Raccoons/other pests

[PondShow7]

Every morning my pond has 20-30 lily pad leaves floating. It appears some critter is pulling or biting them off to get a better view of my fish. I’ve been fighting raccoons for years. Would they do that? I’ve tried everything to get rid of them. My large 20 year old koi disappeared a couple of years ago. A conservation office thought that was from a river otter. Suggestions?

 

[JohnHuff]

Depending on the size of the pond, you can cover it with netting. You can make/build a frame out of wood or pvc pipes and then put that over your pond.

My pond is only about 10' x 10', I bought a greenhouse frame on Amazon and cut and attached bird netting to the sides of the greenhouse. One day I saw a bobcat inside the enclosure! We were both shocked on seeing each other, then I saw it come out via the edges between two sheets. After that I bought a huge roll of netting and covered the entire frame in one piece so there were no gaps. I haven't seen any animal inside since then.

 

[bagsmom]

This doesn't solve your problem. But - several years ago, for my birthday, I got a trail camera to view the Pond Marauders. It has been really interesting and fun to see the nocturnal vandals! Mostly deer and raccoons but we've had dogs, cats, and coyotes, too!

 

[JohnHuff]

This doesn't solve your problem. But - several years ago, for my birthday, I got a trail camera to view the Pond Marauders. It has been really interesting and fun to see the nocturnal vandals! Mostly deer and raccoons but we've had dogs, cats, and coyotes, too!

We've had black bear(s) in our back yard. Don't know if it's the same dude. But we don't really want him around as the back of our house has a blind corner and I do not want to suddenly see him come across it one day.

 

[bagsmom]

We've had black bear(s) in our back yard. Don't know if it's the same dude. But we don't really want him around as the back of our house has a blind corner and I do not want to suddenly see him come across it one day.

Even though we are pretty urban, we are near a national park and have had bears twice! I keep thinking one day I might wake up to find one soaking in the pond! (But that would be bad!)

 

[bagsmom]

Oh! One thing that has worked pretty well to deter the critters is a "scarecrow" motion-activated sprinkler. We have trained the deer to stay away. The raccoons might be too low down to register and I imagine it would be the same for otters. And you'd better belief we have forgotten it was there and scared (and soaked) ourselves!

 

[GBBUDD]

Every morning my pond has 20-30 lily pad leaves floating. It appears some critter is pulling or biting them off to get a better view of my fish. I’ve been fighting raccoons for years. Would they do that? I’ve tried everything to get rid of them. My large 20 year old koi disappeared a couple of years ago. A conservation office thought that was from a river otter. Suggestions?

the only animal i know to rip lilies apart are koi and beaver/ muskrat usually just walk over them

 

[addy1]

Deer LOVE lily pads. Any they can reach they eat. Take big bites out of them.

 

[JohnHuff]

My koi killed all my pond plants. It's now bare

I have used motion detector sprinklers in the past but I go out to the backyard too often. Switching it on and off became too much of a hassle.

Besides I have too many birds there, they'll probably set it off all the time. I've been feeding Stellar's jays, robins and small birds for a few years now. I feed them seeds and sometimes food scraps. The jays respond by bringing back nails. I don't know how they learned this behavior but it's true.

 

[addy1]

Nails for food! Love it

 

[permaculturebob]

that's a big thumbs up on the deer idea, they will wipe out a pond in shallow water, they don't bother them as much in deep water

 

[Hound Heaven]

This doesn't solve your problem. But - several years ago, for my birthday, I got a trail camera to view the Pond Marauders. It has been really interesting and fun to see the nocturnal vandals! Mostly deer and raccoons but we've had dogs, cats, and coyotes, too!

Couldn't agree more, I love my cameras. My pond is within our fence, but we still get visitors.

 

[permaculturebob]

the game camera is also a good idea, if the lily pads are gone, it'll be an herbivore, if it's just general chaos with leaves just shredded and still around, then raccoons could easily be the problem, but i've never seen them do that

 

[Steel Warrior]

I had a raccoon problem several years ago when we were between dogs, raccoons usually won't come into an area where they smell dogs. I put up an electric wire like they use for cattle. Ran the wire about 6 inches above the ground all around the pond about 2 feet from the ponds edges and then ran it up and back around the pond again about 12 inches above the ground. I heard the raccoons scream the first night and they never came back. This would work for otters too but you might want to lower the wires about 3 inches. There are two types of electric fence chargers, one that sends a pulsing current and one that sends a constant current. You want the type that sends a constant current. Most animals will only need to be whacked once or twice at the most and they'll never come back. When I first put mine up I wasn't sure it was working properly. Later that evening after some beer courage I touched it, and yes, it was definitely working, about knocked the piss out of me!

 

[PondShow7]

This doesn't solve your problem. But - several years ago, for my birthday, I got a trail camera to view the Pond Marauders. It has been really interesting and fun to see the nocturnal vandals! Mostly deer and raccoons but we've had dogs, cats, and coyotes, too!

I have a range camera and I see the raccoons partying in my yard. Entertaining, yet maddening.