Gutter cleaning. We got a couple of wheelbarrow loads of compost out of it: gutter-guard keeps the big stuff out, and the chaff composts really nicely. Darn the luck.
I meanwhile hauled out the garbage, the recyclables, and the yard clippings, and clipped the roses back pretty severely, piling mulch over them. We’re due for a 20 degree night.
OSG told us a pond near Joan lost its koi to a raccoon. We’re going after some repellant. But I think one may already have tried and failed with our guys. A koi site says that a raccoon will not swim after fish, because it can’t catch them that way, but will stand on the bank and try to claw one to it. Well, our bank is a little steep, it is rocky, and the koi in cold weather prefer to be down deep, under, moreover, the hyacinth-ring (a floating ring that keeps water hyacinth out of the filter. We came out to find a plant ripped out, near the shore, and one hyacinth very improbably floating on its own where the plant had been—and we’re a little suspicious a night-raiding raccoon may have taken an unplanned bath. We still have all our koi. But we are taking no chances, and are getting the repellant.
It sounds like a raccoon, all right — no question in my mind. I’m glad Joan sounded the alarm. I was hoping your place was “urban” and heavily trafficked enough to act as a deterrent, unlike Joan’s home, with the undeveloped slope & quiet street. Unfortunately, I think I’m wrong.
Wait, there’s such a thing as raccoon repellant? Does it work on squirrels? (I’m reaching, I know, but I don’t want to poison the little blighters; I just want them to go away.)
Yes, from Havaheart (google same) and it is basically hot pepper. It won’t hurt them, but they won’t like it.
I would be worried about rain washing the repellent into the pond.
The garden path encircles the pond, and the pond-edge is a berm, plus the poly liner prevents seepage. If we simply sprinkle it carefully onto the path, there is no unprotected approach to the pond. But thank you for thinking of that.
Also, I think I heard something about chili peppers only working on mammals. Not fish.
We use Mountain Lion Pee to keep raccoons away.
You have a tame mountain lion? Seriously, where do you get it?
you could always do what beekeepers do to keep raccoons and skunks from the hives, use those tack strips for upholstery or even for carpet. Put them around the outside of the pond, the little paws step on those tacks and don’t want to come back. Actually, beekeepers put them across the bottom board in front of the hive entrance. When the animal puts its forepaws on the board to attract the attention of the bees, it encounters those tacks, which don’t hurt them so much as irritate them. The alternative is to string an electric fence around the place, and I would just as soon not do that, especially around water, and besides, I’ve been zapped by one of those once. It was supposedly deactivated, since it wasn’t on anyone’s property, or so I thought.
BTW, better Jane be ON the roof than through it, either ascending or descending.
My mom and aunt both get mail order plant catalogs. I believe you can get bobcat,coyote,wolf and Lion urine to deter the other critters. I’ve always wonder if the Urine will attract another lion tho. lol.
if it’s male, probably not. If it’s female urine taken during estrus, it’ll draw every male within sniffing distance. We had a nuisance problem with a young man who would drive his Cadillac Coupe de Ville around our neighborhood. He had a set of very large floor speakers in the trunk, and he’d drive around with the trunk lid up and the stereo blasting. He’d sit at the corner just off our block and turn it up just to incite the neighborhood. One of my friends suggested I go to the hunter’s supply store and get fox urine. That’s taken from vixens in estrus, it comes in a squeeze bottle, and if applied under the weatherstripping on the outside of his car windows, would drive every male dog in the neighborhood crazy and they’d be watering his tires endlessly. I didn’t do it, but oh was I tempted. We got him to stop finally, but it took a while.
The predator urine works.Remember to apply it after hard rain or snow.I liked the tacky strip idea also.I have three English mastiffs that keep the varmints away from the house.
Lots of good ideas. A combination of tacky strip, predatory urine, and moth balls should do it!
Is there any chance the raccoon would go for them after the pond freezes, possibly by digging at the ice or waiting by the hole? Will the koi swim at all this winter, or just stay huddled in the deep end by the heater?
BTW, it is a marvel at how big they have gotten since July!! My little Ari isn’t so little any more.
The koi don’t go near the edge: by day, they come to center, where the sun reaches, and sunbathe, but don’t move much, or show interest in food; by night, they’re down in the deep water where the heater is. They stay under the water-hyacinths, but those are doomed with the cold weather.
