A trapper I called set out a trap, but it didn’t work out like I’d planned. The trap caught one of my neighbor’s cats. After the man yelled at me, he’d return at night and spring the trap. The trapper and I gave up. I didn’t see much of the raccoon family after that.
Now, another raccoon family is climbing up my fence to get to the neighbor’s cherry tree. They had a difficult time this evening about dusk. Two youngsters kept falling off the fence.
Here, the mom dropped down off the fence to protect them.
The dad was high up in the tree, and chattered away during much of the ruckus. At one point he squabbled loudly with a cat or dog.
Here the dad’s leaving to follow the rest of his family, which had quietly slipped away.Raccoons are interesting to watch, but they can be destructive to your property. They dig in vegetable beds, eat fruit off trees and vines, knock down corn, and break into bird feeders. They can also learn to enter your house through a cat or dog door.
Usually nocturnal, raccoons search for food in the late evening, night, and early morning. They eat a wide variety of foods from fruit, vegetables, eggs, and birds to insects, fish and other aquatic animals, pet food, and garbage.
Adult male raccoons travel territories of three to 20 square miles. Females cover about one to 6 square miles.
Raccoons live in hollow trees, buildings, drainpipes, brush piles, and abandoned burrows and under decks.
What can consumers do to discourage raccoon visitors?
Scare tactics rarely work as raccoons quickly get used to them, reports the University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources Division. Trapping raccoons isn’t an effective deterrent, but it’s effective at removing a problem animal. However, you need to have a plan for dealing with the animal once it's captured.
The division has these suggestions for consumers to reduce temptations for raccoons in residential areas:
- Bring your pet food and water bowls inside at night.
- Put a net over your fishpond, if it’s small.
- Have tight-fitting trashcan lids or wire the loose ones shut.
- Harvest your garden vegetables as soon as they’re ready and pick up fallen fruit promptly.
- Block foundation vents.
- Prevent entry into under-deck areas with wooden latticework. Be careful not to trap animals already inside. If an animal is present, close up all but a 12” diameter opening, return at night after the animal has left, and close completely. If a female has babies, you may need to wait until they’ve left – three to seven weeks after birth – to close the area.
- Trim tree branches away from house and shed roofs.
- Use an electric “hot” wire around your fishpond, corn patch, or berry vines. A two-wire electric fence, with wires five and 10 inches above ground, is effective.