I have a smallish bag of unsalted, unshelled roasted pistachios. I've eaten the ones that were easy to open. Would the squirrels be strong enough to open the hard-to-open ones if I put them out in the back yard? (And do I feel stoopid asking this question?)

They should be able to, but even if they can't, they'll just biodegrade after a while. You could put them in a paper bag and smash them with a rubber mallet if you're concerned about it.

If I smash and open them, then I will eat them!

This is my most favorite question I have ever read!

XD Well, I don't see any reason why the squirrels would have a problem opening them, anyway. You could just smash them an eat them though. :P

Somebody told me squirrels don't like pistachios. Maybe the raccoons would eat them (the pistachios, not the squirrels).

The raccoons would probably take the whole bag.. . those mask wearing thieves.

Squirrels will eat just about anything nut wise. I have left out some chestnuts for them and they were able to gnaw through the shells and eat them. I also leave out walnuts for them and they can get through the shells also with no problem. Pistachios should be a breeze for them.

The raccoons might eat them also. They tend to be picky eaters and don't particularly like fruit though. They turn their noses up to fruit cocktail but love bananas (go figure). Anytime I put out peanuts they gobbled them up. I have a troop of raccoons come to my back deck every night and snack on saltines and Ramen soup (their ultimate favorite due to the salt content). I feed them just about anything and everything rather than have them go through the garbage can and make a mess. THey love hard boiled eggs, shells and all. I just break the egg in half and put in their big bowl. Yes, I'm nuts. I have even built a 3'X6' covered eating shelter eating station for them and painted it white so I can turn on the back porch light and watch them eat at night. I've had as many as 12 up on the porch at one time. This was 6 babies and 6 adults. That was a riot to watch them eat and squabble over the food. I have even gone so far as name the little furballs as well.

I was just asking that question myself because, while unemployed, and sitting here submitting my resume to every possible company I can, I also entertain myself feeding the birds and squirrels. Since I've been feeding them nothing but, popcorn (popped), and bread crumbs, and they seem to be liking and eating that. I had a moment whereby some of the squirrels were getting brave enough to come up on my window sill and eat. I was eating pistachios and it occurred to me, they might like them like a nut. To my surprise, and with pieces of popped popcorn still available nearby, I clearly watched 2 different squirrels, 1 female and a male, come up on my window sill, notice the pistachio kernels, (unshelled), and turned it/them down. And I mean to tell you, this was quite obvious to me they certainly weren't interested at all and didn't even pick it up. I saw the squirrels smell the nut, but, turned away, and went into a nearby planter with only dirt and a few pieces of popcorn in it, pick up the popped popcorn and eat that. To me, that was a pretty good experiment proving squirrels don't care for pistachios if popped popcorn is available. Conclusion, squirrels don't like pistachio's. And, to close the argument with those that believe squirrels will eat just about anything...I'm here to tell you...they did not choose to eat the pistachio, and wouldn't even pick it up to smell or taste it. If it matters, I will state, these were shelled kernels and I think they were salted. Hey, that's fine by me...I'll continue to enjoy them. Hey ya'll...send me your pistachio's!! HaHaHaHa... Have a great day, and keep the Lord in your heart and mind, because, all too many foreigners are trying to remove God from our money, schools and courtrooms.

Your squirrels are different from mine. While I haven't tried pistachios, mine don't like popcorn. They're very fond of trail mix though...



[And it's not 'foreigners' who want religion of the money, out of public schools, and out of courtrooms. Those who've actually read the Constitution want those things also.]

I studied food preferences in different species of animals in college and also as a lab tech and it's clear that just like humans, individual animals can like different things. So one cow might go for blackberries leaves, and another won't touch them.

Or, again like us, animals could be picky about the particular flavor of a food. Some people like ripe bananas, some people like them yellower and won't eat a banana with too many black spots... So some squirrels might like pistachios, others not. Or a squirrel could like only certain pistachios. Of course, if they are hungry, they are less picky, just like us. To each squirrel it's own.

Sorry to bust in all, I just didn't know how else to do this.

Asking, your mail box is full. :)

Okay, that's all, sorry to interrupt. :)

To answer the OP's question - squirrels don't have any trouble chewing through walnut shells so why would those thin (tho hard) pistachio shells give them any trouble? Besides, they are rodents and like all in that class, need to gnaw to keep their teeth from growing too long.

Squirrels love Pistachio nuts. I already researched that experiment with that genus of animal.

Oregon squirrels love pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, etc. but only unsalted.