My raccoons are developing super-strength

or else they've figured out how to use wheels, levers and pulleys.

The little bandits that sneak in my cat door discovered my giant bag of dog food, and chewed a hole in it. So yesterday I filled a big five-gallon plastic bucket with kibble and put the rest of the bag away. The bucket was tightly sealed and left in the kitchen.

This morning the bucket, still sealed, was right next to the cat door. Evidently they found a way to move it over to the door, but were foiled when they were unable to figure out how to get it OUT the door. If they get their hands on a circular saw, I think they'll be successful. Pray for me.

We used to feed them raw eggs when I was a kid, and they would swim in our pool, much to our delight.

We thought they were cute and fun.

Then our neighbors had to have their roof totally replaced, because the raccoons had *completely* destroyed it and had nested in it (the neighbors were elderly and didn't notice anything until it was too late). They are sly bandits indeed.

The next step is they chew through the plastic. Yep, happened to me. But check out this site. I actually posted this in GD 2004 for stolen Kerry signs, but it works very well on raccoons.
http://www.scatmat.com/Products/Scarecrow/

but I also have three cats that might not enjoy being sprayed.

my score so far is 1 broken pot, 1 smashed azalia, 1 languishing geranium (due to broken pot), 1 very pissed fox and 3 wet cats. But raccoons haven't raided my pond again.

They are one of Nature's more unique and interesting creatures.

Despite their mischievousness they should be respected.

If you have a circular saw it won't be long before they figure out how to run it.

They would get in the corn in our garden when I was a kid so my dad put out a have a heart trap. Didn't catch a one. One morning he went out early and a coon was sitting on top of the trap using it for a table as he ate the corn!

Seems as if there is nothing they can't get into or out of.

I have intimate knowledge of Raccoon bandits, they used to get into my barn every night. You need to secure the top, they will figure out how to open it. I use bungie cords through the side handles, through the top handle. That stops them. One other thing to try. Put a radio in the room and turn it on. Most tell you rock and roll will stop them but I leave mine on a public radio station and that seems to do it, it isn't even that loud. When the electricity goes out I always come out there to find there was a Raccoon party in the barn. They must check it every night. :shrug: I love them. When I move out there I will feed them their very own food so they won't mess up the cat stuff.

They can get into anything.

UCSC, and he had many stories of the bold squirrels around campus. Maybe the raccoons and squirrels have formed a coalition of the willing themselves? :-)

I used to have one that would scale my chainlink fence and walk through my dog door. He'd pry open the dog food container and eat to his heart's content.

One night I heard him in there and I walked to the door. By the time I turned on the light, all I could see was the flap of the dog door closing behind him. I unlocked the door to the back porch and went back to bed. Not five minutes later, he was back. I quickly opened the door and growled at him.

He hasn't been back since.

will eventually keep them away. but right now they're not terribly frightened of a puppy that sleeps like he's in a coma.

First the dog levitation bit and now this. Poor, poor Dookus. Do we need to stage an intervention?

I know what I saw. Why are you afraid of the truth?

tell us more!

he sits next to me on the floor and cries pitifully until I pick him up and put him on the couch with me. It's just too big for him to climb up.

But...

If I'm not in the room, he magically floats up onto the couch without any assistance. But it only happens when nobody's looking.

How much fun are you having with him?!?!?!

That you might be turning into a Furry. Can scritching be far being? :scared:

it's not MY fault I live in a twisted, upside down Disney movie.

Yiffing? Oh, the horror, the horror! :o

It allows only your cats, who have spiffy sensors on their collars, to come in.

I *HAVE* one of those.

Alas, the magnet is only required to come in from the outside. The cats don't need one to exit.

What this means is the raccoons have learned to PULL the cat door open and gain access.

My neighbor had the same problem and finally created some sort of Rube Goldberg setup that prevented the racoons from squeezing through a series of holes that were just big enough for the cat.

The racoons were so pissed, they came around and just WAILED on the plywood/cinderblock structure. You could hear the banging all the way over at our house. Made it impossible for my neighbors to sleep.

They're terrrists, I tell ya!

And, they're stinky if they get into the house!