If my war on squirrels were a book, it might surpass War and Peace in pages. It is the saga of the eternal battle between Man and Rodents and I’m not sure the humans will win this one.
I have tried multiple gizmos to keep the squirrels out of my expensive sunflower hearts and most efforts end in squirrel victories. I have applied baffles to the feeder poles, yet there is one squirrel who can leap 4 ½ feet in the air and by-pass the baffles. I have spring loaded feeders that trip when a squirrel climbs up on the feeder, but there is one squirrel who somehow gets on top of the feeder and eats upside down.
I thought the ultimate deterrent was putting hot sauce on the seeds to discourage the “tree rats” but that has not 100% effective for several reasons. First, sometimes I get lazy and don’t apply the sauce to my bag of seeds, and sometimes I forget to order and run out of the sauce. Plus, if you don’t thoroughly mix the hot sauce and seeds, some of the seeds will be un-sauced and the squirrels eat those.
Mainly, hot sauce is expensive. Cole’s Flaming Squirrel Sauce – my go-to brand – is about $15 for an 8-oz. bottle and it doesn’t last long if you apply it liberally.
My latest effort at the ultimate Squirrel Deterrent is a new seed I’ve found – Hearts on Fire Sunflower Hearts. This seed not only is 100% treated, but it is also reasonably affordable. Other pre-seasoned seeds I have found to be very expensive, but Hearts on Fire sells for about $25 for a 10-pound bag, a bit less actually than plain sunflower hearts and there is no extra price for the sauce.
Now, if my Flying Squirrel manages to leap up and over the baffles, he will find himself nose to nose with 100% jalapeno flavored seeds. Your move, squirrel!
