Our latest 'friend'...




Harbor's infested with these guys, among other things-- we have a bunch of cats, muskrats, beavers, skunks and mink around here too. They drive the dogs nuts, which drives US nuts. Tonight was a raccoon, maybe we have other visitors too. The wife would put trash bags in our wagon, which I haul up to the dumpster in the morning, but about 2 weeks ago I found the trash ripped to shreds. Now we have a friend almost every night.

This one was driving the dogs nuts, so I put an old bag of hot dog buns out for him. I stood on the foredeck looking thru my camera in 'night vision', and he was looking back...

We had a guy that trapped 'em, but he hasn't been around in awhile. Sure would like to know what to do to keep the wildlife off the dock!

Well don't [censored] him off. He might shoot flames or laser beams out those eyes!!

could you maybe put mothballs all around,and under there where he isthat mite keep him from going in there,
pour a little bleach on you trash bags that way they can't smell whats in it.

woosterken

what are you waiting for? Reach in there and pull him out!

Yeah, what 2Suns said. Where's your huevos FR?

Turpentine is a good varmint deterrent, but it's a good people deterrent too! Probably going to try mothballs...

Our 2 big storage units are right in the middle of mouse heaven, I have an open box of mothballs just inside the doors and we've never seen one mouse poop.

We had a mouse on the boat last month, so I got a bunch of sticky traps to catch him, as usual. The admiral has some little moth ball 'satchels' she got somewhere, and she set some of them by the entrances and wherever else she could put them that the dogs couldn't get to them. I've ALWAYS got my mouse with sticky traps, but not this time. He split town and haven't seen him since!

So maybe they'll keep the varmints off the dock!

I've heard about the mothball thing, too, but I think in regard to squirrels and attics. No clue if it works other than making everything smell like my grandmother's house. Anyway, if you do decide to go that route, make sure the dogs can't get to the mothballs - they are higly toxic if ingested. Don't know why a dog would ever eat one, but we see a few cases of napthalene toxicosis every year.

Ok, first one who wants to come pull him out gets a free bandaid! (and maybe a rabies shot!)

Those little mothball satchels, can't smell them at all, you have to be like a foot away before you CAN smell them.

i get em under my detached garage. you can pickup a trap pretty cheaply from home depot. peanut butter usually does the trick. the question is, what do you do with it once it's caught? around here it's illegal to kill 'em or transport 'em, but not illegal to trap 'em. i trap 'em and haul 'em a long distance away and set 'em free in a rich, wooded community with really big homes.

Raccoons are nice little animals. Just be sure to get the ambulance on the way before you do reach in there.
Ever wonder why 'coon dogs operate in packs??

Besides Rabies...there is something called Coonhound Paralysis as I learned on a recent episode of my new favorite Animal Planet show...E-Vet Interns!...so keep the pooch away.

More info here . Sad result...they had a better result on TV...as is probably usually the case.

Also, I wouldn't be feeding him anymore hot dog buns. Ususally, no food, no visit...unless of course they are looking for a nesting area. We had a coon visitor every night at the beach last year. He even got in the trash can after I tied a rope across the lid from handle to handle...clever animals for sure. Good luck...I ain't stickin' my hand in there!

Holy Carp Batman! Carol's post in the link above was an exact cut and paste from Chapter 85, Peripheral Nerve Disorders in the 1995 edition of Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine without credit to the author (Kyle Braund, BVSc, MVSc, PhD, FRCVS, Diplomate ACVIM (Neurology)).

Most of the data in that chapter on CHP is based on studies from the late 70s and early 80s although some of the info is derived from presentations presented at a 1990 meeting. The latter were not subsequently published in peer reviewed journals. There is not a lot of new information on the disease, but the contact with raccoons (bites or scratches) as an antecedent to onset of CHP is now thought to be (at least by our neurologists) just a coincedental finding since only half of the affected dogs in the early reports actually had exposure to raccoons. Unfortunately, no controlled studies were performed to confirm the association with raccoon bites/scratches and CHP. Most of the recently affected dogs have not had any exposure to raccoons.

