Predators

[jeff kushner]

So we have lots of animals around here and we love it. We often get visits from Rocky racoon and Fannie fox at night around Matt's enclosure but mainly to snoop around and to drink. The other day I saw small animal digs at Matt's enclosure so i setup the cam and caught a rat! That's what hurt Matt 3 yrs ago so i set a trap. Well lastnight Rocky comes and smells the food inside the trap, trips it then drags it halfway across the yard because he can't open it to get the food! LOL
This evening I hope to "intercept" Rocky on his way to the fountain area so the trap set for the rat will remain in peace. I doubt the small trap will hold a rat but I have to do some rehab on the smallest one I have.

 

[wellington]

I have the same wildlife. Coons, fox, skunk, opossum, mice and sometimes rats. Coyote but I have not had one in my yard yet and cars. Once rats really bad
I also have chickens besides my tortoises.
I have never had a varmit bother my animals, except coons that went into my fish pond and killed 3 fish.
Never seen them dig anywhere to try to get too any of my animals. Some do sniff at the chicken shed, but they can't get in
However, I always have food available. They are either getting into the chickens food or any left over tortoise food that I may have given them.
If you can't get the rat, try always leaving some kind of food out.

 

[Maggie3fan]

Ok ok I know it's not a contest...but I win!!!
AI Overview




Recent articles confirm multiple mountain lion (cougar) sightings in Corvallis, Oregon, primarily in northwest neighborhoods, starting in late July and continuing into early August 2025. These incidents include a cougar killing a deer under a resident's porch, confirmed sightings via photo and video, and increased police and wildlife agency monitoring. Residents are advised to keep small pets and children indoors, avoid cornering the animal, and give it space to leave.

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[naturalman91]

Ok ok I know it's not a contest...but I win!!!
View attachment 394419AI Overview




Recent articles confirm multiple mountain lion (cougar) sightings in Corvallis, Oregon, primarily in northwest neighborhoods, starting in late July and continuing into early August 2025. These incidents include a cougar killing a deer under a resident's porch, confirmed sightings via photo and video, and increased police and wildlife agency monitoring. Residents are advised to keep small pets and children indoors, avoid cornering the animal, and give it space to leave.

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Sounds like someone needs to called "the cougar guy" down here in Eugene/veneta to come up there lol

 

[wellington]

Ok ok I know it's not a contest...but I win!!!
View attachment 394419AI Overview




Recent articles confirm multiple mountain lion (cougar) sightings in Corvallis, Oregon, primarily in northwest neighborhoods, starting in late July and continuing into early August 2025. These incidents include a cougar killing a deer under a resident's porch, confirmed sightings via photo and video, and increased police and wildlife agency monitoring. Residents are advised to keep small pets and children indoors, avoid cornering the animal, and give it space to leave.

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I don't have those in my yard, but I have read or saw on the news that there were sightings here and there in the Illinois burbs. I can't confirm if true. It's on the news and then we hear nothing more.
But if say so far you do win

 

[Maggie3fan]

Sounds like someone needs to called "the cougar guy" down here in Eugene/veneta to come up there lol

He's been spotted in my neighborhood, I live outside of Corvallis

 

[jeff kushner]

I try not to live where things can eat me....and im not a big cat fan. I'd probably sell.

Well, I repaired the smallest trap before I went to bed so i had 3 traps setup last night.
This morning;

Both traps bothered and empty but then I saw that Rocky spent the night in "racoon jail"

LOL I guess she's scrapping the towel out of spite!
I'll let her free in the back yard once im dressed since she lives here too..maybe she won't be so quick to return?

Tonight I'll reset them all.....good times at the Nook but at least Matt wasn't bothered.

 

[TammyJ]

Ok ok I know it's not a contest...but I win!!!
View attachment 394419AI Overview




Recent articles confirm multiple mountain lion (cougar) sightings in Corvallis, Oregon, primarily in northwest neighborhoods, starting in late July and continuing into early August 2025. These incidents include a cougar killing a deer under a resident's porch, confirmed sightings via photo and video, and increased police and wildlife agency monitoring. Residents are advised to keep small pets and children indoors, avoid cornering the animal, and give it space to leave.

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Ok Maggie, very good .
But did you see that there's a black Panther in the King of England's garden? He's super nervous.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

I try not to live where things can eat me....and im not a big cat fan. I'd probably sell.

Well, I repaired the smallest trap before I went to bed so i had 3 traps setup last night.
This morning;
View attachment 394445
Both traps bothered and empty but then I saw that Rocky spent the night in "racoon jail"
View attachment 394446
LOL I guess she's scrapping the towel out of spite!
I'll let her free in the back yard once im dressed since she lives here too..maybe she won't be so quick to return?

Tonight I'll reset them all.....good times at the Nook but at least Matt wasn't bothered.

I always drive them a few miles away from the house near water. I've only had a racoon eat some baby aquatic turtles. They really can open things up if they aren't weighed down and locked.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Saw this the other day

 

[RandyTortoise]

I try not to live where things can eat me....and im not a big cat fan. I'd probably sell.

Well, I repaired the smallest trap before I went to bed so i had 3 traps setup last night.
This morning;
View attachment 394445
Both traps bothered and empty but then I saw that Rocky spent the night in "racoon jail"
View attachment 394446
LOL I guess she's scrapping the towel out of spite!
I'll let her free in the back yard once im dressed since she lives here too..maybe she won't be so quick to return?

