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Persistent raccoon problems (Toronto)

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M

Magnus

Member
These monsters have made a habit of shitting all along the edges of our deck every single night. Today, they've pissed on the sides, too. Over the past few weeks, they've chewed through and torn apart our patio lights.

My boyfriend's pretty torn up about it - he spent a lot of time arranging the lights, furniture, cleaning, etc., and these fuckers wreck it all nightly.

Every technique out there hasn't been working - ammonia-stuffed tennis balls, taped down garbage bag sheets, traditional 'critter ridder' sprays, etc. They just ignore it all and do their business anyway.

Has anyone actually developed great techniques for deterring these things?

I'm not just annoyed - I'm worried for my pet's safety. We keep the cat off the deck now all the time for fear of the roundworm eggs in raccoon feces. It's rare that it affects humans, but the hazard-protection/gear you need to wear for cleanup is becoming a tiring process to embark on every week.
 
D

daemonic

Banned
A group of them somehow moved into my sister's roof. It's all they hear at night. They've taken over the city.
 
P

PSqueak

Banned
This is their vengances for the disrepectful handling of their dead comrade whose corpse was made a mockery on the net, isn't it?
 
S

Seductivpancakes

Member
Toss em.

5fa1c_raccoon-throw.gif
 
M

Magnus

Member
The most consistent general advice is to make your deck/patio an 'unappealing' place. Every bit of advice says to use different chemicals, food products, or other substances (even human urine or hair), but the end goal is the same. Make it somewhere they don't want to be.

Are we within our legal rights to actually blast them with a water hose? I obviously don't want to poison them or outright attack/hurt them, but a blast with water should piss them right off and not actually injure them.

Thoughts?

Until we embark on that, though, I might try leaving all sorts of the recommend substances around (pepper, cayenne, tabasco, human hair, ammonia, etc) in great quantities where they usually shit, and see if that deters them.
 
H

Hieberrr

Member
Yeah, they shit on my garage roof all the time and try to go through our compost pretty often as well. I fucking hate raccoons.
 
D

Dali

Member
Magnus said:
The most consistent general advice is to make your deck/patio an 'unappealing' place. Every bit of advice says to use different chemicals, food products, or other substances (even human urine or hair), but the end goal is the same. Make it somewhere they don't want to be.

Are we within our legal rights to actually blast them with a water hose? I obviously don't want to poison them or outright attack/hurt them, but a blast with water should piss them right off and not actually injure them.

Thoughts?

Until we embark on that, though, I might try leaving all sorts of the recommend substances around (pepper, cayenne, tabasco, human hair, ammonia, etc) in great quantities where they usually shit, and see if that deters them.
Click to expand...
Piss all over your own deck? Isn't that shooting your nose to spite your face, lol?

Edit what about running an energized wire along the deck walls. I had a neighbor when I was a kid that ran one along the bottom of his fence. I think it was for moles or other rodents.
 
D

DAVIDHUXLEY

Member
Take your traffic ticket windfall and use that money to by dance lessons for the raccoon . It will go viral in the raccoon community. That way if you cannot get rid of them at least they will be entertaining busting out with the post modern interpative dance moves.
 
L

Leynos

Member
Is it illegal to poison them in Toronto? If not, that would be my suggestion. They are invasive vermin.
 
W

Walpurgis

Banned
Leynos said:
Is it illegal to poison them in Toronto? If not, that would be my suggestion. They are invasive vermin.
Click to expand...
I don't see why the rules should be different from rats. If I were OP, I would definitely consider poison, but I'd be careful not to have corpses stuck in my roof or something.
 
L

Leynos

Member
oneran said:
Try hanging bags of mothballs where your patio lights were (the chemical ones not cedar) because the ammonia-stuffed tennis balls tend to dry out too fast, and remove any food sources near by.

Poisoning it can result in criminal charges and/or provincial charges with fines up $5,000. http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=f1fc83cf89870410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&vgnextchannel=a5737729050f0410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD
Click to expand...

Why would killing vermin (raccoons) be illegal? Is there a similar ban on killing mice, rats, ants, termites, etc.?

And if all else fails, it is very easy to be discreet about poisoning raccoons.
 
C

clearacell

Member
Yeah I got a family of 'coons living under a "for sale" house next door to me. There is a fig tree at the side of my house and they are constantly climbing and eating at like 3 a.m. they scare the crap out of my dogs who can't stop barking at them.
 
N

Nivash

Member
Leynos said:
Why would killing vermin (raccoons) be illegal? Is there a similar ban on killing mice, rats, ants, termites, etc.?

