Hello from soggy Seattle

[amundjoy]

Hi Everyone,

After a two year battle with raccoons, cranes and whatever else destroyed my pond I was ready to give up. Twice the raccoons emptied the pond to leave it floating upside down. The pump and filter crate were on the lawn!! In 2007 we covered two thirds of the top with light weight hardware cloth and tent stakes. That wasn't good enough. Not sure how the coons reached the deep end from the shallow but they did. Third or fourth batch of fish gone! Next came the electric fence. Worked well except that it's not very attractive, the shallow end was still not covered, and I was zapped twice after my husband said the power was turned off. I am determined. Although the varmint received a pretty good jolt, broke off a post, left hair on the mangled wire, he still ate half the fish. Not sure why he didn't die. Today the power is on, entire pond is covered, which is not nice to look through but the fish are happy, six inches long, and fun to watch.

My question is about the pump, where should I post it? Thanks everyone.

 

[addy1]

Wow! We will try to help you get past this.
Post some pictures so we can see what you are talking about.
I see you say 90 gallons, can you go bigger?

Trying to figure out how a raccoon could empty a pond, is it above ground?
Post in the construction / equipment thread for help with your pump.

I have raccoons here, but have a deep pond.

And welcome!

 

[DrDave]

Welcome to the forum. What do you want to do with your pump?

 

[j.w]

Hey hi and welcome. I am a fellow Washingtonian up here in Arlington. I have the raccoons also and they don't go into my pond but it's only because it is too deep on the sides and they don't like to just jump into deep water and swim for fish. I think they like to stand in the water and grab them. Now they just come to my back sliding glass door each night to try and get the cat food that I put out for the feral cat. I try to remember to get it in each night before dark but the other night I forgot as it keeps getting darker earlier each night. Anyway I heard the ruckus they make whenever they come around and sure enough two of them..........I must admit they were very cute teenagers......were out there trying to get the cat food. I opened the door and they backed off but I had to actually put my arms up and make monster noises at them to get them to run away. They've torn out lilies from my little bathtub pond in the past so I had to cover it partly w/ a screen and now they don't bother it and they rummaged into a pot with taro in it and took a big bite out of one uprooted tuber. My DH took some pieces of wood and put big staple gun staples in them so the sharp points stick out about 1/4" out of the wood and laid it down around the taro pot and they don't go near it anymore. I've had trouble w/ the heron too and now I have a radio set to blast on in the early morning at dawn and go off at dark plus I put fish line around the pond and a little wire fence, wind-chimes, blowing mylar strips, etc. Someone told me since my pond was so close to our front deck and the roof above was close that I could run fish line from the gutter edge and down over my pond and that way the heron won't fly into it from above cuz he wouldn't want to get tangled in it. She said it might happen once but after that he would not be back after the mess he was in that first time :lol:

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the forum...

 

[amundjoy]

Thank you for the warm welcome and interesting solutions. Been trying to find the link on how to add photos but all I find is the "insert image" button. Not sure if there is a size limit.

The area where the pond is situated is a fenced corner of a small cottage garden. Can't go larger there and really don't have the energy to start over. I'll try adding an older photo that shows the shape of the pond. It's about 3.5' x 2' x 2' deep with a small shallow end.

The raccoons had no trouble emptying the whole thing. I think two got in to play, look for food and splashed most of the water out. Our water table is so high that the ground seepage filled the pond hole over night causing the form to float. Maybe it's not the 90 gallons I calculated.

This photo is from April 09 before the edging was covered but shows the shape, size, electric fence, and unfinished garden.

Well, guess I can't add the photo after all.

 

[amundjoy]

The pond is under the birdhouse in the foreground. Having trouble uploading the pond photo. I'll try in a separate reply.

 

[amundjoy]

This one worked!

 

[addy1]

Pretty front yard!
It would be somewhat a nuisance, how about a piece of the hardware cloth (metal with holes sort of like screen), have it painted black, (good waterproof paint) laid over the top of the pond. Black would make it so it was not well seen. Have something in the ground to attach it too, a simple hook type connection would keep it where the raccoons could not lift it. I use ratchet hooks to keep the lid on our garbage.

Or find some heavy duty plastic netting, like the stuff they use deer fencing, it blends in very nicely. If you pull it tight over the top of the pond, it might keep them out.

It looks like you have a edge that is higher than the water, so the fish wouldn't bump their noses.

I used carpet tack strips, (cheap and full of nails) glued on the top of our block wall in arizona to keep the coyotes out of my back yard. They jumped in and took my lil girl yorkie, before I put the strips on the wall. But never came back after the strips where put in.

You could buy some, lay around the pond (make sure you don't step on them) maybe even tack them to a piece of plywood so you can easily move them out of the way. Do some this hurts, behavior training.

 

[koiguy1969]

Welcome to the group ......the more the merrier!

 

[j.w]

I agree, that carpet tack idea worked for me w/ the raccoons that were after my Taro plants. It hurts their little tootsies