Raccoons Problem

A few things I can think of.
Do you have a zoo or cat park around? You can get some of the poop from the large cats and place it around the fence where it won't get stepped in, but it will scare away the critters, they smell it and get scarred away. Moth balls might keep them away also.

One thing you can do is if you have any food outside for any reason (dog/cat...or any other reason) stop putting it outside. Another is if your trash cans are outside and you can, try putting them inside (garage for instance). The racoons are likely showing up because they smell food and are hungry. Clean your grill well after you use it so they won't smell the left over drippings. There is nothing that will get rid of raccoons if they can smell food. When I was a kid we had lots of them. My brother and I threw water balloons at them (resulted in wet deck), chased them off with brooms (resulted in broken brooms), even shot BB guns at them (resulted in raccoons getting shot in butt and coming back for more). They just don't seem to care. The only thing that finally got rid of them for good was putting the cat food inside and never putting any food outside. Once the food got put outside again after like 10 years, they were back almost instantly. Good luck. I know they are a pain. The only thing that ever worked for us was getting rid of all food smells.

Moth ball crystals work really well to keep cats out of flower beds and gardens, I wonder if they would work to keep raccoons away from the pool?

Get a dog - better yet - get two! Meduim to large dogs(bigger than the raccoons) or they'll just get mangled!

Teach the dogs (preferably males) to "go potty" around the perimeter of your yard - their scents will keep the raccoons and other animals away!

However, do not have the dogs sleep outside at night - if they do not feel like part of the pack - they will not protect you - they will escape to chase wild animals!

Daniella,

I don't know of any way to get rid of the raccoons. When my husband was a kid they all got a trampoline. One day they noticed that there were holes appearing in the thing. They thought it was rocks in the shoes, so no shoes. The holes still showed up.

Long story a bit shorter, the raccoons were climbing the trees, jumping down onto the trampoline, using claws to stop the bounce, and then climbing onto the deck of their house.

Not much help, I'm sorry, but I laughed the first time I heard it and smile every time I think about it.

Melissa

They completely shredded our wading pool two summers ago the ONE night we forgot to empty it. This year we opted of the hard-plastic version because we don't want to be out the money again. If it has water in it, they want in. Good luck finding either a hard-sided pool or a hard cover. :-)

Raccoons are vicious - remember that. I would try to avoid having a run in with them. They are not friendly - atleast the ones that come poking around my property. What they'll do is stand up on their hind legs, hands up, and sway side to side and hiss. That is their warning before they will attack. I was lucky one night - there was a family that come to my back door and I stepped out and the "dad" did his little dance. I stomped the ground at him and told him to leave. He must of sensed no fear - but I was pretty P.O.ed at them. And he backed off and left. All the advice is right on the nose - keeping food inside, making the backyard boring, putting up a electric fence, and even the pest control. Good luck with those pests.

a strobe light chases them away, also NO FOOD (cat food Dog food) should be out.. but the strobe lights you can get a specncers for about 10-15 bucks and that works like a charm.
(we had a family of 6 and it took about a week for them to go away)

I have not put up a pool inthe backyard for the very same reason!! I know the raccoons will come and puncture it. Oh well, that's life in the Northwest!! I wouldn't have it any other way - But there is probably a way to deter them humanely.

Raccoon are not viscious by nature - I have raccoon families come to my back door (because we feed them, otherwise they would not come.) They are actually sweet, but scared of us. If there was one that seemed ready to attack, it was probably scared. I have seen them act like a mad cat (hunched back and growl) when threatened by another animal. When I came in closer to stop them, raccon just ran away, I think it was relieved that I gave him a chance to get away. Raccoon in Oregon do not carry rabies, either

I had never seen a raccoon in our yard when we had a dog. He died about two years ago, that's when we started to see them visiting. They have the cutest babies!! SO yes, get a dog - even the smell of one in the yard will keep them out - Do you have sprinklers? Set them to come on at odd times during the night - they will learn to not come. Fnd out where they are getting in and fix the fence, or make it higher.