And if all else fails, it is very easy to be discreet about poisoning raccoons.
Click to expand...

It's probably considered inhumane and dangerous because there's no guarantee the raccoon is the only thing that would fall for the bait. You would potentially put pets, other animals or even small children at risk because the poison needs to be more potent than what's needed to put down a rat. I imagine that's the law in most places. Shooting is obviously illegal in Toronto due to it being a major city.

Found this page OP, lots of tips. No fool proof methods though, apparently.

http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/c...nnel=a5737729050f0410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

EDIT: Already been posted. In the post the guy I quoted responded to even. I must be getting old or something.
 
T

T-Dot

Banned
There was a decaying raccoon corpse lying on the sidewalk on my walk to home. It was there for a week, with it's intestines out and flies swarming all around it. Thankfully, they got rid of it, but it was pretty nasty stuff.
 
W

Wyndstryker

Member
It's probably why Toronto was Raccoon City in the Resident Evil films.

The correlation is too obvious.

And dunno how many times I nearly hit a raccoon while driving, damn things don't respect cars.
 
S

SillyEskimo

Member
It's unfortunate when our lives intersect with rodents and vermin. When it happens, killing them as fast and humanely as possible is the best solution IMO.

Call a professional or just shoot them yourself.

FYI, the professionals will probably just kill them anyway. I had a friend with a raccoon problem in his roof and the professional showed up, climbed a ladder with these giant leather gloves that went up to his shoulders, and he just grabbed them one at a time and drowned them in a bucket of water. It was not a sight for the faint of heart. I would rather they were just shot.

I had chipmunks all over my rock walls and flower beds. I had to resort to shooting them after trying everything in the book. They cause a lot of expensive damage very quickly.
 
O

oneran

Member
Leynos said:
Why would killing vermin (raccoons) be illegal? Is there a similar ban on killing mice, rats, ants, termites, etc.?

And if all else fails, it is very easy to be discreet about poisoning raccoons.
Click to expand...

I believe they are specifically mentioned in the the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act and you need an actual license to hunt them. (That and the municipality probably doesn't want to clean up more dead raccoon's than they already have too)
 
B

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
Try calling 311 and see what they advise.
 
S

SillyEskimo

Member
Get a log and hollow out a small hole in it. Put bits of shiny metal in the hole. Angle nails through the edges of the log so that there is still enough room for the raccoon to get his hand in there. Once he grabs the bits of metal, he'll form a fist and be unable to remove his hand. He'll stay there with his hand in the hole holding his goodies rather then simply let them go and slipping his hand out. Then you whack him with a baseball bat.

That's what they did in the book "Where The Red Fern Grows".
 
S

Syriel

Member
phil-x said:
Wow, just no. That's cruel.
Click to expand...

That was self-defense (well defense of pet). Raccoon in question deserved the punt.

Leynos said:
That raccoon was mauling that guy's little dog while they were out on a walk. He pulled it off, and threw the bastard down the stairs. Good riddance.
Click to expand...

It wasn't a walk. It was his back patio. He tossed it down the stairs of his condo complex. Guy doing the throwing was Kevin Rose. Happened in SF.

As far as Toronto, the raccoons there take things to a whole 'nother level.

Here's one that decided to climb a 700 foot crane just so it could poop at the top:

toronto-raccoon-crane-poop-934x500.jpg


Source:
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/04/raccoon-toronto-crane-poop/
 
U

UFO

Banned
I read thread title as "First World Raccoon Problems"and was expecting funny pictures. I like raccoons, they look like little cat bandits, and they use their hands.
 
Machine

Machine

Member
Have you considered setting some live traps? Catch them and release them out in some woods or farmland.
 
B

Brannon

Member
Bucket of chopped fruit next a bucket of water.

Inject fruit with the hottest, most scoville-tastic sauce you can find; not too much.

Put drops of same hot sauce in bucket of water. Or stir a small amout of pure capsaicin crystals in water (little to no scent).

Raccoons will come, and being known as washbears, will wash the fruit in the water before eating it. Or they may take a drink first. Either way, they're gonna feel the burn.

Couple days later, do the same thing again, but set them a bit farther away from your property as well as on your porch. Soon they will associate that general area with culinary torment and will avoid it.

BONUS: right before bed, dust the porch and wires and wherever they climb with capsaicin crystals. They'll walk over the area, getting it on their paws and fur, then they'll clean themselves by licking...

(remember to wash all that stuff off when it's done!)
 
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