Growing crops in your home garden, or on a farm, can be a challenge in itself. Growing is an even bigger challenge if there are raccoons in the area.
Raccoons are very comfortable with raiding farms and gardens at night when humans are asleep. So what about eating pumpkins? Do raccoons eat pumpkins? This article looks into it.
Raccoons do eat pumpkins, raccoons may not be fans of vegetables but they will eat vegetables, like pumpkins, if they have nothing else to eat. Pumpkins offer these animals a variety of vitamins and minerals namely potassium, iron, copper, manganese, folate, beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin B2
Table of Contents
Do raccoons eat pumpkins?
Raccoons are not very picky about what foods they eat, they are opportunistic feeders and will eat almost anything placed in front of them.
They are happy to eat garden crops, they will eat salad greens, tomatoes, carrots, fruits, corn, vegetables, and pumpkins as well.
Health benefits of raccoons eating pumpkins:
Pumpkins are loaded with a variety of vitamins and minerals, namely: potassium, iron, copper, manganese, folate, beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin B2. All of these vitamins and minerals are beneficial to raccoons
Not only are pumpkins loaded with a variety of vitamins and minerals, they are also low in fat. This is useful because raccoons can eat large amounts of pumpkin without gaining weight.
If a raccoon becomes overweight it can suffer serious health issues such as diabetes, and high blood pressure. The animal’s weight also has an adverse effect on its ability to reproduce.
How raccoons find, assess and eat pumpkins:
Because raccoons have a strong sense of smell they can easily find pumpkins. Vegetables aren’t a raccoon’s favorite food but they will eat pumpkins if they are hungry enough.
If the animal cannot find any other food item to eat (this is common in suburban areas) then the raccoon will eat a pumpkin.
If these animals are given pumpkin for the first time, they will sniff it and touch it with their hands to figure out what it is.
A raccoon cannot break open a pumpkin on its own, the animals can only eat it if it is already opened. Once the vegetable is opened, the raccoon will happily dig into the vegetable using its paws to scrape meat and seeds.
They will then eat the meat and seeds right out of their hands
Do raccoons eat jack o lanterns?
Pumpkins do not have to be wasted after being used as jack o lanterns over Halloween. These vegetables can be broken up and given to raccoons. Not all raccoons will enjoy the flavor but some will enjoy this food
If raccoons decide not to eat your jack o lanterns, you can still choose to recycle them in other ways, jack o lanterns can be added to your compost heap, can be hung up and used as a seed feeder for birds, and they can be cut up into pieces for other animals to enjoy
These animals are able to eat a variety of other foods as well. This article looks more into what raccoons eat
What animals like to eat pumpkins?
Other animals that eat pumpkins include:
Rodents:
These animals do not need pumpkins to be opened before they can feed on them. They will nibble on the pumpkin skin until they break through the skin into the center with all the meat and seeds
Squirrels:
These tiny animals are common pumpkin eaters. Squirrels sniff out pumpkins using their strong sense of smell, once these furry animals find pumpkins, they will gnaw at them until they reach the seeds
Cows:
Cows can also be fed pumpkins, these animals do not need pumpkins to be opened as they can do this for themselves, but they will not mind being fed opened pumpkins.
Birds:
Birds will eat pumpkin seeds if given the chance, they enjoy these seeds just as much as they enjoy sunflower seeds. If you’re planning on feeding pumpkin seeds to birds, remember to remove the stringy pulp from the seeds and dry them as well
Fruit flies:
Fruit flies may not immediately try to eat a pumpkin that has just been left out, but they will definitely start feeding on this food once the vegetable starts to rot
Conclusion
In conclusion, yes raccoons do eat pumpkins. Pumpkins are not a favorite food of raccoons but these animals will eat this food if they are hungry and have nothing better to eat.
Other animals that can eat pumpkins include rodents, squirrels, fruit flies, cows, and birds
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 lettuce?, Do raccoons eat pears?, Do raccoons eat pine cones?