Tonight I'll reset them all.....good times at the Nook but at least Matt wasn't bothered.

That raccoon will eat tortoises. Also, they never never “learn and lesson and not come back”. There is no frightening them and hoping they don’t return. That is the problem with raccoons. If he knows there is an easy food source you can beat it with a stick and it will run like hell and a few days later come back and kill your animals!

I had this issue with my pet ducks. Same situation. Catch them, scare them and yell at them. Guess what, both of my pet ducks were killed a few nights later and they ate the bodies in a nearby tree.

With these animals you must trap them and you have two choices, drive it 25 miles away and let it go or kill it. There isn’t a middle ground. And in fact MOST states allow you to catch any raccoon that is killing or harassing farm animals or pets. But once you catch them many states do not allow you to take it a release it away from your noise as they will just be someone’s problem. They allow you to kill it.

 

[RandyTortoise]

Saw this the other day

View attachment 394450

That’s funny. The most dangerous animals in Illinois is people with guns. They missed the mark on that one

 

[Yvonne G]

I try not to live where things can eat me....and im not a big cat fan. I'd probably sell.

Well, I repaired the smallest trap before I went to bed so i had 3 traps setup last night.
This morning;
View attachment 394445
Both traps bothered and empty but then I saw that Rocky spent the night in "racoon jail"
View attachment 394446
LOL I guess she's scrapping the towel out of spite!
I'll let her free in the back yard once im dressed since she lives here too..maybe she won't be so quick to return?

Tonight I'll reset them all.....good times at the Nook but at least Matt wasn't bothered.

A couple years ago I lost 5 or 6 box turtles to a mama racoon. I put all the empty shells into a Havahart tap and caught a heavily pregnant racoon which I drove out into the country and released next to a creek.

 

[TammyJ]

Our predators up here in the hills of Kingston Jamaica, are the Humans and the Mongoose, in that order.
We don't have Box turtles but we have the Jamaican slider turtle and the critically endangered Jamaican boa, which the Mongoose preys on.
The Mongoose was brought here a very long time ago from India to kill the cane rats. Bad luck for the snakes!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Saw this the other day

View attachment 394450

According to many, the tick is the most dangerous animal in Finland Some say moose (they cause deadly car crashes), as for other mammals, dogs and horses cause quite a few injuries. Then after that, comes wasp on many lists. None of these are any of our predators, as they haven't really harmed humans enough when it comes to statistics.

As for predators here we have bears, wolves, lynxes, and wolverines, as well as smaller predators such as foxes, martens, weasels, polecats, ferrets, otters, and badgers. Of these very few wander into urban areas.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

According to many, the tick is the most dangerous animal in Finland Some say moose (they cause deadly car crashes), as for other mammals, dogs and horses cause quite a few injuries. Then after that, comes wasp on many lists. None of these are any of our predators, as they haven't really harmed humans enough when it comes to statistics.

As for predators here we have bears, wolves, lynxes, and wolverines, as well as smaller predators such as foxes, martens, weasels, polecats, ferrets, otters, and badgers. Of these very few wander into urban areas.

We have a lot of stuff here, but it's rare that you ever see them. In my opinion, the most dangerous animal across the globe us people...then mosquito

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

We have a lot of stuff here, but it's rare that you ever see them. In my opinion, the most dangerous animal across the globe us people...then mosquito

I agree on the first one!

 

[Tom]

We have all that stuff out here too, including the mountain lions. I live out on the edge of civilization out in the country, and a large portion of my time is spent fighting off the critters. Damn gophers are determined to kill everything I am trying to grow. Its infuriating.

 

[jeff kushner]

Matt's enclosure has a locking gasp that i installed just for Racoons when i built it but i cut a door to the fountain area last month and that's where the bad guys try to make entry. I reimsert the wood piece at night and block it with a brick so Matt's protected but I want the rat gone.

If i lure the rat, the Racoons think im having a dinner party for them. Catch 22

I know in my heart that RT is correct about Racoons. They are survival scavengers and unafraid of most things. I don't underestimate their fearsome fighting abilities either because I'm not stupid. They can really screw your day up if they attack. The one I released was small, it wasn't Rocky and I assessed its mood before I opened the door since with these traps there's no way to do it remotely!

Last night i changed tactics....i went with a few mousetraps and a sticky pad. The videos of the Racoons is pretty funny. They eventually left but they look to be the kids of Rocky....the little ones that were in our owl box a couple months ago.

It's nearing the time I will be bringing Matt indoors for the winter so we'll play this game a while longer. It's mildly entertaining and as long as Matt is safe than we're ok with the visitors. I'm looking at a fawn now. And a bunny passed a few minutes ago...

 

[mark1]

personally i'm sold on electric wires/fences, easy to install... imo, electricity is the ultimate behavior modification tool, i don't believe it should be used on anything, especially folks using it on dogs, unless there is no other way......electric wires deter anything...... they use them for bears........ as long as you install it with no way around it raccoons are no problem, they're not great jumpers, they're climbers, which makes wires real effective....... i had 3 raccoons born in my yard this year, i have open top pens with food/water and baby turtles in them...........