So will Foxy and Leo, Coon was pooping in our birdbath, one night with Foxy on the porch and bye bye coon. Then coon figured he would break into chicken pen, Leo barked, and Jake got up and shined flashlight in his eyes as Leo barked viciously, no more coon there now either.
I gave up owning any pets after my granddog (my son's dog) died several years ago. He was 'the' best dog ever. He killed anything except birds because I told him not to once when I came across a wounded bird in the backyard. He would leave them alone if they fluttered down to his water dish. He wouldn't drink from it until I put fresh water in it.
Damage report today. I went to retrieve something from the carriage house this afternoon and started picking up small limbs. Something white caught my eye and I walked over to it. OH NO!!! It was a light from the string lights I hung out for holiday decoration. The bulb was still in the socket! SMH. I checked over the lights and 6 were gone, sockets and bulbs. I found only three today the others are probably somewhere else in the backyard. No it's not the squirrels. This is the work of baby cats (raccoons). Luckily the lights left are still working. So from this incident I believe white attracts them. This is not the first time that something white has been disturbed. I painted my black swans white and they were toppled over last year; I had some glass beads in a white bowl and that also was toppled over and the blue beads were all over the yard. My forever plant was in a white flower pot on a stand and all of it was knocked over and the plant in a basket wasn't touched it was on a stand too. SMH.
Oh, it's ready. The downside to dealing with these raccoons is they only come out at night and you never know when that's going to be. The cats are usually with the mother and that's the one I'm looking for. She will move her family if there is a threat of harm to her litter, so I've read.
Night vision? Did you see my post of the decked-out Red Ryder BB gun? Perhaps you could get a night vision scope for yours?
Now Don, do you really want to get on my Pick List with @John Brunner and @Jacob Petersheim? Let's play word association I say 'night' and you say _______.
Too funny Beth. It has been warming up today and in the 40s tonight. I suspect the critters will be roaming tonight.
I did something unusual to see if it would work on keeping the raccoons away. As I've mentioned before I have been working on the basement purging stuff. I found in a bag items I had bought at the flea market last year. In it were two bottles of deer urine given to me free. I didn't think they would be useful because they were not full. Well an idea popped in my head as follows: 3 empty plastic pop bottles with tops and drill. I drilled holes around the bottom of the bottles and poured a good amount of the urine inside and screwed the top on each and strategically placed them along the fence where I've seen the raccoons enter the backyard. The goal is to see if the scent would flow through the holes enough to keep the raccoons away. Having the top secured would keep it from being washed away by the rain although I do expect it to evaporate eventually. So time will tell for my raccoon watches begin.
Raccoons and deer both live together in the wild, so I do not think that a deer urine scent is going to faze the raccoons. If it does work, then you are going to continue to buy more deer urine to keep them out ? If it smells bad, I would think it would make it not as nice for you to be in the back yard, and not bother the raccoons at all.
I wonder if it might not be worth the money to talk to a couple of pest control folks, explain the situation, and see if--for a minimal fee-- they would come over, document the problem with your surrounding properties, and report to the local government to get them to do something. As insiders, at least they could advise you on how such things work and give you ideas on how to prod City Hall on the matter. I forget who owns those properties, but it might be worth researching the online real estate records and sending the owners certified letters. These people have some legal exposure if they introduce rabies or other issues into the neighborhood.