In another thread I think I mentioned a stubby tailed raccoon coming to the
squirrel feeder after dark. Well he brought a long tailed friend. I had to
chase them off twice, tossing the broom at them the 2nd time. This started
at 8pm, 10pm long-tail was back. Next night they waited till 2am, but my
son was up and scared them off. Hot wire my squirrel feeders? Usually there
isn't much in the feeders by evening... but apparently enough for them to
come check them out. I keep seeing raccoon road kill close by but these 2
seem to be too smart apparently. Hmmm....... ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

~ jan wrote:
[ . . . ] I keep seeing raccoon road kill close by []

Most road kills are critically injured and suffer a slow, painful death.
When I lived in the country, I carried a tire iron in the passenger
compartment of my car. If I came upon a mortally injured animal on the
road, I would perform an act of mercy. sigh

--
Nick, KI6VAV. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their
families! I support them at https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/
Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops.
You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 01:20:07 EST, Nick Cramer wrote:

Most road kills are critically injured and suffer a slow, painful death.
When I lived in the country, I carried a tire iron in the passenger
compartment of my car. If I came upon a mortally injured animal on the
road, I would perform an act of mercy. sigh

Not that I wish that upon them.... thankfully each one I've seen has been
DOA (my Arrival). And to be honest.... if it wasn't for eating my fish last
year I'd probably think it was cool to have them on the deck. I've watched
enough AP though to not encourage it. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

jan,

Sorry to hear about your raccoons. Once they discover a reliable food supply
they will continue to return unless...........

I have a Wild Bills Electric Squirrel Free Bird Feeder that's been most
effective in keeping the squirrels and raccoons off of it. It uses a 9 volt
battery that delivers a "corrective shock" that will keep both at bay until
the battery runs down. (I've never figured out how they know there's dead
battery but they do.) I also have another smaller tube feeder that's
surrounded by a cage. It keeps the squirrels out of it but the raccoons will
rip it from it's hanger and eat the seeds when it falls to the ground.

I have a neighbor a 1/2 mile or so away that traps his raccoons and carries
them off and then releases them. He told me last fall that he'd trapped and
released 19 raccoons. This doesn't seem to be very effective if he's keeping
this busy doing this. I have a great respect for raccoons as I was once at
the veterinary clinic when a lab owner brought in their dog that had been in
a fight with a raccoon. The raccoon won and the vet wasn't sure if the dog
would live. We have a "ferocious" wire fox terrier that attacks any
intruder - raccoon, squirrel, opossum, etc. The squirrels seem to relish the
chase, the opossums roll over and play dead and the dog loses interest and
the raccoons usually hightail it up the tree and then come back later.
However, there are times when the raccoon can not get away fast enough and
will turn and fight.

You probably don't want to hear my raccoon solution.

JB

"~ jan" wrote in message
...
In another thread I think I mentioned a stubby tailed raccoon coming to
the
squirrel feeder after dark. Well he brought a long tailed friend. I had to
chase them off twice, tossing the broom at them the 2nd time. This started
at 8pm, 10pm long-tail was back. Next night they waited till 2am, but my
son was up and scared them off. Hot wire my squirrel feeders? Usually
there
isn't much in the feeders by evening... but apparently enough for them to
come check them out. I keep seeing raccoon road kill close by but these 2
seem to be too smart apparently. Hmmm....... ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:52:55 EST, "JB" wrote:

Sorry to hear about your raccoons. Once they discover a reliable food supply
they will continue to return unless...........

It's not too terribly awful, in fact we're kind of having fun chasing them
off, as my son and I run to the slider when we hear them. ;-)

I have a Wild Bills Electric Squirrel Free Bird Feeder

Now this sounds interesting, I'll have to google it. I've seen the feeder
in a cage and like that too. So far the raccoons haven't manage to remove
the feeders from the hooks we have them on. I have an upside down finch
feeder and a squirrel proof feeder that shuts the opening if too much
weight is put upon it, using springs. That works pretty good, but sometimes
sticks shut so even the birds can't use it till I unstick it. Since the
squirrels have their own feeders they don't mess with the others that much.

I have a neighbor a 1/2 mile or so away that traps his raccoons and carries
them off

Not legal here. We can trap them, but not carry them off, thus something
lethal has be to done. I'd rather out smart them.

You probably don't want to hear my raccoon solution.

LOL! Probably also illegal here. Though I did run this story on my local
e-mail ponding list about this lady and her raccoon problems. It was well
written and amusing... at first, but I didn't read it all the way thru when
I sent it out in 3 installments. Unfortunately in Part 3 she had decided to
trap them and when she actually caught them, she didn't know what to do....
so she toss them trap and all into her pond!!!! Then she suffered guilt and
remorse. I felt I still needed to send Part 3 out as I felt it had a good
message. That being, if you decide to do something permanent be prepared
for the feelings you might have after the fact. Needless to say I had 2
complaints about that story where they wanted to be dropped from the list.
After I explained my predicament and that from now on I'd read a story all
the way thru before starting to send it out, they decided to stay.

I know myself, after the skunk in the (empty) filter and thinking if I
filled it with water it could swim out didn't work. I could never
intentionally hurt anything. Now if it was attacking my dog, cat or child,
that would probably be another story..... ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

~ jan wrote:
[ . . . ]
LOL! Probably also illegal here. Though I did run this story on my local
e-mail ponding list about this lady and her raccoon problems. It was well
written and amusing... at first, but I didn't read it all the way thru
when I sent it out in 3 installments. Unfortunately in Part 3 she had
decided to trap them and when she actually caught them, she didn't know
what to do.... so she toss them trap and all into her pond!!!! [ . . . ]

sigh Drowning must be a horrible way to die. My philosophy has always
been that a killing should be quick, painless and unanticipated. I have few
regrets in that regard. I have put a koi in a large bag of water in my
freezer. I'd like to think that it died peacefully. another sigh

--
Nick, KI6VAV. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their
families! I support them at https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/
Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops.
You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

"~ jan" wrote in message
...
In another thread I think I mentioned a stubby tailed raccoon coming to

the
squirrel feeder after dark. Well he brought a long tailed friend. I had
to
chase them off twice, tossing the broom at them the 2nd time. This star
ted
at 8pm, 10pm long-tail was back. Next night they waited till 2am, but m
y
son was up and scared them off. Hot wire my squirrel feeders? Usually
there
isn't much in the feeders by evening... but apparently enough for them
to
come check them out. I keep seeing raccoon road kill close by but these
2
seem to be too smart apparently. Hmmm....... ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us
==================================
You can try bringing them in at sundown. Put them back out in the morning
..
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

After reading your post, I'm glad my pond is iced over. Between that
and the snow cover it's enough to have to check that the airstone is
still working. No worries about raccoons here. The newspaper had a
photo of a blue heron in a local creek last week - I thought they'd be
long gone.
Bonnie
NJ

On Mon, 2 Feb 2009 19:37:20 EST, Bonnie NJ wrote:

After reading your post, I'm glad my pond is iced over. Between that
and the snow cover it's enough to have to check that the airstone is
still working. No worries about raccoons here. The newspaper had a
photo of a blue heron in a local creek last week - I thought they'd be
long gone.
Bonnie
NJ

Between the screens & hot wire, I'm not having pond worries. Haven't seen
or heard the raccoons is many a night now. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us