0573–2313–MTDC: Quit Eating My Signs! Pepper-Based Coating Discourages Animals from Damaging Structures: Results

Quit Eating My Signs!
Pepper-Based Coating Discourages Animals from Damaging Structures

Results

The results of the field tests at the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, the Lincoln Ranger District, and the private corral were dramatic. Figures two and three show the difference in damage done to coated and uncoated halves of a roadway sign on the Dry Creek Road (No. 4106) in the Lincoln Ranger District of the Helena National Forest. Three other signs along the Dry Creek Road also were treated, with the same results. The test showed that porcupines prefer not to chew on coated signs.

The results were similar at a Pettit Lake Campground vault toilet in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, ID, where woodpeckers were damaging the wooden siding. There was little new damage to the coated areas, but woodpeckers had made several new holes and abrasions on the areas that were not coated (figures 4 and 5).

[photo] Vault toilet facility with close up of woodpecker damage prior to treatment.
Figure 4—The Pettit Lake vault toilet already had some
woodpecker damage when the habanero coating was applied
to the left side of the structure in October 2003.

[photo] Same facility as figure 4 showing minimal damage on treated side and substantial damage on untreated side.
Figure 5—In October 2004, new woodpecker damage was
minimal on the left side of the structure, which was treated,
but damage was substantial on the front of
the building, which was untreated.

The woodpeckers evidently preferred to peck where there was no habanero coating. Because only part of the structure was coated, it is not clear whether the birds would leave a completely coated structure alone.

The coating also was applied to a vault toilet at the Alturas Lake Campground in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. District employees patched and painted that structure in July 2004, making it difficult to tell whether the coating had worked. Because woodpeckers don't actually bite the treated surface, they may not be repelled as strongly as animals that chew the surface. Providing a nest box nearby or a drumming post (see How to Prevent Woodpeckers From Damaging Buildings referenced earlier) probably would increase the coating's effectiveness in deterring woodpeckers.

At the private corral, the horses immediately learned to leave the habanero-treated corral rails alone. They continued to chew untreated rails, severely damaging many of the untreated rails. One new untreated rail was chewed completely through in 8 months. The horses took several small “test nibbles” at intervals on the treated rails, especially near the salt block and watering trough, but they had not significantly damaged the rails 7 months after treatment.

A different, lanolin-based habanero product from the same manufacturer was applied to some of the rails in a second corral in June 2004. The lanolin-based coating appears to do a better job of preventing horses from damaging corral rails than the clear coating. Seven months after treatment, the lanolin-treated rails had not been chewed at all.