Preparing for battle!

[Mikey]

I'm preparing to spice up the tootsies of my raccoon marauders.  I took five large jalapeños and tossed them into the blender with several cups of water.  After blending for a few minutes I dumped the mixture into a large pot and added more water and two heaping tablespoons of cayenne pepper.  It's cooking now and when finished I will strain it through cloth and have about 1 gallon of this mixture.

I have identified two locations at which the raccoons enter my backyard.  One location is a cinderblock wall where I will first spray the top of the wall with this mixture and then sprinkle cayenne powder on top of it and then then spray it a second time with the mixture.

The second location is a tree that they climb up and gain access to the roof.  They then go to the back and climb down another tree into the backyard.  I've taken aluminum flashing and wrapped it around the tree in the front yard in hopes that it will be too slippery for them to climb.  I will also spray the bottom of this tree with my mixture....

I'm just hoping these rascals don't develop a taste for jalapeños and cayenne......

[PondmaninAL]

Mikey, what if they are Mexican raccoons?

[bunny56lbc]

I almost feel sorry for them.......Almost 

bonnie

[tammie]

Mikey make sure you wear eye protection, and a gas mask when you spray that stuff!  No, really, it won't be funny if it blows back in your eyes!
Tammie

[miguynmkoi]

That spray should keep anyone or thing out of your yard!  Good advice Tammie, you hear Mike!  And we'll want photos of the gear you wear too 

[Reedman]

If that doesn't work, you might want to try habanero peppers instead - 20-40 times hotter than jalapeno peppers.

[Julles]

Mickey, please explain how you think that will work.  I have a maurading cat problem here - surprised one in my yard just tonight, after either my fish or my parakeets.  If your concoction works, I'd like to do the same.

But HOW do you think it will work?  Are they supposed to step in it, then lick their paws, and burn their mouths?  Or sniff the stuff and get a burned nasal? 

Guess I need to understand how putting hot pepper water on the ground might discourage a critter from entering your yard.  Also, why did you cook it?  Wouldn't raw work just as well?   

[Mikey]

Mickey, please explain how you think that will work.

I read on-line that some people have success with the jalapeño spray but it needs to be used every few days.  I decided to not only spray the area where I believe they are making entry but also lay down some cayenne pepper that they must walk on.  I'm hoping they will not like the odor and if that doesn't work I'm hoping the cayenne will get on their feet.  I know cats tend to lick their feet when they clean.  And I hope the raccoons will also get a mouth full when they wet their paws in the pond.  Will it work?  I have no idea.  My only other alternative is to trap them and kill them and that is my last resort.

[mascot]

Hmmm....interesting.  Hope it works for you.

On a side note:  Did you know that Parrots don't get the same sensation from hot peppers we get?   They can even eat Jalapeños without the five alarm fire that we have.  Hot peppers contain capsaicin, which is what our cells react to when we eat peppers, but birds do not react to it like mammals do.  This is why some wild bird seed mixes have chili powder in it - it deters squirrels, chipmunks, etc., from eating the bird food, while birds themselves are oblivious to it.

[OldMarine]

I had a cocketeil (sp) once that loved to eat whole dried red pepper. We only gave the bird about one a week because we didn't know how much was to much.

[mascot]

You can feed birds these peppers every day.  As with anything, too much isn't good but not because it's a pepper.  Birds need a variety of foods for nutrition, but Rocky gets these peppers mixed in with his food, so it's part of his daily diet.

I love to see the racoon's reaction to the hot peppers...that would be a riot!  But then he might want to drink the pond instead of fish in it! 

[OldMarine]

Many, many moons ago and at least a galaxy away my first wife & I had problems with a neighbor cat leaving foot prints on our new white car. It was under covered parking, but still had a hard time keeping our clean car clean with this cat making it's nightly patrol across our car. So we sparingly spread chayenne pepper across the car several evenings in a row. Guess what, no more cat foot prints on our car. I would imagine the cat figured out real quick why his tongue was so hot from licking it's feet.