Boston Gal's Open Wallet

We get all kinds of wildlife where we are too....raccoons, owls, cayotes. But I figure it's their land too.

One thing that was attracting raccoons was a composting bin we have. When I stopped putting fruit peels (especially banana peels) in the bin, the raccoons didn't come around as much. Maybe a more secure garbage can would help in your situation.

 

my neighbor has a bird feeder hung from a high branch - about once a month in the summer 2 racoons will try to get at it at the same time and there is a loud fight - or at least that is what i thought until reading your post.

How do i tell the difference between boy racoons and girl racoons?

 

If they're in love, how about a Have-a-Heart trap and send them off on a pre-paid honeymoon in the great outdoors? :-)

 

Very funny - how many click throughs are you getting from the RSS feed on this one?

Planting hot chili trees, the South Asian kind, really has kept the raccoons out of our back garden (plus the plants yield a lot of chilis). They don't like spicy. Doesn't keep them away from our garbage, mind you.

 

Second the secure garbage cans idea. My uncle had this issue. Nearly every night the 'coons would come around and knock it over and forage on whatever they could find. My ponied up the $$$ for the secure cans and hasn't had that problem since. They forage the neighbors' cans now!

-Erica

 

Looks like you'll soon have the pitter-patter of little raccoon feet to add to the racket soon. They're very cute.

On a camping trip, we once foiled the cooler-raiding raccoon by securing the cooler under a bench. When he discovered that he couldn't open the cooler any more, I swear he cursed at us!

 

Anonymous mentioned have-a-heart traps. While these traps don't kill the animals, they are far from humane.

In the first place, if the racoons are already raising young, you are taking their parents away and the babies will starve.

And to take an animal away from it's home and dump it in unfamiliar territory is also cruel. They don't know where to find food or shelter in a strange environment.

If you take away the things that are attracting them like easily accessible garbage, they will likely move on to find food and you'll get the sleep you need. And you won't be attracting any new raccoons to your area.

 

Thank you for all of the advice!

My garbage cans are already secure - the only thing they can do is knock them over - they can't remove the lids to get into the trash. I learned that lesson my first year in this house. Does not mean that they don't occasionally knock the barrels over (out of spite I can only assume) but at least I don't have to chase trash down the street (like my neighbors, who never seem to learn).

I live in a very crowded urban environment. So while my trash is not luring them to my back yard, I can only assume there must be other attractions to my little urban oasis. Composting could be an attraction, but they don't seem to be digging around there. Just chittering and rolling around on my little patch of grass having away at each other. If they could have their fun in a quiet way I would be happy to ignore nature taking its course. But they insist on waking me up night after night!

 

My ex-husband was a daytime sleeper. He kept a fan running while he slept, he said that theconstant hum of the fan drowned out noise, allowing him to sleep undisturbed.

 

That's a difficult problem BG. I can understand your frustration.

The thing is, the raccoons won't hang around if there isn't a food source. I know you may not have control over that as others in your neighborhood might have pet food and other things out that the raccoons eat.

Even if you do go the route of trapping them, as long as there is a source of food, a new set of raccoons will come in to take the place of the others. You might try calling your local wildlife rescue service to see if they have some suggestions.

 

I second the white noise idea. It's spring so hopefully thay will soon take up other activities. I know in the spring and summer in the evening I'm always a bit creeped out hearing baby foxes calling for their parents (sounds like someone dying) or coyotes howling in the distance but fortunately I don't wake easily. Perhaps there is some deterrent you could use.

It's actually illegal to trap and relocate wildlife in Massachusetts since moving them could expose you and the animals in the new area to potentially harmful diseases (rabies has unfortunately been found in most, if not all, communities in Massachusetts).

Good luck!