Predators

[Maggie3fan]

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

well...I love cats, but I sure don't want that one getting used to eating here...I live in North Corvallis, right where he's been spotted...and right now I have a family of 5 skunks living under my tort shed and a raccoon family in the cherry tree next door easy pickin's around here for a cat like him...

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

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...........

I know people sometimes surround their beehives with electric fencing to deter bears.

 

[Maggie3fan]

Right now I am in a battle for my Sulcata pen, voles are attacking...they've ruined the food in one big pen...and they girdled a 20 year old Rhoady and killed it without fuss...I think their destructiveness is way worse then any gopher here...

 

[jeff kushner]

Yeah, voles do serious lawn damage. I control them but it prob wouldn't be a popular solution around here. Last year they ripped me a new one but this year they haven't been around.....save 1 that travels from under my bin to the woods and back, doesn't veer off course. I smash his tunnels and a day later it's back, always one path. It could be a lot worse, Mole traps don't work...the spikes kind....I so wanted it to work but I'm a gory guy sometimes.

Anyway.....here's the racoon learning what a mousetrap is....or two! I think after the 2nd snap he started to ignore it but then did a "man does that hurt" and made for the woods not to return. LOL

I will keep the electric fence idea in mind......Matts home is enclosed because he doesn't have them!

 

[jeff kushner]

To circle back to this almost a week later. Racoons I learned Mark, can undo self-destructive-learned-behaviors! Who da thought? Apparently they really hate mousetraps. I surrounded the fountain in 10 mouse traps and they stopped coming around by Tues. I didn't want to hurt them but I needed to get serious with the rat and I couldn't if the racoon kids were still coming around. The mousetraps don't hurt them but are very effective deterrents once they've been snapped a few times....they are thickheaded so it takes a few nips before they catch on to the program! LOL


Initially I tried my small box trap but Mr Rat was wise to the ways of the small have-a-hart trap. He was also well schooled in the ways of the common wooden rat trap with it's bright yellow tip plate.

Unfortunately for him, he was not wise to the 3 path options I gave him by moving bricks to block his way....He had 3 ways to go.....the box trap, the decoy yellow bladed rat trap or the rat trap that had been spray painted black and buried in the sand with no bait on it..."rambo style".

He chose "poorly"

I'm not a big fan of rats so they don't get the same "nice guy" treatment other animals do around here but I did chuck his corpse to the center of the lawn where it can be picked up by anyone...and it will....might already be gone!