How to get rid of Raccoon?
Florida corgi VS Toronto Raccoon
I have a stubborn raccoon that camps out on my 2nd floor balcony, it keeps coming back every other night and causing the corgis to bark in the middle of the night. I had a talk with the condo management and they said animal control will not come out, the only thing they suggested was pouring "bleach" around the balcony. The balcony have no trash, food or plants, so most of the internet suggestions do not apply to my situation.
Vienna: "Open the gate dad, it's an oversize squirrel!"
The racoon is quite bold, it will not back off, when I use a broom to "sweep" him off, it growls and hold his ground. The corgis can bark all night long and he will not move an inch away from the sliding door. The only thing that "worked" so far is a water squirting bottle, it'll move but only to crawl to my next door neighbour's balcony.
Notice how FAT this raccoon is?
When the "coast" is cleared, he'll climb back :(
Raccoon: "curse you! I shall return!"
Any ideas?
OCT 2 *UPDATE*
"Randy" the raccoon crossed the rainbow bridge tonight, he was hit by a car earlier this evening, I picked up his body and lay him on the sidewalk :(
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
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We trapped and relocated three racoons this past month in a Havaheart trap, last one this morning. They come in through the cat door.... I did some research and read that they absolutely hate the scent of the orange based all purpose cleaners, so I sprayed some around the sides of the pet door. To be continued (fingers crossed) If it works, it needs to be done every 2 to 3 days. Worth a try, easy, cheap, readily available and non toxix. You could try some o the balcony.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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one thing to consider before doing this is that dogs also hate the smell of citrus. You may be deterring your dogs from using the dog door or going out on the balcony as well. Citrus is an excellent training tool for dogs who like to mark certain areas inside the house bc they hate the smell so much.
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@ Melissa, If a dog is used to the pet door, some citrus sprayed around the outside of the pet door, not the flap, should not be enough to counteract the established pattern of coming into the house. I'd just spray very lightly to get him used to it and call him in and give a tasty treat. Marking is a different type of behavior. I would try it and see how the individual dog reacts, but I would let it dry completely before calling in the dog.
BTW how did the boots work for Franklin on your camping trip?
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Permalink Reply by Lucy & Ricky (Wendy/Jack ) on
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@Anna - How long did you need to leave the traps in place before capturing them? I wondered how long we would have to confine our outdoor cat. Also, what did you use to lure them? The raccoons here do not come in our doggy door to the house (yet!) but they use the cat door into the garage. Do cats do ok with the orange based smell?
I've got my fingers crossed for you! You're my hero. These raccoons are driving us nuts. Lately there have been many sitings of pairs of coyotes walking down our neighborhood streets in the broad daylight. I'm surprised the coyotes haven't taken on the raccoons. They eliminated all the rabbits in our area.
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@ Wendy - we also have a cat door into the Garage and an adjacent room for the cat (I'm allergic soI can't have the cat in the house) where we keep food and water for him. This area is attached to the house. We have a large feeder with a timer that dispenses food only in the morning, but the coons know how to empty the whole feeder, which holds 10Lbs. We used to rent the trap and now have bought one, this allowes us to set it up the very next night, when chances are higher he'll come back. The last one we caught the following night, before that it took one to three weeks. We lock up the cat in his room and set the trap in the garage. I put a dish of cat food inside and pieces of bread with peanut butter or coconut oil or honey and a bit of cat food outside the trap also to lure him in. We've also caught a stray cat that went to Cat Rescue... We too have Coyotes, they will take cats and sometimes dogs, but we never had a problem of them coming in. I think the Racoons may be too feisty for the Coyote to tackle. My cat, who is very suspicious, did not mind the citrus spray around the outside of the pet door (I did not spray the flap itself).
The raccoons are attracted by food and water, if you can take them away at night, they will not be inclined to return. We travel a fair amount, so we need the automatic feeder. I found some good info at this site:
http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/health/raccoons.html#catdoor good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Laura on
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Oh man what a well fed raccoon! Since you're legally not allowed to live trap the animal, there is obviously a food source the raccoon is staying around for. It sounds like you need to find out which neighbor is either providing food to the animal or leaving food/trash out for the raccoon to get into.
Additionally, I was looking up laws regarding wildlife in Toronto and saw that there is no law strictly prohibiting feeding wildlife on private property so the next question is does your apartment building have any rules/regulations prohibiting feeding wildlife? Or rules/regulations regarding leaving trash on balconies or outside their apartment? If your apartment building does, you definitely have a case to put pressure on your neighbors to clean up!
Good luck! I'm curious to know what happens since Toronto has some pretty strict laws regarding dealing with wildlife.
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hi Laura, my condo backs into 147 acres of sunnybrook park (1/5 the size of central park), there's raccoons, chipmunks, squirrels, horses...etc.
Every Thursday is trash day where we take out the "Green bin" (organic compost), most neighbours are pretty good at securing the latch. The condo management is quite good at maintaining the complex, there's hardly any trash.
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@Jane - how does the shake away work for raccoons and not bother your dogs or cats?
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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@ Wendy...never tried them as racoon stay away except for one that our Aussie injured and we had to shoot him in the dark...they may wonder through our grove but leave us alone. We no longer have opossums either...or at least ones that come up to the door.
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Permalink Reply by Lou Ann Lemaster on
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Put some vinegar in the water the next time you spray it. It won't really hurt it and the smell may discourage it. Just a suggetion, I've never tried it. Why won't animal control come out?
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Permalink Reply by Vee Luther on
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If there really is a raccoon population problem in your neighborhood, even trapping them (and giving them a lift outside the city limits) wouldn't help since other racoons will move into the vacated territory. I hope you can figure out a way to make your balcony the least attractive place in town!
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@ Vee Luther - Good point. Even our ever-growing coyote population has not made a dent on the the squirrel and raccoon population. Drives us craaazy!
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