My wife, Mary Jane Wilan, applies super-hot sauces with oleoresin capsicum in them on the threshold of our front door to deter the large outdoor cockroaches from crawling in under the door. Now we learn that she was ahead of her time. NIT International has released NouGuard, a bio-repellent for ants that is made mostly from capsaicin. It is sprayed around the perimeter of structures to keep the ants outside. Harald Zoschke of Suncoast Peppers reports that two of his customers in Arizona order his extremely hot Liquid Ax hot sauce to prevent woodpeckers from pecking holes in their wooden garages.
Birds enjoy eating pepper pods, but they have an aversion to the highly concentrated oleoresins.
He also says his neighbor puts Liquid Ax on his phone cords to deter their cats from chewing on them. By now everyone probably knows that there are dozens of brands of capsaicin creams on the market to combat the pain of arthritis, as well as shingles, psoriasis, and other skin disorders. Researchers are putting new twists on these medications almost weekly. One complaint about creams is that when applied, they burn the fingers and the user has a good chance of getting some of the cream in his or her eyes. Therefore, it was only natural to find new application techniques.