Author Topic: Masked Marauder returns (Read 3541 times)

Jerry · « **on:** July 22, 2010, 09:26:17 AM »

No foot prints this time, but identical damage, maybe having the tub is a good idea, because the critter does not bother the pond :'(

CT · « **Reply #1 on:** July 22, 2010, 09:32:38 AM »

I'm sorry Jerry. It looked like it was lovely. Were there fish in there or just plants?

Esther · « **Reply #2 on:** July 22, 2010, 12:45:31 PM »

Stinker!!. Thus far (knock on wood) we haven't had anything bad happen because of animals---other than the heron and that seems under control. This makes year 8 and prior to the summer of 2003, we have had several instances where we knew raccoons were around. They left their calling cards on the deck once, right in front of the patio door. One time they raided the garage after a graduation open house. Trash was on the trailer inside but someone left the door open. Dog went crazy in the night so I went to see, chased them out, and shut the door. Went back to bed and 15 minutes later the dog started up again. Turned out there was one up in the rafters of the garage and he wasn't about to come down with me there and the light on. Sooo opened the front big door and waited 30 minutes or so and went back out. He was gone and we haven't had any since. This area has gotten more built up since then too. Maybe that is why.

trish · « **Reply #3 on:** July 22, 2010, 01:07:13 PM »

Wow, he left a big ole mess of your lily(s). That sucks. Knock on wood, that's one critter I haven't had around.

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #4 on:** July 22, 2010, 01:16:54 PM »

It sure did leave a fine mess...Tragic!

Jerry, what you need is a trap like the one I got last weekend. I was fed up with the chewed up electrical wires for my malibu lights and the gnawed off drip system tubes

. I meant to catch a squirrel but caught this mangy old opossum instead. The next day I caught the big squirrel but he is witty and escaped because I was not so witty and forgot to put the locking bar down :'( Now Mr. Biggie Squirrel will not touch the trap. Trap must go on vacation for a while....

BTW Opossum is now living in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, lucky butt, many miles from me!

Jerry · « **Reply #5 on:** July 22, 2010, 01:36:53 PM »

I have the trap, but only caught Opossums.
At least the pond was left alone.

tugo · « **Reply #6 on:** July 22, 2010, 03:18:56 PM »

Sad to see Jerry. Ruined all. Thanks that I don't have such vandals around.
Yes most probably your container saved the pond.

moondivatx · « **Reply #7 on:** July 22, 2010, 04:47:17 PM »

Sorry Jerry.....I had one raid my compost pile last weekend...at least I won't have to turn it!

marla · « **Reply #8 on:** July 22, 2010, 05:59:04 PM »

oh how aweful, I had a coon in the yard one night, I know he was eating out of the bird feeder and squirrel feeder but I think he has moved on, did not bother the ponds.

Indiana Karen · « **Reply #9 on:** July 22, 2010, 07:19:19 PM »

Sorry Jerry, that would be aggravating.

We have raccoons and possoms visit practically every night but they haven't bothered anything for a long time. They're usually just checking for leftovers in the dog food bowl.

ThornyGardener · « **Reply #10 on:** July 22, 2010, 08:37:38 PM »

I'm so sorry. "Rats" come with masks and hooves and wings around ponds -- and, oh yeah, I have had a regular rat too.

We are overrun with raccoons. They have no predators in suburbia. I didn't have any problem with them though b/c my pond is straight sided. But then in two garden beds they created large 'raccoon latrines' (Google that). Looks like cat poop sorta but unlike cats, they make no attempt to bury. And unlike cats, most raccoon poop has invisible round worm eggs that can cause blindness and death in humans. The only way to kill the eggs in the soil is with a blow torch. I called an exterminator and with an apple and marshmallows one was trapped every single night... at $45 a pop.

By the end of the second week my husband asked if I could learn to live with them as it would be cheaper to move than to pay that kind of money day after day.

Hope they find a delicacy in someone else's yard and move on.

Kittyzee · « **Reply #11 on:** July 23, 2010, 05:38:07 AM »

Thorny--you can buy a box trap (like what Annette has her opossum in) and trap them yourself. Next morning remove them to the countryside (not by someone's home..

