Racoon deterant

Err..

Shouldn't

Should be "give the damn animal food for thought", or "give it food for thought".. your choice.

Get an electric fence charger and put a couple of rows of wire such that the raccoons will have to pass over/under the wires to reach the bags. A friend's parents did this to protect their flower bed from the neighbor's dog. He lifted his leg over the flowers on the night the electric fence wire was installed - and went howling away, never to enter their yard again ;-)

I think a solution that does no permanent damage to the animal could be called humane - certainly more considerate than a shotgun ;-)

More about me:

Food for thought? Kill them and eat them.

If you have a zoo nearby, I recall reading somewhere that one sold mountain lion urine as a good deterrent . Sounds strange but animals are very much into marking their territory and recognizing their predators. Or you might call local animal control/agriculture dept. for additional suggestions. I'm sure your problem is not uncommon. Or you might work on how they are getting in.

Bill

DS wrote: : Alright, I'm at wits end. I just found the garage side door open, went in to : find garbage all over the floor-- seems the buggers broke in somehow. I've : tried animal control, the animals find their way back. I've tried deterrants : such as cayenne pepper on the garbage bags, they learn to avoid it (and as : soon as I don't put it on, they're back to ripping apart the garbage bags). : I've tried containers, they somehow manage to open them.

: Now I don't want to start a flaming war or "us taking over their habitat" : argument here or anything, but I have had enough of the damn racoons and : want them to leave the trash alone. The final solution I can think of is to : charge a 100 microfarad capacitor to 300 volts with a camera flash charger : and hook it up to strips of copper thread sewn into a garbage bag. Shouldn't : kill the animal but will definately give the damn it food for though.

: Anyone have alternate, perhaps more "humane" suggestions? How about other : suggestions to maybe make this easier so I don't sit for hours stitching a : garbage bag with copper wire?

Don't leave food for the rakkons around:

Put the garbage in a container and lock the container with a lock and key. This should solve the problem for you.

Bye

You have an age-old problem. At least your garbage is limited to your garage ... our was all over the back yard, as though the critters were

I put stones - then stones + a cinderblock - on the garbage can lid. Didn't work. Critters rocked the can 'til it fell over and dumped the garbage! So then I moved the cans against a wall, connected one end of a kid's swing chain to an eye bolt attached to the wall, and connected a big clip to the other end of the chain. The chain was just long enough to go around the can - through the handles - and clip to another eye bolt on the wall. Critters could rock the can all they wanted and it would not fall over. No stones needed. We never had a coon get in or garbage after than.

snip...snip...snip...

Get a medium to large size dog. The Racs won't come around. Alternatively, capture it; they make great pets, are very friendly and extremely intelligent. Just don't let them loose in the house :-)

Alternatively,

I recommend a half rottwieller half Australian Sheppard mix! Had one. We called her "The Black & Decker Coon Wrecker". Just open the door and watch her go! LOL

You watch that coons hind paws extend 8 inches beyond it's front paws in an attempt to get away. Pretty funny!

ChadMan

snip...snip...snip...

Thank your God you don't have bears ;-)

other

But if its cornered, a coon can rip ANY dog to shreds. It is not pretty. Coons are just to fast and fight dirty, they also have better use ( than a dog) of their somewhat dexterous paws which are tipped with razor sharp claws.

A trick we used was to pour a 1/4 cup of ammonia into the garbage bag then close it up. The vapor escaping when a coon tried to rip it open was to much for them.

This one is easy.....I live in the mountains myself and have the same problem...they actually have gotten under my house and awaken me snoring! In any event, you need to build a cabinet or cage for your trash...that will keep them out. If you have bears you best make it sturdy! Make sure you don't put out ANY food such as dog/cat or when you stop they will trash your landscaping!....Finally, they make a device with a high pitched tone that will deter them. Do a search on Google and make sure they have a good return policy. Racoons are creatures of habit so it may be a year or two before they break your habit(tat).....Good luck with the Racoons......Ross

to

deterrants

bags).

to

Shouldn't

Black & Decker Coon Wrecker....that's a good one.... The problem we have with folks that use dogs to chase of the coons is that Racoons are nocturnal....the dogs bark, the garbage is safe and none of us sleep!! Anyway...I did enjoy your post......Ross

In article , snipped-for-privacy@rogers.com mentioned...

I would set up a beam low to the ground to trigger a can of pepper spray - low to the ground also.

Discharging a 10000 uF 25V capacitor through a 12V mini siren works quite well :) those things seem to survive overvoltage and make a hell of a racket!

-A

Way back when I was younger and more stupid, I had the same problem with dogs, and so I set my trash cans on tires to insulate them from the ground, and then I tied a live wire, 120VAC, to the cans. I awoke the same night to the howling of dogs running off . I was happy and fell back to sleep comforted with the thought that I had finally taken care of the problem. Later the next night after drinking a few beers and forgetting about the live wire tied to the trash cans, I took the trash out. :O

Mike M

Funny story! .... Ross

ground,

to

------------------------ A 2" steel tube sticking out over a saline water pan that exudes peanut butter on one stroke, and on the other turns on 120VAC through to the saline ground moments later. Have it engaged by a light beam. Bury coonish victims.

-Steve