My Review of Cole’s Flaming Squirrel Seed Sauce

Having trouble with squirrels bothering your bird feeders? You might want to invest in having flaming squirrels in your yard.

As I touched on in a previous story on squirrel deterrents, one solution for squirrel bird feeder issues is to spice up your bird seed. Long story short: Squirrels are mammals and can taste spicy food, but birds don’t mind it. They have significantly fewer taste buds. According to Wild Birds Unlimited, birds may even enjoy the taste of spicy food. 

There are several pre-spiced bird seeds, powders and liquid hot sauces you can buy. One that immediately caught my eye when I was frantically searching Amazon for squirrel solutions is Cole’s Flaming Squirrel Seed Sauce. I have a handful of determined gray squirrels at my bird feeders that were causing pandemonium and I was looking to try a spicy solution.

The ingredients for this are straightforward and spicy: Liquid Habanero chili pepper, and soybean oil. The product also claims that it’s a “nutritional hot sauce for your birds! … Birds love the taste of this liquid chili pepper formula exploding with Cajun flavor.”

Bold claim. I ended up buying several bottles of this stuff and have been using it on and off with my bird seed.

Related: Ranking Bird Seeds from Worst to Best

So, is it worth the investment? Here’s my honest review:

The Good of Flaming Squirrel Seed Sauce:

Simply put, this stuff accomplishes its mission. I’ve spiced up bird seed on the ground using this mix and in my hanging feeders. Squirrels approach and are usually repelled away immediately from the smell alone.

More determined squirrels got brave and tried to eat the spiced-up seed, but they almost immediately grimaced and would rub their face on the ground. This was entertaining in a sadistic way (I might be a terrible person). I even had one squirrel frantically run to my birdbath to splash water all over its face after eating the spicy seed. Now THAT’S entertainment.

The key to Cole’s Flaming Squirrel Seed Sauce is consistency. You need to spice up all your bird feed if squirrels are persistent in your yard…otherwise, they’ll just switch over to anything you put out that’s non-spicy. They have a good sense of smell and can pick that out immediately.

It takes time for the squirrels to learn the hard way, but I’ve managed to make my bird feeders squirrel-free when I use this on all my bird seed.

Related: 5 Time-Tested Ways to Attract Cardinals to Your Bird Feeder

The Bad of Flaming Squirrel Seed Sauce:

It’s rare, but I have had a few absolutely mental squirrels continue eating bird seed spiced up with this sauce (all while drooling all over the place and looking like psychopaths). I’d say this stuff is 80% successful in deterring squirrels, but not 100%.

Also…my birds seem to be less interested in bird seed if I put too much of this stuff on it. I don’t buy the claim that this mixture makes the seed more appealing to birds.

Also, I understand that this is a user error, but this stuff can spice YOU out in a hurry if you aren’t careful. Avoid getting this stuff on your skin or breathing it in while you mix it on your bird seed. I made this mistake a couple of times and found myself sneezing and coughing for 20 minutes.

Also, kind of a bummer, but I found this stuff was less impactful against chipmunks and mice. They don’t seem mind the heavy spice.

Related: How to Attract Minnesota Birds to Your Feeders

The Final Rating: 6/10 (Fine)

Cole’s Flaming Squirrel Seed has been the best spicy bird seed solution I’ve tried at my feeders. The key is to find the balance of using enough to spice out squirrels, while not making the seed damp and unappealing to birds. The negative impact on my score is that it failed to work well with other critters like mice and chipmunks, and it didn’t appear to make the seed more appealing to birds as it claimed. Also, handing this stuff isn’t easy. You might be better served by spending extra on a squirrel-proof feeder.

I lightly recommend giving this product a try if you’re having trouble with relentless squirrels in your yard. Combining this with squirrel-proof feeders will be especially effective.

Click Here to View This Product on Amazon

Best of luck to you! Have you tried this product? Leave any feedback and comments below.

Note: I was not paid or endorsed to write this review. These are my views and opinions.

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