Or get one of those 6-foot diameter cheap hard plastic pools just for them! Then they will have their easy water to get to and leave your nice pool alone!

I just looked up herbs that raccoons hate - Hot peppers - garlic!! So start growing them near the fence where they are coming in, or sprinkle garlic cloves and/or hot pepper flakes on the ground?

Good Luck!

Your local animal control people may have a solution for you.
Regards,
C.

Light and lots of it. Motion sensor lights, patio lights...they are nocturnal and hate light. We have a coon that used to eat our cat food. We just leave the patio light on and haven't seen it since.

You have a high fence? Or a three foot fence? Either way raccoons climb trees, so a fence won't matter. You need to make your backyard boring for a few weeks, no food, no trash, nothing to play with or get into, until the critters find another yard to party in. Or find a humane society that can relocate animals like these.

We have the same problem. They love water. Unless you put something over it that they can't move, you really are out of luck. they can get over any fence you put up, and often under them too. Get a big dog maybe?

We have spent the last 6 years dumping our baby-pool most evenings before we go in. (we water the plants with the water) But we don't fill it or use it every day, either.

Our neighbors put a heavy mesh screen over their pond to keep the raccoons from eating the fish, but they are relentless and still wreck the plants, rocks, dirt, etc.

Good luck!

We have racoons in our neighborhood here in Portland. The neighbors hired a company to set traps and then pick up the racoons. The name of it was Critter Getter. I'm sure you could find someone like that in Seattle. They would advertise help in getting rid of rodents and pests.

A new set of racoons did come back but they weren't such a nuisance. We have racoons now but they seem to stay in an area that has large trees.

They rarely if ever came into our yard. I don't know why but maybe it was because we had a couple of cats who were usually outdoors at night. We also didn't have any food around and the garbage can has a locking lid. We still have one cat outdoors. We also had and still do have a light on the garage that lights up the driveway and back yard.

Racoons climb; a fence won't keep them out.

I would be so angry about the swimming pool.

You can trap them yourselves and take them to Animal Control, I think. Your county's Animal Control may have some suggestions and probably knows the numbers for companies that do this sort of work.

I hope that you can get rid of them.

Hot wire works wonders for most pets and not so great visitors.

We had the same problem. An entire family of raccoons lived under our deck and popped our daughter's pool. My husband did some research and ordered some powdered coyote urine online. I think that Home Depot might carry it right now. It is the same idea as the poop from the zoo. They smell it and it scares them away.
We don't have the critters anymore. (knock on wood)
Good luck,
S. V.

Hi Daniella
Raccoons are very smart and have hands like us to do things with. One of the things Raccoons need to do is wash there food before they eat it. The draw of easy water and axsess will bring a lot of critters to visit. Here are some suggestions. on the top of your 3 foot fence put an electric fence wire that is only on at night and all the kids are in bed, after a few shocks they learn to not go to that spot and they teach other Raccoons to not visit. If that is not to your liking than spread cat litter that a male cat has used around the edges of your yard and the pool area, the litter is good for the ground and the smell of the predater tells them to stay away. If you do not have a male cat ask your nabers if you can have some of there litter. Live trapping works but the Raccoon will need to be released far away. Remember that YOU are in there territory and it is about territory and resorces for there survival. That said Raccoons can carry Rabies so do not play with them or feed or let the kids attempt to pet them, they are wild. Finally you can dig a hole in the ground and put the pool in it with a small deck around the top to protect the top edge and the Raccoon can still wash it's food or get a drink and if it falls in it can still climb out with out doing a lot of damage to the pool it's self. Do some reserch on Raccoons and there needs, behavyour, habitat, what they fear,and so on. The fence is allways a good thing to protect the children. One last thought is to set up a hidden camera and a recorder to find out what is really doing the damage to the pool, you might be surprised. So there you go, Have FUNN