Since the readers here have been so helpful with advice, I wondered whether anyone has any experience with keeping raccoons away from fish ponds. Coco seems to have been sleeping on the job, and a raccoon ran amok recently.
I know you can cover the whole pond with half inch hardware cloth, but that kind of defeats the look. I have heard of no effective raccoon repellents, and I am leaning towards maybe installing an electric fence.
A guy at the aquarium store mentioned setting off firecrackers, but that would require stalking the coons and catching them in the act. Doubtless there are also electronic repellent devices. And traps….
Ideas, anyone?
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19 responses to “Save my fish!”
It’s time to go all Carl Spackler on those thieving rats.
To drive off raccoons, Try this
http://www.amazon.com/Contech-Electronics-CRO101-Scarecrow-Motion-Activated/dp/B000071NUS/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1310600896&sr=1-1
That’s what .22 rifles are for.
Alternatively, put out poisoned bait.
If you are feeling humane, get a Havaheart type box trap. Once you’ve trapped the raccoon, drown it in the pond.
Piranhas!
Or little bitty land mines. Nitrogen triiodide?
Or give the fish frickin’ lasers.
I actually put a little (homemade) electric fence around a fish pond once. Ended up trapping a squirrel that somehow fell in, but it did keep the raccoons out.
Coal ash? Good for the grass, frightening to most animals.
Or give the fish frickin’ lasers.
Though I prefer eric wilner’s idea.
Have Simon design a transmitted energy powered fricken laser, that you can put on your fishes fricken heads.
Drawback, they might turn on you and try to rebel.
It can even be powered by polywell fusion.
Being a former APBT servant, I heard that you must protect your PB from 3 things. Bears, Mountain Lions, and, Racoons. I don’t know why racoons, I just follow instructions.
Sorry (Raccoon), maybe get a house cat to chase the coon off.
trap + .22LR = no more racoon
We’ve found 12 (hubby) or 20 (me) gauge shotguns most effective. However, if that is frowned upon in your neighborhood, live traps baited with oreo cookies or other sweet treats work well too. Usually, the animal control officers from your town will pick them up once you have caught them. FYI we speak from experience. We have dispatched over 43 Coonies in our 15 years of rural living.
Visa vie house cat vs. coonie. Don’t go there. We’ve had coons put holes in full grown hunting dogs. They are very, very mean and DO NOT reach your hand toward them if you live trap them, use some sort of mitt so they can’t tear you up if you must pick up the trap.
[…] looming “Carmageddon” this weekend (which I will try to avoid), and at home my fish are under attack. (In that regard, a helpful reader steered me towards a motion-activated sprinkler — which I […]
Tabasco or chili pepper flakes.
“Tabasco or chili pepper flakes.”
Doesn’t that work best after the racoons have been field-dressed?
Although I prefer cilantro — or maybe rosemary and thyme instead.
It might just be my perception, but it seems like, around here anyway, that raccoon road kill is the one critter I never see turkey vultures picking clean.
Skunk, possum, deer, even other birds, will have turkey vultures circling within hours, but a raccoon carcass will sit there for days and weeks.
GAMO USA makes a nearly silent .177 caliber air rifle that will dispatch urban pests. It’ll only set you back three bills.
I’ve “recycled” dozens of the creatures over the last eight years. The very best bait is marshmallows and dog kibble melted together. You can use it with a box trap, or coon cuffs.
Oh, by the way, a raccoon can figure out an electric fence in about two minutes.