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Index of Subjects I read something like this a number of years ago when we were grossly overrun with squirrels. I tried adding cayenne pepper, ground chilli peppers and the membranes and seeds from fresh chillies and nothing slowed down the squirrels at all. Black pepper didn't work.....I invested in several have a heart traps and transported away to likely looking sites but after all the studies on transporting, now I hesitated to do that. I am now doing that again as it is better than having to dispatch them.We had nine at one point and counting....they were chewing on wired and conduits to get in and were ultra aggressive at the doorway. Marg in Queens. http://margmillard.ca ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andy Moir/Chris Callaghan" <andyandchris@ns.sympatico.ca> To: <NatureNS@chebucto.ns.ca> Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 11:02 AM Subject: [NatureNS] Pepper in the bird seed? I've been told that adding pepper to the bird seed will keep the squirrels away, but not harm the birds. The pepper, according to the note I got, won't hurt either the birds or the squirrels...but the squirrels choose to find another source of food that isn't so spicy. I looked up a site on the net. http://www.squirrelproof.ca/index.html It talked about an ingredient in chili peppers. "Capsaicin is the natural, organic active ingredient in chili peppers that gives them their "hot" taste. Mammals have special neural receptors (similar to taste buds) for capsaicin and therefore, experience the "heat." Birds either lack these receptors or have receptors that are insensitive to capsaicin. Most botanists and ornithologists believe that chili peppers evolved this way so that small mammals would avoid the hot taste, while birds freely eat the pungent pepper pod. This adaptation/coevolution would result in wide ranging dispersal of the undigested seed to ensure the natural propagation and long term survival of the chili pepper plant." Does anyone know if the pepper you'd use at the dinner table has the same effect as capsaicin is alleged to have? Has anyone tried using capsaicin? Does it work? Andy Moir Freeport
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