And then you have lugnuts laying around in your back yard. So the next time your lawn is mowed, they will be flying thru the air from the lawnmower’s chute. Or tearing holes in the clippings bag. Or damaging the mower itself.
Yeah, her landlord would really appreciate those problems!
Don’t do this.
I agree with another poster the racoon/rabies vector is entirely regional. Here in Seattle, all of the 'coons have gone metro, they are as common as pigeons, and we all just get along fine. Calling animal control about a racoon sighting is like calling calling in a salmon sighting in a river, and will only be met with indifference unless the 'coon is actively foaming at the mouth at high noon and chasing neighborhood kids. But that holds true for all of the other neighborhood critters that we have.
Now some Seattle 'coon tales from Grampa Gargoyle…
Once in college I was stumbling home from a dorm party, blurry drunk. I stopped on a dark path to pet a kitty that was hanging out. Nice kitty, I thought, as I bent to scratch its ears. What a cute ringed tail. My, you’re a big kitty. Then my synapses caught up to my vision, and lo and behold, 'twas no kitty, 'twas a 'coon! It seemed to like the attention though, so I gave it one more scratch, and then stumbled home.
Another time years later, we had a racoon discover our koi pond once, and ate three of them (big ones also) before we noticed. We covered the pond with heavy gauge fencing wire and staked it down with tent spikes, but the bastard uprooted all of the stakes, slipped in, and ate the rest.
Another tale…we had this one 'coon out in Ballard, “Old Stumpy” the neighborhood named him, on account of he only had 3 legs after getting in a scrap with a neighbor doberman. That dobie, and all of the other dogs around, left Stump alone after that. Well, Old Stumpy was a regular for years, hanging out on the sidewalk and raiding cans in the early morning hours, fattening up on old Dick’s Deluxe wrappers and Lutefisk scraps. Then one summer, I saw Old Stumpy waddling his well-fed rump down the street, with a litter of five 'coon pups trailing behind. Stump’s bachelor days were over, I swear he stopped, turned, gave me a wink and a grin, and with a flick of his tail he and the pups were gone into the hedges.
That was the last I ever saw of Old Stumpy. I assume he’d passed on to wherever old 'coons rummage. His pups are grown now, and still wander the neighborhood to this day.
So that’s why he started drinking. (Sorry. Anyone in AA will know what I’m talking about).
We inherited a cat who refuses to live inside, so we feed him in our garage, otherwise known as the Neigborhood Racoon Buffet. We try to leave just enough for the cat, but as others have pointed out, those racoons are wily critters. I can tell when they’ve been in the garage because the cat’s water is dirty from the little darlings washing the cat food in it.
Here in South Texas, racoons are pretty common, and I have them out here in the 'burbs along with fox, possum, skunks, etc. Most of the time everybody gets along fairly well and there are no major problems.
The only critters I have any problems with is racoons. I had two small dogs that (bless their little hearts) thought they were big bad wolves and were very territorial. If a racoon came near the house when they were out, they would go after it, but I knew the racoon was much stronger and dangerous than my little dogs. He could easily have seriously hurt them or killed them. I also had part of my patio roof collapse and the racoon would get into the attic of my house.
I could have gotten away with shooting the racoon, but didn’t really want to kill it for only doing what racoons are going to do. I bought a safe live wire trap, set it out where I saw plenty of tracks in the soil, and baited it with marshmallows. After a night or two, I would wake up to find a racoon sullenly waiting in the trap.
I have done this four times in the last two years. One coon was a little miffed and hissed at me when I picked up the trap, but was otherwise cool. I put the trap in the trunk of the car, drove out in the country away from the main roads and housing developements, and turned them loose. Setting the trap on the ground a few feet from some brush, and opening the trap door with a long wire, the racoon would make a break for the bush and disappear without mishap.
One thing if you set out one of these traps. Racoons are strong and can easily flip the trap over, which may allow them to open the trap door. I ran two broomhandles through the mesh to keep the coon from rolling the trap over. Each time the coon would chew through the handles and try flipping the cage anyway. I finally nailed the cage down to a eight foot piece of 2x6 and they were never able to flip or roll the cage after that.
We had a major raccoon problem here in the big city. They’re very resourceful at unlocking whatever sort of home-made trash can protection you set up.
However, I bought some of these special “Raccoon Check” straps:
http://homeandgarden.canoe.ca/Homes/2005/07/04/1116754.html
and it’s amazing how well they work. The raccoons will still come by - for now, until they get bored of this - and knock over the cans but they can’t get them open.
If you use bungees to hold the lids on your garbage cans, stretch them very tight. Raccoons have very nimble fingers and they can definitely figure out how to remove a bungee. They’re not as strong as a human, though, so if it’s tight enough it’ll stay on.
You may think you have one raccoon, but that’s unlikely. A neighbor of mine where I used to live had a raccoon causing trouble, so he set up a live trap. He caught the critter, and set the trap up again “just in case.” He ended up catching eleven of them in the space of a month and a half.
Hey, I like the ammonia idea. I’ll buy some tomorrow.
Or, for those of us not willing to sit outside all night with a water pistol, may I suggest an automatic version?
Even if raccoons are not a rabies risk in your area, I should think if a raccoon is “menacing” you and your property, your landlord or local animal control should be required to take care of it. It is usually illegal for you to put down poison in the open where other animals may come into contact with it.
An electric fence can be very effective!
Be careful with racoons. It could end up like this .
Oh wow. After the tip in this thread, I bought a bottle of ammonia and poured a tiny bit into the trash bin. I just saw the raccoon approach the bin, nudge it, then back away look disgusted and confused. Then it waddled off to the neighbor’s house.
There were some tasty tidbits in the bin, too. The ammonia seems to work!
Good, good, good! If you found a non-harmful method of driving them away, then I am happy (I couldn’t advise you on that, because we didn’t drive them away). 'Coons are cool animals, so I’m glad you found a solution that didn’t involve harming them.
Neat! I popped into the thread to suggest perhaps lacing the trash with large amounts of hot pepper but I imagine ammonia would be more cost effective.
Regarding the bird feeder - if you (or the landlord) ever replace the one that the critters stole, you can get hot-pepper-laced birdseed, or add hot peppers to it yourself. We stumbled across that hint recently when we got sick of the squirrels emptying the suet feeder within 48 hours. Apparently birds can’t taste the capsaicin but mammals can - so one bite and they learn it’s nasty. We got suet laced with hot peppers and now we’re feeding the birds instead of the squirrels. Hopefully this would work for raccoons also.
Well in that case…how you doin’?
I didn’t know how universally this was true, but I knew it was somewhat true: a friend of mine used to raise parrots, and one of their favorite foods was dried hot chili peppers. The seeds would pass through their digestive tract unscathed, and thus be more widely distributed (in the wild, that is). I didn’t realise this was true of birds in general, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
More importantly, is Sattua a she-COON, 'cause I have some experience sleeping with one of those (they always insist on licking the inside of your ear before they go to sleep, for some reason. Otherwise, they’re snuggly and soft, just like human females…so, there’s that, anyway…)
This sounds wrong, doesn’t it?