As I understand it, raccoons do their fishing from the edge, and since our edge is beveled off shallow, the koi don’t tend to go there except during the day in the warm season, when they’re eating algae.
I am worried about the demise of the hyacinths: I’m thinking of putting the sunshield float (a 6′ ring-float of black sunscreen netting) into the pond: it’s black, will actually collect solar heat, and will give them similar cover.
Be aware that mothballs with naphthalene are poisonous to cats, dogs, and I assume raccoons if they eat them. Just something to think about, especially if the neighbors have free-roaming cats.
When I was young, we had problems with raccoons getting into the trash. We decided one night to leave the cat out to scare it away (19 lb tomcat that would take on German Shepherds from time to time…). However, at 2AM we were awoken again by the sound of the can going over. We went to the back door and flipped on the light and saw: The raccoon AND the cat. Side by side pawing through the trash, turned around as if to say “What are *you* looking at?” A smarter cat than we took him for, evidently…
😆
[quote]Gutter cleaning. We got a couple of wheelbarrow loads of compost out of it:[/quote]
How did you get the wheelbarrow on the roof ?
🙂 Wheelbarrow on the ground under the eaves: Jane on the ladder, dropping crud into it.
It makes pretty good compost. 😉
Ah, raccoons: the bane of my water garden’s existence! The critters are actually far more prevalent in urban areas than suburban and esp. rural. They like people — and their trash, and their fish and their….
You can get predator urines at many on-line garden catalog sites: I believe Pinetree Gardens (in Maine, however, so higher shipping costs) has it.
Don’t use moth balls: they poison the soil, not to mention the risk of the stuff getting into the water even if unlikely.
Tack strips, there’s an idea! I’m been mulling for years the idea of having a few hives, and I will add that to the mulling arsenal of thoughts.
Pull your water hyacinths out before the frost does them in, they blacken and start rotting into your pond. Decomposing plant material (as you know) is not good for the health of the water or your fish. Since I have a small pond, I empty it each spring, remove all the dead leaves that fell in and let rainwater fill it up again (with maybe an assist by our garden hose: Boston area water is treated with ozone, not chlorine).
I have to get the fishtank up and running this weekend and the bacteria established in the filter and gravel so that I can bring our 3 goldfish in to the house in a few weeks. So far, they have survived the raccoons and that is the criteria for over-wintering inside.
As Raesean said I don’t think there is anywhere with anything green which is too urban for raccoons! We acquired a small formal pond with 11 adult goldfish in it when we bought our house. The local raccoons regularly try to eat the fish, but so far the fish have been too wary for them. The pond has high brick sides, so the raccoons can’t paddle in it, and the water is deep enough that the fish can get below their reach. For proverbially stupid fish goldfish can be quite canny! My guess is that as your pond is large and deep in the middle your koi should be able to avoid the raccoons. The only problem will be if they associate every disturbance with food and come to investigate, or decide to take up moon bathing in the shallows… 🙂
After a particularly snowy winter I was complaining to a NYC friend about the deer being so aggressive that they knocked over and ate my dwarf apple trees. She asked, very innocently, “Couldn’t you get one of those invisible fences to keep them out?” Visions of enticing Bambi wear and electronic collar………….!
you could always get a live trap. There is probably a critter control company in your area that can remove the coons and relocate them far away.
If the mothballs are paradichlorobenzene, you might have a point about them poisoning the soil. Naphthalene sublimates from solid to a gas, so shouldn’t be a problem with groundwater. Of course, I COULD be wrong. I thought I was wrong once, but I was sadly mistaken. 😀
Raccoons? Nothing a couple of Kutathi burrowers couldn’t take care of…
Lol!
A couple weeks ago I awoke to what sounded like a young stray cat crying in the yard. It being early morning, I was lazing about debating about whether this was something worth going to look at, given that there are some people in the neighborhood with free-roaming cats. It didn’t sound distressed… more that “please let me in” cry. Just when I was about to get up and go see if this was indeed a lost cat, mama raccoon and baby come walking down the wall. I thought it was a bit odd that she only had the one baby, and sure enough, about a minute later along comes another baby coon, making the mewing sound. Never realized how much they sound like cats.
Well, apparently they thrive on catfood, so I am not overly surprised they sound like cats, too…
In some place, my hometown for one, it is illegal to relocate the animal once you’ve trapped it. this is mainly for raccoons, since they are very likely rabid, and the animal control people don’t want it spread.