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Racoons and squirrels eating avocados
On 1/21/2017 4:05 PM, Brooklyn1 wrote:
On Sat, 21 Jan 2017 14:43:09 -0500, Frank "frank wrote: On 1/21/2017 12:59 PM, Brooklyn1 wrote: On Sat, 21 Jan 2017 12:15:45 -0500, Don Wiss wrote: On Wed, 18 Jan 2017 19:48:49 -0500, Frank "frank wrote: A large Hav-a-hart will catch practically every thing when baited with peanut butter. I've caught numerous squirrels and a few groundhogs and raccoons but only the smaller raccoons will fit in the trap originally bought for ground hogs. For raccoons it needs to be the real large Havahart. I have one (now on loan so I don't know the model or size) and despite being somewhat large the raccoons were able to trip, but get out. I think the mom would go in with the kits behind. When the door came down the kits kept it from closing and all got out. So be sure the description has large raccoon in it. I used marshmallows. They are cheap. They worked. Laws vary. Around here you can trap and kill but not release but I release anyway. I'm careful with what I trap as rabies is endemic here too. Not much rabies around here. But you have to release far away. Preferably with a river in between. At one time I did successfully eliminate the squirrel population. After some years they figured out how to get the feed from my squirrel proof bird feeder. I tried everything. Then I decided to relocate the knowledge. Now my Brooklyn row house has pretty much enclosed back yards. After many dozens of relocates the block had no more squirrels. And it worked. The next winter the squirrels that moved in didn't even realize that there was food in the feeder. I haven't put the feeder out in years. So I cannot tell what happened next. Don http://foraging.com/ e-mail at page bottom. This works much better than my Have-a-Heart, and the price is right. I've not used it for racoons but it's caught many large possums: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...2254_200622254 My double door Hav-a-hart is 37 inches but these have one door. I think the bigger one may be marginal for large raccoons. Price looks good. I had a home made box trap made from wooden support frame and chicken wire. Door was board on grooved slider and trigger in back of trap would pull nail from slider to make it fall. I had to add a sliding nail to lock the trap shut as critter could otherwise lift door. I could diagram, but not hard to figure out. All I caught was a skunk and was confused on what to do and had to go to work. I had called an exterminator and he wanted $200 to remove at the time (would probably be $500 today). Wife put on rain gear and removed door and skunk got out but she had run and did not get sprayed. The door got lost so I trashed the trap and got the Hav-a-hart now about 40 years old. There are special traps for skunks. I get lots of skunks here but I don't mess with them. They arrive at night to eat the dried cat food I leave for the ferals, I wouldn't care only they turn the entire bowl over and make a mess... the food falls into the holes in the mat and even they can't get to it. http://i66.tinypic.com/2v0ihrd.jpg Joiner and Ebenezer are best buds, they hunt as a team. Heated shelters and water: http://i66.tinypic.com/r6xqvk.jpg Even at well below zero Candy hunts in the snow: http://i63.tinypic.com/21orcex.jpg Ferals as kittens, all born in my barn: http://i68.tinypic.com/syv97b.jpg It's very rare I see a squirrel here. Son used it in his house to get a squirrel trapped in his heatilator type fire place. He removed a panel and squirrel got into baited trap a day later. These critters can cause real damage as another son had the same problem in his town house where squirrel died and it cost him nearly $1,000 to have squirrel removed and damages to fix the wall where they had to break in to access it. The best way to dissuade squirrels is to keep feral cats around. Feral cats are big and strong, twenty pounds of solid muscle and designed to be hunting machines. Cats do no damage to house or garden but they sure make quick work of any rodents. It gets cold here in the northern Catskills in winter so I provide heated shelters and heated water bowls, but the cats more than earn their keep... and they are gorgeous to watch their antics, they love to play in the snow. My son's have cats but when a squirrel gets in from the roof there is nothing you can do other than makes sure things are sealed up. We had cats too but got plenty of mice in parts of the house. I recall cat sitting endlessly at wall as mouse was on the inside of the wall board. I had to drill a hole in the wall and put in poison to get it. Our area is too suburban for feral cats yet enough open, mostly wooded areas full of pesky critters and deer. You can't rid the area of them but you can dissuade them. |
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