Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Teenagers trashing the place

Well, hopefully there are several more years before I have to worry about my own teenagers trashing the place, but there is a family of raccoons who go through my trash on a regular basis, leaving their leftovers all over the side yard for us to pick up. Besides the fact that they do carry diseases (my neighbor found one in her carport, swaying around and not looking quite "right"), they're the one true pest I have to contend with. In my small garden, I may patiently wait 90 days for a single butternut squash. When the raccoons come by and gnaw at just one of my squashes or melons, it can be really frustrating.


Besides their diseases, messy habits, and ability to devastate my backyard garden harvest, they're aggressive. On this particular day, I had to call animal control after hearing noises in the trash can for going on 2 hours. Turns out all the guy was really able to do was tip the trash can over (I guess I could have done that!). Apparently, since the trash was dumped the day before, the raccoons were able to get in to the bin, but since it was empty, had no way to get themselves out. The animal control guy said there were 2 fat "teenaged" raccoons in the trash can.



I did learn some interesting tips. The raccoons have very nimble hands and are often able to work their way around bungee cords, ropes, etc. They get into the cans by climbing the fence next to the cans and lifting the tops. The best way to prevent raccoons from getting into the cans is by setting them away from anything they can climb. Unfortunately for me, I have a very small side yard and there is no way to set the cans entirely by themselves. He also mentioned that we should make the contents unappetizing to the raccoons. One suggestion was to keep a spray bottle of bleach nearby and every time a bag goes in, the top of the bag gets sprayed with bleach. I may save this smart suggestion as a last resort. The easiest trick might be to simply set a heavy rock on top of the can. Several ideas to try!

15 comments:

  1. We have had a raccoon eat the fish Larry has had in his whiskey barrel, but they don't bother our garbage.

    We do have squirrel problems, and have trouble finding good spots where they can't get into the bird feeders. I hope the rocks on the lids work.

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  2. This sounds like quite the fun adventure. I know that racoons can be quite frustrating...while working out at the state park, one of our campers complained that the racoons were going into the coolers and stealing their tupperware containers. They even had pictures as evidence!! It was awesome. Later that week, we found their tupperware in a pile on a trail we were cleaning. Fun critters with very nimble hands indeed:)

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  3. Good luck with those terrible teens! I haven't have problems with them where I live. My friends feed the ones at their home. I told them they're crazy!

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  4. I never heard about racoons attack in my part of the world! For me , it's cute animal in the zoo! Only now i know how frustrating they can be!

    Hopefully the rock method works to keep away the racoons!

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  5. Oh my, those sure are big raccoons! Yuk. It's too bad animal control couldn't take the raccoons away.

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  6. Yes - diseases. We had a raccoon that decided to live among our condos - I saw it one day outside my kitchen window. I thought it was a cat at first! One of the homeowners was walking her little dog one morning and it ran out of the bushes and attacked the dog. The dog had to be down because the raccoon apparently had rabies. So we had to have someone come and trap the raccoon. An awful thing.

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  7. The bleach thing is a really great idea, I had not thought of that before. We always have issues with skunks and raccoons getting into things around here too, especially this time of year. This is the first winter that we have not seen hide nor hair of them...hmm. Of course now that I said that they are sure to appear in droves. Good luck with yours.

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  8. We tie our trashcan lid down. That's a metal trashcan, by the way, because the squirrels chew holes in the lids of plastic ones. Aren't our wild friends fun?

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  9. It seems it is easier to fend of the micro pest rather than the big ones. We don't have racoon here, but some people have problem with possums.

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  10. Poor you, Wendy. Looks like you are not alone. We experience different problems at different parts of the world. For you its the raccoons. For others its the squirrels, monkeys, rabbits, deer, mice etc. Comparatively, cockroaches are not such a terrible pest. Anyway, I think having dogs may deter such problems. But of course, dogs may trample all over the garden too.

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  11. Gotta give em credit...those critters keep us on our toes. Great practice for when your girls hit their teens. I have been remiss in my blog visits of late, but did want to stop by to wish you a happy New Year!

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  12. I had problems with raccoons for a while. I brought my trash cans into the garage and that was the end of that. The cans been back outside for a couple of years now, so I am guessing the raccoons found more fertile feeding grounds elsewhere - maybe at your house!

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  13. Animal Control should have placed traps out in order to catch them and remove them. Turning them loose means they will absolutely be back. Squirrels and possums are my problem. A large Hav-A-Hart trap is the solution for my critters. Good luck with them, and don't get bitten or scratched! When cornered, they can charge at you.

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  14. Oh man, I'm glad we don't have raccoons around here - for the folks that do have 'em, they sure do seem like little menaces! I hope some of your new tricks prove useful!

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  15. Teenagers will be teenagers, I prefer the rock solution to the bleach.

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