Keeping racoons away?

[skynyed]

Ive got a family in the neighborhood that have found my pond & are wrecking havoc every night.
Fish have escaped so far & no tears in the liner that I know of. Plants have taken a beating. Found the ceramic skull (from my old aquarium) out of the water this am. & the intake for the filter sucking air. 33 days old and its fried. :angry:
Anybody have ideas of how I can keep them away?
A friend suggested rags soaked with ammonia placed around the pond.but I'm concerned it might seep into the water & kill my fish

 

[taherrmann4]

The raccoons at my yard like the deer corn I feed the squirrels with, so get a big bag of that and put some out at night it in your neighbors yard. Maybe they will go there and eat instead of your pond, just don't let your neighbors see you. :razz: Install an electric dog fence then capture the little guy and strap the collar on him that might keep him out of your yard.

Now seriously: You could try an electric fence the kind they use for horse pens, a buddy of mine puts one around his garden, he lives in the boonies and says it works pretty well to keep out the raccoons. He has it about 8" off the ground if I remember correctly. Just be careful if you have pets and don't forget to turn it off if you are working out there.

 

[skynyed]

My 1st thought was a electric fence.
Also thought of this http://www.amazon.com/Contech-CRO10...ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1316137074&sr=1-1

 

[taherrmann4]

I think some folks have had some limited success with that. You are also in the colder climates and not sure you will be able to use it when it gets below freezing but then again are raccoon active in the winter?

 

[skynyed]

Yea I've seen coons in the snow before. I just have a small 100gal.backyard pond right now with 10 goldfish.When it gets cold I'm going to bring them into the school I work at for the winter.
In the spring I plan on digging a bigger one and hopefully keep fish in there 365

 

[addy1]

When you do go deep, we have raccoons, they have not bothered our pond or plants at all, to do so they would need to swim.

 

[skynyed]

I tried the rags last night Found 1 behind the shed and another covered with ants? Skull was moved again but all the little ones are all accounted for. Think I'll look for some Halloween type motion activated noise maker. Maybe that'll work

 

[sissy]

ok tmann are you torturing your neighbors .I saw that suggestion and glad you are not my neighbor .Hey those halloween decorations would scare people too (hint hint tmann )You get them clearanced out even better

 

[taherrmann4]

Have you tried leaving a radio on, that may work too. My raccoons are pretty friendly and aren't scared of much.

 

[sissy]

We can see they love you tmann by the way they look at you with loving eyes .They seem to like it when you take there pics .

 

[rdk]

If you have a small pond you could cover it with a plastic covered steel chain link fence painted black. I have done this, and no more racoons. RDK

 

[j.w]

They don't like walking on boards w/ little staples sticking up out of it cuz it worked around one of my Taro pots on the deck. Never came near it again....................ouch!!!

 

[skynyed]

Lady at the fish store swears I should I should get the hair from a dog grooming place,dig a shallow trench around the pond & bury the hair.
Says if it smells like a pack of dogs the coons will leave.

 

[sissy]

The raccoons at my yard like the deer corn I feed the squirrels with, so get a big bag of that and put some out at night it in your neighbors yard. Maybe they will go there and eat instead of your pond, just don't let your neighbors see you. :razz: Install an electric dog fence then capture the little guy and strap the collar on him that might keep him out of your yard.

Now seriously: You could try an electric fence the kind they use for horse pens, a buddy of mine puts one around his garden, he lives in the boonies and says it works pretty well to keep out the raccoons. He has it about 8" off the ground if I remember correctly. Just be careful if you have pets and don't forget to turn it off if you are working out there.

nice tmann LOL are you doing that with yours