Raccoons, any solutions?

[ZEROPILOT]

I have caught a 'dillo and a box turtle inadvertently with apple cores.

Of course, had the bait been sardines, i might still have caught them.

I'll ad those to my list. Although I'm a little too far into the "burbs" to find many armadillos. (And turtles would need to climb my privacy fence)

 

[allegraf]

Traps are set. Let's see what we catch!

 

[dmmj]

exotic manure? I'm out (drops mic)

 

[allegraf]

Here is what we caught last night using cat food. I know some said to use apples to catch a raccoon but since I don't know for sure what is digging I hedged my bets. I highly doubt the neighbor's cat is the problem but is it the opposing? It looks like a young juvenile.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

That's the same result I got with cat food trying to catch and relocate a family of Opossums that kept getting into my neighbors yard and getting shredded by their dog.
One cat for every two opossums.

 

[Redstrike]

I suspected you may have caught a skunk...looks like opossum is the culprit!

It's likely there are others, I'd keep trapping for a couple weeks until the only thing you catch is that neighborhood cat.

FYI, outdoor cats are probably one of the most destructive mesocarnivores out there. it's a big conservation issue, you may have saved a bird/lizard/small mammal from predation by catching your neighbors cat! Here's a peer-reviewed article from Nature on the issue:
http://www.accord3.com/docs/Loss et al 2013 Impact of free ranging domestic cats on wildlife in U.pdf

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox... I apologize for using your thread for my personal vendetta @allegraf.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Cat ownership shouldn't involve YOUR yard used as THEIR litterbox.

 

[allegraf]

HAHAHAH! The neighbor's cat was not amused. I think I'm going to try to train the neighbor's cat not to get trapped. Let's see what we get tonight!

 

[CharlieM]

The holes looks like the work of a raccoon. It will be interesting to see just how many different types of animals get trapped. You never knew how active the nightlife was going on in your yard while you slept.

 

[cdmay]

Pretty sure that cat won't go into the trap again. But I've caught and released the same possum on several occasions. A couple of years ago--after I spotted a big 'coon stealing eggs right form the back end of the female tortoise that was laying them-- I set my traps out for a while. I caught a juvenile possum that had a Micky Mouse black marking on one of his ears. Since he was just a little bugger and not the raccoon I had seen I simply released him back into my yard. I think I caught that dopey little guy 3 or 4 times more in the follow week!
Yes, I know...I shouldn't have released back in the yard. But he was so cute. Besides, I think the presence of the traps spooked the raccoon away because he vanished from the area.

 

[allegraf]

Bigger opossum. We will keep fishing. Hopefully it is only opossums since they won't mess with the torts.

 

[CharlieM]

Anything else trapped?

 

[allegraf]

Another opossum. Glad I am thinning out the opossum population and relieved we haven't got a raccoon as yet. Maybe the opossums were the culprits all along.

 

[Redstrike]

Another opossum. Glad I am thinning out the opossum population and relieved we haven't got a raccoon as yet. Maybe the opossums were the culprits all along.

If your tally is up to three opossums, that sounds like a pretty safe assumption. Though, you never know with raccoons.

 

[AnnV]

-_-

 

[Pearly]

View attachment 165462

Bigger opossum. We will keep fishing. Hopefully it is only opossums since they won't mess with the torts.

They look both scary and cute! Love them! I have them around my yard as well, using the neighborhood fences as their superhighways

 

[edwardbo]

Don't be fooled into thinking the raccoons are gone, I find they almost know when to make their rounds,just when you think all is safe ,they are back.still battling them here.