Raccoon rampage!

[Dan From Smithville]

I have been meaning to post this for some time, but given what my friend @Truthseeker9 asked me today, now is good as a time as any. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Around my house anything is possible!

Besides eating me out of house and home they are scaring my squirrels away and knocking down the bird-feeders. I spend more money on dog food to feed the raccoons than I spend on people food or even cat food. But If I don't feed them they reap havoc. Right about now about ten raccoons are lounging on the back deck. Only when they are lounging can I feed the squirrels bird food on the front deck without the raccoons pilfering their bird seed.

I just love squirrels. We have gray squirrels and brown squirrels (smaller). We also see chipmunks on occasion. They are the cutest animals. We have so many trees now and the squirrels climb all over the trees and hop from branch to branch.

Sometimes as many as 20 raccoons show up on the back deck all at once. It is really scary. Needless to say I cannot let the cats out in the yard anymore even though there is still a fence there because it is too dangerous since the raccoons can climb trees and get into the fenced area.

Sure, the raccoons look really innocent sitting up in the trees, innocent till proven guilty of numerous crimes!

They are edible. If that doesn't appeal to you, then tough love is a good choice. Stop the feeding. If there is nothing to eat, then they will move on eventually. When they are moved on, then you can slowly resume feeding the other animals that you do want around.

An alternative might be to hire a pest controller to capture them and relocate them.

Sometimes rubber snakes or plastic owls will help, but those will scare off the other animals too while they are up.

 

[Trailblazer]

Your garden sounds more like a Zoo than a family home. And maybe you would benefit from letting people come here to see the animals? Maybe you could have a tiny fee so the food you have to buy will be more or less paid by others who come to look at animals

In one sense you doing good for the animals and that is a good virtue, but it has gotten out of control. and that is when you would need some form of help to control it I think.

It is not really a zoo, it is a wildlife refuge. It was never a family home and it is on about an acre in the county with larger acreages on each side. Many years ago, before my husband retired he used to mow the yard but since then he decided he would do more yard work so we just allowed it to grow wild. Not only grass grew but so did trees and bushes, so we are basically in a forest. If we ever sell the place people can do what they want with it but I see no point trying to landscape it just for us since we never go outside or use the yard and we never have guests.

For now, I am going to play it by ear and see what happens, feeding the raccoons less. They are starting to get the point that they won't get food every time they stare through the sliding door glass.

 

[Trailblazer]

Fortunately we're raccoon free here but I did have one decide to come and die in the yard of a house I was staying at in California years ago. The neighbour called the county who came and got it, apparently they can carry rabies. Stupid me was poking it with a stick to see if it was really dead.

That is really sad. I cannot even stand to see possums or raccoons or squirrels run over in the road, I am sad for days after I see one hit. No two ways about it, I am an animal lover.

 

[Trailblazer]

I'd stay right in the neighborhood, with the free food; maybe put up a hammock on your porch.

That sounds more like one of my tenants who never pays the rent than the raccoons. He thinks he can live rent free.... The raccoons don't know any better because they are just operating on instincts whereas the tenant knows better.

 

[Trailblazer]

They are edible. If that doesn't appeal to you, then tough love is a good choice. Stop the feeding. If there is nothing to eat, then they will move on eventually. When they are moved on, then you can slowly resume feeding the other animals that you do want around.

Raccoons are a protected species so homeowners are not allowed to kill them in this state.

You are more optimistic than I am... The problem is there is no place where they can move except adjacent properties and I know those people won't feed them, and they might kill them.

An alternative might be to hire a pest controller to capture them and relocate them.

I would be happy to pay for that but in this state the state law says the trappers cannot relocate them. After they trap them they have to euthanize them, and I won't have that. I'd rather stop feeding them.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Raccoons are a protected species so homeowners are not allowed to kill them in this state.

You are more optimistic than I am... The problem is there is no place where they can move except adjacent properties and I know those people won't feed them, and they might kill them.

I would be happy to pay for that but in this state the state law says the trappers cannot relocate them. After they trap them they have to euthanize them, and I won't have that. I'd rather stop feeding them.

There is still the plastic owl or rubber snakes combined with cessation of feeding. That might work and would not harm the raccoons.

 

[John53]

That is really sad. I cannot even stand to see possums or raccoons or squirrels run over in the road, I am sad for days after I see one hit. No two ways about it, I am an animal lover.

