I bet it would work to keep ants off of the Shepard's hooks and out of the hummingbird feeders too.

Wow! Who would have guessed! Wonder what it is in that lotion. I do know that a good layer of coffee grounds on top of pots really helps keep them out of my pots of pansies. Thanks Roselee!

Squirrels will stay out of bird feeders if you put cayenne or pepper flakes in the seed. Birds dont taste capsaicin while mammals can.

That's a good one...we use Pam that you spray on your skillets...but after a rain you gotta spray it back on...thanks for your advice...

Squirrels also don't like safflower seeds. At work that's pretty much all I feed the birds and the squirrels don't bother it. Now if only I could keep the white winged doves out of emptying my feeders/

Just found an old jar of my wife's Jergen's. GOTTA try this... PLease don't tell on me! AH HA, now I know what to do with all those packets of Pizza Hut pepper flakes too.

The strange thing is hot pepper didn't keep the squirrels and rats out of my pigeon feed. A very large container labeled for that specific use was purchased. It was hot enough to burn my eyes if it became airborn while being mixed, but the critters dove in anyway. Has anyone else tried hot red pepper powder and found that to be the case?

I've tried the vaseline and kept forgetting I put it there and ended up with very messy, dirty sticky hands because by that time the squirrels dirty feet made it awful to touch. ON ANOTHER NOTE: the vaseline rubs off the squirrels fur/feet, gets into the food and on-in the feeder. The vaseline then gets into the birds feathers...you end up with dead birds because now they can't fly. SO A BIG NIX on the vaseline.

Vaseline and others oils should never be used as a squirrel deterrent. Is extremely hazardous for the squirrels for a number of reasons. The oil stick to their paws creating issues with debris. They also will pass it on while they are grooming themselves and ingest it. The oils cause severe diarrhea. Using vaseline/oils haa great potential to do great harm, even causing an extremely slow, horrible death. Please research any number of reputable Wildlife sites. This will be confirmed. You will also find other safer alternatives. One of which is using cayenne pepper. This doesn't affect the birds but it does deter squirrels safely and humanely. It is believed cayenne pepper puts out a. Odor squirrels don't like. No harm done to any of the wildlife.

Squirrels that visit my bird feeders are not at all deterred by cayenne pepper, either ground or flakes.

Jeff hung a slinky on the shepherds hook that we have birdseed on and it's worked remarkably well. We do have one that has learned to grab the pole between the slinky coils, but our seed has never lasted this long.

I saw a slinky was added to a shepard's pole at a garden park. Quick buy some Toys R Us is closing.

Is the Slinky suspended at the top, dangling freely at one end? or is it wrapped tightly around the pole somehow and secured at the bottom? Am trying to picture this. Would love to see a pic. I'm going to be making a bird feeder atop a hollow 6' steel pole that is buried in the ground at at our cabin. Can squirrels climb smooth metal, too? Curious minds want to know.

Here you go, Peggy,

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m1nJTKtIS4s

Cracker Barrel sells Slinkys, if you have one close by.

Thank you Vulture61 for that link. I thought that probably how it was done. I'll have to look into one of those baffles for the top, too. Thanks again.

And we do have a Cracker Barrel in Temple. :) Thanks, Meme.

Sorry that I missed your question, Peggy! It is fastened or rather is threaded at the top of a double hook shepherd hook and we have ours ending a couple of feet from the ground to deter the lone squirrel that learned to climb between the loops. Wal Mart and Dollar General also sell slinkys if you frequent them.

Dollar General sounds good to me!!

It works better here to have the slinky bottom about 18-24 inches from the ground so that the crafty squirrel can't just climb on up anyway. This hook has a straight pole on bottom, no foot so it was fairly easy to stick the ole through the slinky and thread the top kind of like a key ring.

They are really intelligent and regularly raid my feeders now also.

I've had a slinky around my shepherd's hook for two summers now. It has Not stopped the squirrels. At first it did, but they figured out how to leap on putting their little paws in between the slinky rings and scale that shepherd's hook anyway and hang on it, stretch it out, and eat away. This year I found them laying across the rooftop of the bird feeder reaching down eating the cakes. So, I have found that sprinkling a little cayenne pepper on the cakes definitely works! So I put it across the roof too. But it goes away soon because the birds eats it off the surfaces. So I turned to putting olive oil on the post. That works beautifully! Of course, when it rains you have to reapply (we've had a lot lately) & that can be daunting. But Worth It because it is SO Satisfying & Funny to see them sliding down the pole and looking SHOCKED!

Well, the one thing I can count on is few squirrels to have to even worry about it at our cabin. There are 3-4 hawks flying around looking for a meal 3 x daily. That's a pretty good deterrent for squirrels casually browsing the property. We almost NEVER see squirrels there........maybe 3 in over 2 years? Or perhaps the copperhead we have seen behind the cabin has eaten them. Now if any of you folks have a good remedy for getting rid of copperheads, I'm all ears. A trap with cidadas in a saucer inside, perhaps? I've read they love cicadas.

I have tried everything to no avail. Had my daughter buy me some Jorgensen face cream,, Yippee. Had the best time watching them trying to get up pole..Will feed squirrel in the driveway. Thank you so much for this great idea!