Raccoons — a first for us!

[Mmathis]

We’ve been in our new home 2 years now. Pond still in planning stages.

We love our location here, but we find that we have a raccoon family (scat evidence, plus watching their midnight antics on our security camera) that visits our bird feeders at night. New pond isn’t built yet, so nothing urgent, but I understand that ‘coons can wreak havoc on a pond! Want to be proactive and come up with ways to deter these curious critters! Oh, and this also puts my box turtles at risk, as well....planning to build a cover over their enclosure.

Other than removing the bird feeders, any suggestions? Hubby suggested trap and relocate, but seems like that’s only going to be a temporary fix, not a long-term fix.

Suggestions on ways to build the pond to help deter them (such as eliminate shallow areas, etc.)? Deterrents? Fencing, nets....?

 

[GBBUDD]

[QUOTE="Mmathis, post: 448176, member: 3238"

Other than removing the bird feeders, any suggestions? Hubby suggested trap and relocate, but seems like that’s only going to be a temporary fix, not a long-term fix.

Suggestions on ways to build the pond to help deter them (such as eliminate shallow areas, etc.)? Deterrents? Fencing, nets....?
[/QUOTE]
Catching the bird seed and not allowing food for the coons now before your pond is built . Removing the meal now may get them to move on to greener p assures. I'd even think about getting rid of the feeders for a while. Expecialy coming into winter as food gets harder to find they may have to go a ways away to find the next meals. In my home town moving one group woukd do little there were so many . This was in ma.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

The raccoons that live around here have never been a problem. They nest in my willow tree from time to time, and I have a few birdfeeders near my pond, but they've never been an issue. Obviously, I don't have turtles, and that probably changes the dynamic entirely.
I don't have any shallow areas. I have the 10"-12" deep plant shelf around the outer edge, but no sloped sides or anything.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

We have raccoons, and living in the woods there is no 'getting them to go away'. I do occasionally lose a fish to them, but it happens very rarely. If the fish are smart enough to swim down to the bottom of the 3' deep section and hide in the cave, the raccoons wouldn't be able to reach/catch them. Providing built in hiding places goes a long way in protecting your fish from them.

We have a bird feeder in the yard near the pond & have a place for a squirrel log (compressed corn) which the raccoons also enjoy munching on.

 

[JamieB]

Straight sides dropping off to a depth of at least a foot for the pond. For the turtles, a secure enclosure perhaps with a heavy gauge screen lid you can close up at night and lock, as if it’s a simple flip type lid they can get past it. Screen too small for little paws to reach in and snag a turtle. Depending on the size of the turtle enclosure, you might do multiple panels that can be removed to allow for access to the full area.

 

[Mmathis]

Thank you for your responses and encouraging words!

 

[j.w]

Also if they become a constant issue flat boards w/tiny short nails sticking up and placed around the area they try to enter the pond have helped me out. I have a net tho attached to a short wire fence tho but there was one area that they decided was easy to break through so I placed those boards around that area and no more raccoons. You can see one of them below.

 

[GBBUDD]

A cattle fenceelectric fence could do the job but they are smart it won't take them long to realize not to touch and or how to go around