Kangaroos get skittled a lot here and possums, mostly on a full moon for some reason. My neighbour hit a roo a few days ago, wrote off his wifes car and he said the roo hopped away. I don't like seeing them hit either and still feel guilty over a possum I hit many years ago.

 

[Heyo]

I never thought of that. If I thought it would keep them away I would do it in a heartbeat. It would sure be a lot cheaper to feed one dog than all these racks, but since we have cats it would have to be an outdoor-only dog.

Get a dog who is used to cats. Or let your cats handle the problem. Feed them outside in the same area where the racoons are.

 

[Valjean]

There is still the plastic owl or rubber snakes combined with cessation of feeding. That might work and would not harm the raccoons.

A ten or fifteen kilo raccoon isn't going to worry about owls, and snakes sound like a tasty snack.

 

[Valjean]

Get a dog who is used to cats. Or let your cats handle the problem. Feed them outside in the same area where the racoons are.

But cats and 'coons usually get along fine.

 

[pearl]

That is really sad. I cannot even stand to see possums or raccoons or squirrels run over in the road, I am sad for days after I see one hit. No two ways about it, I am an animal lover.

Especially as they're in their own habitat. But its quite another thing when the squirrels move into your attic. They become very destructive and difficult to get rid of in a humane way. They chewed their way in under the eves, produces their babies. Someone suggested spreading mothballs around. That night it sounded like a bowling alley, didn't phase them a bit. Had a fellow come and fix behind the eves, but asked him to wait a few minutes before finishing it. I let our French Poodle up in the attic to chase them out, poor fellow almost fell off the ladder as they ran past him. But it was the end of the battle with the squirrels. I do give them their own peanut feeder.

 

[Heyo]

But cats and 'coons usually get along fine.

... until you get between a cat and her breakfast.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

A ten or fifteen kilo raccoon isn't going to worry about owls, and snakes sound like a tasty snack.

Possibly, but it is a simple, inexpensive experiment.

Maybe a stuffed wolf would be better.

Perhaps an airhorn. Instead of food, a very loud and disturbing noise is offered.

Since laws and humane treatment are a condition, I am just trying to come up with solutions that fit those parameters and might work.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

A ten or fifteen kilo raccoon isn't going to worry about owls, and snakes sound like a tasty snack.

The raccoons must be huge where you live.

What would get you to leave a porch where you were getting fed regularly? I'm only a bunny, an owl would work on me.

 

[Valjean]

The raccoons must be huge where you live.

What would get you to leave a porch where you were getting fed regularly? I'm only a bunny, an owl would work on me.

I have a feeder for the neighborhood stray cats in my back yard. Day shift is cats, a few birds and the occasional rock squirrel.
Night shift is mostly raccoons and a few feral cats.

Yes the raccoons do get pretty big, what with the free cat food and all, and with their Winter coats they look twice as big. They're also bold. Little short of a vicious pit bull will scare them off. I can get within a meter or two of most of them, and they just stare at me.

 

[Stevicus]

 

[Trailblazer]

But cats and 'coons usually get along fine.

That depends upon how wild the raccoons are and how wild the cats are.

 

[Trailblazer]

I have a feeder for the neighborhood stray cats in my back yard. Day shift is cats, a few birds and the occasional rock squirrel.
Night shift is mostly raccoons and a few feral cats.

Right now I have the raccoons eating on the back deck and the squirrels eating on the front deck.... let's see how long that lasts, probably only as long as the dog food lasts on the back deck.
After a while the coons will come and start eating the bird food and knock the bowls down and sometimes I have to fish them out from under the deck where they take them.

 

[Trailblazer]

Especially as they're in their own habitat. But its quite another thing when the squirrels move into your attic. They become very destructive and difficult to get rid of in a humane way. They chewed their way in under the eves, produces their babies. Someone suggested spreading mothballs around. That night it sounded like a bowling alley, didn't phase them a bit. Had a fellow come and fix behind the eves, but asked him to wait a few minutes before finishing it. I let our French Poodle up in the attic to chase them out, poor fellow almost fell off the ladder as they ran past him. But it was the end of the battle with the squirrels. I do give them their own peanut feeder.

The squirrels are probably up there right now, either that or it is rodents. I cannot afford to care anymore lest I lose my mind. Other things are always much more pressing.
The rodents get in the garage so we cannot store any cat food, dog food or bird food in there so we have it lining the hallways or leave it in the car till we need it.

I gave up a long time ago... It's a takeover!

 

[Stevicus]

Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.