Rodent Tape
Rodent tape is tape that's been coated with capsaicin (the active component in chili peppers) so that rodents won't want to chew through it.
If you have to park your car in a place where there are rodents (the countryside, or a rat-infested garage), you can use it to wrap the cables in your car. I can definitely see the utility of that, but it still strikes me as an odd product.
A blogger who decided to taste it reports:
Available from Honda for $45.90 a roll.
If you have to park your car in a place where there are rodents (the countryside, or a rat-infested garage), you can use it to wrap the cables in your car. I can definitely see the utility of that, but it still strikes me as an odd product.
A blogger who decided to taste it reports:
It smelled like a Band-Aid-flavored Rockstar Energy drink. It tasted like… heat. The capsaicin was subtler than I expected: nothing abrasive or punishing, just a blushing, ambient warmth like a string of white Christmas lights. There was almost a numbing, mala element, in the vein of a Sichuan peppercorn.
Available from Honda for $45.90 a roll.
Comments
Humans are the only animal with taste buds that treat capsaicin like a condiment.
Posted by eddi on 02/12/25 at 04:46 AM
Poked around a bit and could not find any independent testing. Curious to know how well a peanut butter filled box sealed with this tape would discourage rodents.
Posted by crc on 02/13/25 at 08:39 AM
@eddi: almost, but amusingly not entirely true.
People have been spraying their bird feeders with pepper spray for that very reason: birds aren't affected by capsaicin, but mammals such as squirrels and mice are. Thus, the idea is, the birds can eat the peanuts, and the rodents will stay away. And mostly they do.
But... there are a few squirrels who will have a bite of that peppery peanut, go "what TF was that!?", go away, and later come back having another go because they rather liked it! Just like humans, only with fewer of them than of us: some of them turn out to be chilli fiends.
People have been spraying their bird feeders with pepper spray for that very reason: birds aren't affected by capsaicin, but mammals such as squirrels and mice are. Thus, the idea is, the birds can eat the peanuts, and the rodents will stay away. And mostly they do.
But... there are a few squirrels who will have a bite of that peppery peanut, go "what TF was that!?", go away, and later come back having another go because they rather liked it! Just like humans, only with fewer of them than of us: some of them turn out to be chilli fiends.
Posted by Richard Bos on 02/15/25 at 11:06 AM
@ Richard Bos.
Interesting development. Probably how our ancestor got into the stuff. Thanks.
Interesting development. Probably how our ancestor got into the stuff. Thanks.
Posted by eddi on 02/16/25 at 04:08 AM
Category: Animals | Pests, Plagues and Infestations | Cars