Bottom line: Thanks for the offer of the free bandaid FR. However, I'm not volunteering for varmint removal even though I have received rabies prophylaxis. (The post exposure series of injections aren't cheap or fun from what I hear!)

From the title of this thread I thought my Mother in law came visiting.....
Come to think of it, her eyes do kind of look the same way.

Does your MIL have a long lost crazy and overbearing sister

Will mothballs work in these situations, too? If so, off to the store....

'Coons are nasty little buggers. When I lived in the country they dug up our flower beds and flower pots, every fargin night.

I had a large "Have-a-heart" brand trap (needs to be large), which I baited with that roasted chicken from the grocery store.

Very effective, but you have to dispose of them. Wife wouldn't let me shoot them, so I dropped them off on the way to work.

They will "mess" your vehicle, requires an old tarp under the trap. Oh, and good luck if you catch a skunk (been there).

I would not want 'coons around. They are tough, smart, and aggressive. "Successful" breeders, too.

"Coons" is short for raccoons, not MILs, right? Seems like it could apply to either, especially the "wife wouldn't let me shoot them" part....

Hey, just remember, YOU are the "guest" and IT is the "resident"...

Even though you are the one that is paying the rent and they are the ones wearing the mask!



Good luck with the eradication!

Found out from Mark we have a family of 5 camped out here. On my way to fill up my water barrels last night, 4 of 'em were making tracks across the parking lot. I guess the 5th one apparently got tired of waiting for us to leave out something resembling food, cuz while I was gone he came knocking at the door! Literally! The wife found one standing up scratching at the screen door to our bedroom, scared the hell out of her! Going to moth ball the underside of the dock when I get home from work and see if that keeps them away. Our trapper guy may have left some traps out in the north 40, need to see if I can find one or two...

Rental shops have traps also.

Ha! Brazen little buggers, aren't they!

When we were camping up at Tahoe over the 4th, a HUGE one came strolling into our campsite like it owned it and crawled up onto our campsite table looking for scraps (none to be found, since we clean up well after ourselves).

My wife and I were relaxing in our chairs when we saw it. It was about ten feet away from us. When we started making noises and talking, it just looked up at us and stayed there.

When I stood up, it decided to get off of the table.

But it sure took its sweet time doing it!

Nature... You gotta love it! LOL

Dumpster is merely another word for 'raccoon condominium'.

OK, I'm going to hate mail from animal lover's, but ...

Those varmints are tough as nails and either dumber than a sack of door knobs or smarter than most of us.

We learned from a previous boat-in campout that the coons were a problem at the campsite. And we were worried about the rattlesnakes (never even found one).

Anyway to chase the coons away from the site on our next camping trip, the boys brought their air soft guns and paint ball guns.

Like clockworks these coons showed up in the trees all around us, so we started shooting them. We thought they would run away. All they did was climb a foot or two higher in the tree each time and continue to stare at us. I knew the air soft guns wouldn't really get their attention, but I was surprised that the paint balls didn't seem to phase them one bit.

And, yep, as soon as the last tent zipper was pulled, it was a race for the trash cans and ice chests.

And then there's the one that likes to hole up between the subfloor and our bathtub. Wakes you up in the middle of the night thinking someone's in the house.

They sure are interesting, but what a pain!

So thats where they've been coming from!!!

THE WAR IS ON!!!

They've went from "cute" to "a pain", but the final straw just broke my back-

Last night the farging bastiges were up on our roof!! Little prix made a huge mess. We bbq'd corn on the cob, and all the shucks were still in the garbage can. They got $#*! scattered from hell to breakfast all over upstairs.


Not sure how they got up there, no marks on the screens. I guess they (or it) climbed up the ladder!

Arrgghh....a little wildlife is fine, but not this much...

Hey FR thats racoon for "lets go for a boat ride".

Good luck with them cause they are pretty smart and a BIG pita to get rid off.