) and they'll be fine. I can't understand why I haven't had them bother my pond--they are just feet from it when they come into my garage looking for cat food. We found one dead one in my pond a few years ago: could never figure that one out. Hope my luck holds.

zydia · « **Reply #12 on:** July 24, 2010, 04:21:02 AM »

I am thinking about sitting up a camera to see who visits my yard while I sleep.

ThornyGardener · « **Reply #13 on:** July 24, 2010, 08:43:40 AM »

According to my state's wildlife department, there are a number of reasons which might compel someone NOT to trap and release.

1. It is illegal to do so in most states. They must be humanely euthanized or released on your property (what good is THAT?). I may be able to drop a caged rat in a trash can of water but doing that to something the size of a cat would be more than I could handle. It's a job for pros, IMO. (With catalytic converters, a car's tailpipe is slow and inhumane.)

2. By relocating to a rural area, you infect and endanger that area's native raccoon population, as well as people's pets and children, by spreading the urban raccoon's rabies, canine distemper, parvovorus and raccoon roundworm.

3. It may be futile: territories for loner raccoons are so small in suburbia and 'real estate' near a pond so coveted, that your backyard will have a new resident the very next night, as happened with me. More futility: State wildlife experiments have shown that raccoons trapped, tagged and followed electronically have a normal nightly feeding territory of as much as 5 miles. That means if you drop them off 5 miles away they will be back, probably by morning. The state dropped some off 25 miles away only to have some make it back to their home base within a week.

4. It may cause them to suffer. Urban raccoons, accustomed to garbage and pet food, have little skill at hunting and can starve to death if released in the country.

5. We humans have killed off their natural predators, coyotes, so in the country they are easy prey for them unlike the more wary rural raccoons.

6. This really POs local people. I have rural family who say they and their neighbors see this every weekend - not just raccoons and skunks and opossums and groundhogs but boxes of kittens and puppies. Most of these pets make their way to their house and now put them in the position of feeding or euthanizing or letting coyotes shred them for dinner. They take license plate numbers and turn these people in.

This 'as long as I don't see them die" is as cowardly as taking your pet to the pound with the delusion that there is a chance it will be adopted when owner rescues are the first to be killed. Net net: either accept the raccoon or accept euthanasia -- please don't relocate.

Off my soapbox now.

Jerry · « **Reply #14 on:** July 24, 2010, 09:30:06 AM »

i did know all this, but thanks. A elementary school nearby feeds them making matter even worse.
The laws here are as you said. It is a no win situation unless you are a raccoon.

Kittyzee · « **Reply #15 on:** July 24, 2010, 07:00:54 PM »

Whoa Thorny--about the catch and release, it was just a suggestion and not meant to get you up on your soapbox. I live in the country and am one of those people who regularly get dumped on with kittens, cats, puppies, dogs, trash, tires, dead animals/skins/carcasses: you name it--we get it. I have spent hundreds of dollars neutering peoples unwanted pets and have caught hell for that too since they (meaning cats) kill the native songbird population.

We have loads of racoons in our barns and fields and some have regularly visited my garage in search of food. I've never heard of a coyote hunting for or killing a racoon--it's way too vicious for a coyote. Coyotes will eat dead ones however, and any other carrion, along with insects, mice, rabbits, and other small game. DH and I have several coyotes that live and hunt all over our farm and have watched them especially in the winter. In summer they are more elusive since they are raising pups.

I tend to forget that trying to be helpful sometimes does yank someone's chain and I'll try and be more careful in the future.

Holldoll · « **Reply #16 on:** July 24, 2010, 08:10:44 PM »

I haven't had any around here *knocking on wood.* I attribute it to two VERY good watch dogs. I'm sorry about your plants Jerry!

Jerry · « **Reply #17 on:** July 25, 2010, 07:59:58 AM »

No need. I may be lucky. Perhaps it's a decoy and the pond is spared? There were 2 tiny fish in it that I rescued and tossed in the pond. Maybe the fish were the target? I replaced it with Colorado. Thanks Tink! The Colorado was dessert for the turtles so had to pull it

2vetts · « **Reply #18 on:** July 25, 2010, 08:56:29 AM »

think if you try using modern automobile exhaust to terminate something or someone you will run out of gas before deed is accomplished .

