Raccoon in my yard : (

[2DogsFarm]

Came home today from garage-saleing to install the fish-shaped ornament I got above the 170gal stock tank my gold fish live in.
6 small - 2-3" - fish.
Imagine my surprise to find a youngish/smallish raccoon perched on the boards I have at one end of the tank to give the fish some shade.
Head & paws resting on the boards, very obviously studying how to catch a fish.

Fish were savvy enough to hide in the pieces of cinder block that are placed at the bottom of the tank to form tunnels they can swim through.

I hissed at the coon.
Blank stare back.
Stamped & clapped, still no reaction.
Waved a branch at it & got it to back down slowly.
But it sat in the brush behind the tank, looking back as I tried to find something to lob at it.
By the time I found a rock, it had disappeared from sight.

16yrs here & this is my first Raccoon Sighting in daylight.
Plenty former coons on the roads, so I know they’re here.
Today has been overcast & while I know coons are not strictly nocturnal, they usually are not active until dusk, but will sometimes be out during the day.

I Googled & found Epsom salt and/or Pine-sol will keep them away, so both will be sprinkled liberally round the tank ASAP.

Any other tried & true Scare 'Ems?
I read about a radio or motion-sensor lights, but neither of those is feasible before tonight.

TIA

[Equibrit]

Net the tank.

[2DogsFarm]

@Equibrit

Net the tank.

Thought of that.
And I believe I have some scrap chicken wire that could work.
Epsom salt has been spread, Pine-Sol will go out when I lock chickens up @ 8P.
War declared! ✊

[Zu_Zu]

Trap and dispatch ASAP Ӣ

[Sandysmom]

Younger raccoons will sometimes come out during the day as they haven’t perfected their foraging skills so get hungry. Be careful about spreading chemicals like Epson salt or Pine Sol around your pond because they can leach into your pond and kill your fish. I think netting the pond and keeping other food sources like garbage or bird feeders out of reach will make it move on. @Zuzu, no need to kill the poor thing. It’s just trying to survive.

[Texarkana]

Cover the tank with chicken wire (or whatever you have handy for tonight) and take the board down.

These 2020 raccoons are no joke. It’s a full on war on my farm. I’ve won the last few battles keeping them out of the feed room and dumpster, but I’m not foolish enough to think I’ve won the war!

[TMares]

Coons floss with chicken wire. You need hardware cloth.

[Bluey]

Also consider that a coon outside in daylight and not very responsive may be one getting sick.
They are a reservoir here for rabies and distemper.
You may not see that one ever again if it is sick or not for a long time.
If you do and is still not really moving on from your presence and shooing him off, just be careful, handle any he has been around with gloves and disinfect things, just in case.

[2DogsFarm]

Fish aren’t in a pond, but a 170gal galvanized stock tank, off the ground by the 2’ height.
Epsom & Pine-Sol can’t leach into any water supply.

@Sandysmom may be onto something.
It looks young & skinny.
I used an old window screen weighted at both ends to prevent it getting in the tank tonight.
I’m pretty sure it will try as it was back just now when I went to lock the chickens in their coop.

I really think it is sick or injured as when I swatted it with my RoosterBeater (old plastic rake missing tines) I connected with back legs & it didn’t make a sound & the getaway seemed in SloMo.

I called a humane rehab - closed until 8A tomorrow.
Their website suggests trapping it, but no way am I going to try getting that close.
Called neighbors, noone has a livetrap.

Fun evening here 🙄

[Tiramit]

We see young raccoons out later in the afternoon rather frequently. They’re healthy looking. What we have noticed on our night vision cameras is that the larger, older raccoons chase them away from food sources. At least at our place, the poor things are hungry and have to come out during the day when the coast is clear. One was a young mother who soon brought her 3 youngsters along with her.

Locking things down does seem to be the only way to keep them out. They’re so clever and dexterous that anything flimsy won’t be much of an obstacle. Can you build a small fence around the pond and add heavier hardware cloth? They eventually move on to something else.

We’ve used predator eye devices in the past (Amazon), but again, raccoons are clever. If it’s really hungry it might ignore them. Another option is to use electrical tape or one of those electric mesh fences.

[Sandysmom]

You might contact your local game wardens. They often have live traps and can get it to a rehabber if appropriate.

