingbird feeders. 

What animal would attack a hummingbird feeder 

Wild animals love free food, that is, food that they don’t have to forage for or have to hunt to find. 

If they realize that there is something edible in your hummingbird feeders they will attack the hummingbird feeder. Animals that will attack your hummingbird feeders include 

• Skunks 

• Bats 

• Deer

• Opossums 

• Bears 

• Ants 

• Bees 

• Wasps 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, yes, raccoons do eat hummingbird food. This sugar water is enjoyed not only by birds but by raccoons as well.

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other raccoon related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Do raccoons eat jalapeños?, Do raccoons eat humans?, Do raccoons eat chicken heads?, Do raccoons eat grapes?