Mikey · « **Reply #19 on:** July 25, 2010, 10:56:05 AM »

I too have been struggling with raccoons. The straw that broke this camel's back was when they chewed a hole in my liner this last winter causing significant water loss. I spent several weeks "raccoon proofing" areas where I though they may attempt to chew another hole in the liner. I used expanding foam to attach small flat river stones to the liner. I purchased a large container of cayenne pepper and I heavily dose a section of my wall where I believe they may traverse. Next I regrettably had to cut down a very exotic tree that they used to climb up to gain access to my roof and then climb down another tree in the back yard to gain access to the pond. Since I cut down the tree I have not seen signs of them in the back yard but those rascals are pretty smart and I'm betting they figure out another route into the yard..... In the meantime I'm thinking about plan "B".....or is this now plan "C" or "D"?

Jerry · « **Reply #20 on:** July 25, 2010, 11:52:50 AM »

How about plan 357 Magnum?

Mikey · « **Reply #21 on:** July 25, 2010, 12:20:59 PM »

I have no intention of killing them but I am considering getting a paint ball gun and lighting up their little behinds. I need something that won't cause property damage should my aim be off.....

Kittyzee · « **Reply #22 on:** July 25, 2010, 12:28:30 PM »

at Mikey! I just lobbed a shot off at a mean stray tomcat fighting with one of my cats--with my slingshot that is. Aimed in front of him and he ran into the shot, but he kept running and hopefully won't come back.

But afterwards I realized I just missed a window on the front porch...eek. Dumb move on my part...

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #23 on:** July 25, 2010, 05:45:17 PM »

Coons hit my container ponds last week. Fish pond is electrified and front lily ponds are covered but they sure trashed these:

I don't think my Siberian Pink Cups are gonna make it.....

Kittyzee · « **Reply #24 on:** July 25, 2010, 06:29:17 PM »

LeeAnne that is just sickening. It would make me lose heart and the gumption to clean it all up just to have it happen all over again.... :'( I think those containers must be made just for coons--they can sit on the edge and look around all the while their hands are working around in the plants looking and feeling for snails, etc.

How do you suppose they got thru the electric fence without getting nailed?

Mikey · « **Reply #25 on:** July 25, 2010, 07:52:56 PM »

Sorry LeeAnne. I am thankful that they have left my out of pond lotus alone.

Jerry · « **Reply #26 on:** July 26, 2010, 05:04:37 PM »

he came back! A lot less damage though. Wrecked a Colocasi called Great Ape.
messed with the tub again, but not too bad.
The trap is baited.

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #27 on:** July 27, 2010, 06:35:50 PM »

None of these are behind the electric fence....I confess that I haven't done anything with them after this attack. Poor plants. I just have no more heart for them. This has happened over and over.

ThornyGardener · « **Reply #28 on:** July 30, 2010, 08:59:32 AM »

I apologize if I came off rabid.

It was a long time before I knew we even had raccoons and that they were the cause of the scratching and stench in the wall between two bedrooms, that they carried diseases that could hurt my children, and that it was illegal to relocate them. Thought perhaps someone reading the thread was as much in the dark as I was.

It's so sad to see the damage on everyone's container ponds. The raccoons around here seem to prefer to dig in the muck and eat the tubers or roots, not the greenery. (That gets damaged, though, as they dig for the tubers.) I installed green coated peony grids in barrels and allowed the plants to grow through them.

Mikey · « **Reply #29 on:** July 30, 2010, 02:21:01 PM »

Quote

I installed green coated peony grids in barrels and allowed the plants to grow through them.

Now there's an idea. Even though the raccoons have not touched out-of-pond lotus it is only a matter of time before they find the tub and make a mess of things. We lack the chill to grow peonies here and this is the first time I have heard of peony grids. I'll have to locate them and check them out to see if they may work with my lotus.