[Kirikou]

Yes, racoons are bad this year (I had one kill a chicken last weekend during the afternoon. It was overcast but still broad daylight… It also looked young). Good luck!

[BAC]

@Equibrit

Net the tank.

This. My neighbor’s fish have survived fir years despite the raccoons best attempt to get them. It helps if tank is deep enough that they can’t teach them with their paws easily. I keep a spray bottle of water/vinegar if I have to walk outside while they are around. It works temporarily if you squirt them in the face.

[Rackonteur]

If raccoons are out in the daytime it can mean they are really really hungry. We’ve already robbed them of so much of their habitat – why begrudge them a few fish?
Either that, or put out raccoon food when you feed your fish.

[jetsmom]

I tried fish in the trough, and caught jet “bobbing for goldfish”, with 2 dead ones outside trough and 1 half dead.

[GoodTimes]

Just secure some hardware cloth over the tank, problem solved.

They’ll have no problem sticking their paws through chicken wire, and no problem tearing through a screen.

[2DogsFarm]

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@BAC

This. My neighbor’s fish have survived fir years despite the raccoons best attempt to get them. It helps if tank is deep enough that they can’t teach them with their paws easily. I keep a spray bottle of water/vinegar if I have to walk outside while they are around. It works temporarily if you squirt them in the face.

@BAC I have had goldfish outdoors year-round in a tank for over 10yrs - the ones that recently went bellyup - possibly from zinc leaching out of the new, larger tank - were over 3# each & over a foot long counting tails.

Well, the windowscreen is intact after overnight.
No sign that anything tried to move it.
I also left a light on on my back room/mudroom that shines weakly onto the yard.
Need to get a bulb for the brighter light I haven’t left on for years as it shines into the bedroom.

I “beat the bushes” this morning & no sign of the raccoon.
Hopefully I made it unpleasant enough so no return, or it crawled off somewhere else to die.
If it reappears I will call the rehab place, but for now I’m good as are the fish.
I may pick up a spray bottle & use your vinegar repellent too.

[BAC]

@2DogsFarm

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@BAC I have had goldfish outdoors year-round in a tank for over 10yrs - the ones that recently went bellyup - possibly from zinc leaching out of the new, larger tank - were over 3# each & over a foot long counting tails.

Well, the windowscreen is intact after overnight.
No sign that anything tried to move it.
I also left a light on on my back room/mudroom that shines weakly onto the yard.
Need to get a bulb for the brighter light I haven’t left on for years as it shines into the bedroom.

I “beat the bushes” this morning & no sign of the raccoon.
Hopefully I made it unpleasant enough so no return, or it crawled off somewhere else to die.
If it reappears I will call the rehab place, but for now I’m good as are the fish.
I may pick up a spray bottle & use your vinegar repellent too.

I’m so sorry about your goldfish. I have a couple of neighbors who each have ponds, without a screen the raccoons have a feast. One neighbor decided to just fill in the pond. They are determined animals and can get very aggressive so be careful dealing with them.

If they find a food source they are happy to come out in daylight even when healthy. My diabetic mother had to hide her snacks in her golf cart when she was golfing, because the coons knew they can find food in the golfer’s carts so they came out on a regular basis.

[2DogsFarm]

Thanks @BAC I feel bad, as I thought I was doing the Old Fish a favor, moving them from the 65gal tank they had been in for years in to the larger.
They are dirty fish & every Spring I had to scrub the tank, refill & then repeat a couple times over the Summer or they were swimming in water so mucky you could hardly see them.
This Spring it took both hands to lift them from the old tank & each one got a 5gal bucket to “swim” (they could barely turn around) in until the new tank had enough water so they were under it.
They barely fit in the buckets!
It was so long ago, I did not recall seasoning the smaller tank, but whatever it was depleted the oxygen so one after the other, they died in a week. :-- (

At least they had a good long run, the oldest started as a 25-cent feeder 10+ years ago, youngest the same around 5yrs ago.

[BAC]

Now I feel even more sad, they had a long life but how ironic that their new bigger tank may have caused their death. Still they had a longer life than most. I don’t know much about fish, didn’t realize you have to season the tank, but I do know how dirty their tanks get.