This has become a common sight at one of my feeders. I haven’t been too bothered by the squirrel snacking. In fact, they’ve been quite entertaining at times.
However, the past day or two, the little red squirrels have started eating me out of house and home. So, this morning, I tried chasing them off. Every time he hopped up on the feeder, I opened the window and told him the skedaddle. Clearly, he’s not afraid of me.
A woman with a plan, this squirrel watched me from a few short feet away as I sprinkled a little cayenne pepper into the feed. He’s patiently waiting for me to skedaddle so he can return to his meal.
A few nibbles and this little guy began rubbing at his mouth.
Oh, he can’t stand it!
He dropped down and started running his face over the feeder roof as if to rub the cayenne off.
Then, he was gone!
Susan: 1
Squirrel: 0
Until next time.
Genius! Does the pepper bother the birds at all?
Upon further reading, the cayenne won’t harm the birds if they eat it, but it could irritate their eyes if they kick up pepper dust. I have also read that this doesn’t always do the job depending on how hungry the squirrel. So, the jury is still out.
Our current method for deterring the squirrels is beating on the window closest to the feeder until they run away. We’ll have to try the pepper – it would better than a busted window!
That is too funny, love those poses and great shots.
We have a lot coming around now, and tonight I had a family of deer, guess the long winter is driving them closer to the house.
Debbie
Fantastic pics of the squirrels ~ they will drive you crazy but they are cute and entertaining. The only method I have found to keep squirrels off my birdfeeder (it is sitting on a pole) ~ I found a huge FLAT (about 14 inches in diameter) pot lid at the thrift store for a $.50 ~ it is lite weight tin ~ First I cut the top 5 inches off a Mt Dew 2 liter bottle (think funnel ) and slid it on the pole bottom side up and taped the neck to the pole with duct tape to hold in place (this keeps the lid fairly level)~ then I unscrewed the nob on top of the lid and used wire cutters (be careful !!) to enlarge the hole just enough to slide on the metal pole with rim of top facing down ( so the little darlings don’t have anything to hold on to) ~ So far the 6 little honeys have not been able to get past the lid ~ I did take pity on them and I put them a dish of seed on the ground but they are still trying to figure out a way past the lid ~ it has been fun watching them try to outwit us and they probably will eventually ~ good luck ! One tried jumping from a tree limb above the feeder ~ hit the lid and slid off ~ he WAS NOT limping when he ran away!
Love your blog! Mary
Wonderful ideas Mary! I’m working on a new plan for the bird feeders once the ground thaws out.
We used to have squirrels in our garden, we thought they had gone but at night we could here a little noise.We searched the entire house and eventually found them using the gutter as a nursery. I havent’ seen the adults for ages but recently the smaller squirrels have been coming back. Make sure you block squirrels from getting in your gutter(It’s really cute though.)
We don’t have gutters, so we are okay there, but we did have a big gray squirrel who spent the winter (a few years ago) in our garage because there was a gap in the soffit!
I Burst out laughing at the antics of the grey squirrel.
Good idea, my husband says we’ll try it. I gained victory over rabbits by surrounding my garden with hot pepper plants. They took one nibble and left my veggie garden alone.
Love the idea. Given the garden we’re looking at this year, that just might work!