Does cayenne pepper really deter rodents? (2 Viewers)

[Kevin Conville]

You're a wacky guy, "Daddyo".

I don't suggest you snif any of that Bhut Jolokia, you might be taking a trip to the hospital.
Birds, you expect, will be unaffected by this stuff?

 

[New Daddy]

Birds, you expect, will be unaffected by this stuff?

That's the first thing I checked, and birds do not have the receptor for capsaicin, which is the chemical responsible for the burning sensation. Therefore, birds eat pepper without problem and help disperse the seeds. All from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin .

 

[Whooping Crone]

Regarding:

Sigh..
I was hoping cayenne pepper would deter rats/mice from coming to the debris, but I guess not.
Time to seriously think about removing the feeder now.

[and also]

Well, I'm not worried a bit about squirrels or chipmunks. I've made it clear in my posts. I worry about rats and mice. I'm just seeing squirrels as proxy of rats/mice.

I'm going to approach your question from a slightly different angle because, really, its not that you want to keep rodents out of the feeder - you just want to avoid attracting "pest" rodents. Unfortunately, what the seed tastes like has nothing to do with attracting mice/rats. Its the smell. They smell it in storage, they smell it as they run through the yard. If they smell it they'll find it, and if they find enough of it for a long enough period of time they will start making homes near the reliable food source.

A large debris pile will attract any rodent currently living within a small radius of your house. If there are no rats in that radius, there will be none coming to your feeder. If there is little debris, there is little attraction.

Capsaicin treated seed will taste unpleasant to a mammal that tries to eat it. But, treated seed won't keep the rodent from coming to the feeder in the first place. And, you aren't really treating the seed, you're treating the tray it falls into.
Furthermore, food-grade ground pepper is variable in intensity, cannot be applied evenly to the seed, and cannot even really adhere to the seed hull(unless you make some liquid treatment and coat the whole business). Outside in the sun and rain it will loose its potency, be blown or washed away. So, no. I do not think what you are doing with pepper will keep rodents out of your yard.
Here's what will help:

Keep your seed stored in tightly sealed plastic containers.
Do not let stray spilled seed sit on your garage floor.
Do not buy in quantities so large that it sits around a long time.
Clean your debris tray, and under your feeder frequently.
If you are truly paranoid about it - buy the "no-mess" seed mixes that have no hulls, only seed meats. This is practically 100% consumed and leaves no debris behind in the first place.

 

[lashinala]

I have used habanero pepper/paste with some good results (I have grown my own habaneros). Just make sure you get the habanero seeds into the paste/sauce to add to the 'hotness'. My problem was more with storing dog food outside, than seeds though. I also put habanero on my food if I don't want my kids to 'try it'....survival of the fittest, you know. Oh, and the dog knows about habanero also. :t:

 

[t24798]

way to deter rodents from birdfeeder area

after lots of frustration over the rodents coming for free lunch at the bird feeder, my daughter researched ordered predator pee. it seems to have worked. we spray the predator pee around the ground where the rodents would come to feed. haven't seen any since. we use bobcat pee.

 

[Estee]

I'm inclined to think that maybe cayenne pepper is not hot enough. For testing purposes, I sniffed the cayenne pepper bottle I bought at a local Wholefooods store, and indeed it wasn't too painful.

So, I've ordered Habanero pepper from a local store. According to a Wikipedia article, it is about 7 times hotter than cayenne pepper. (Scoville scale - Wikipedia)

If it fails, I'm going to go all the way and order Bhut Jolokia (Naga Jolokia), which is the hottest pepper on earth and available only online. (Amazon.com)

Stay tuned.

 

[Estee]

I live in the Larkspur, CA area. I got a nice birdfeeder and began getting a few mice.
I then begin asking question from Birds Unlimited and they sell a birdseed that has
hot chilie cajun. I tried it and it did seem to work. Then a neighbor told me it's
cheaper on Amazon and it was also hotter I think because it is also treated with a
liquid habenero.
I checked and then ordered a large bag of the birdseed (It's called Cole's Hot Meats).
The birds love it and I have not seen a mouse or evidence of mice.
Please let me know if you try it and it works for you My apartment manager thinks
I am lying about having 0 mice.

 

[Montereyman]

If birds are chucking seed out onto the ground then it is best to change the seed type or seed size. I have a variety of birds that love sunflower kernels but cannot deal with a full size kernel. So I switched to sunflower chips that are much smaller.

I also added a very large (and heavy) platform feeder that provides a good place for small birds to pick through the smaller seeds and any hulls can be removed so they do not end up on the ground. It is made by JC's Wildlife and holds 2 gallons or about 10 lbs of seed. Not cheap but it is by far the best feeder I have found and as an important bonus, it is very easy to keep clean.