Raccoon..Help!

[PerfecTommy07]

I am in a condo 2 miles from the heart of downtown Chicago. Not the exactly a place you'd expect to be teeming with wild life. In any case my 3rd floor balcony container garden is apparently a favorite haunt for a local Racoon. I am constantly finding clues of his little visits. A knocked over (or chewed on) water pitcher. Leaning pepper plants where he has been sniffing around. But I have rarely ever actually SEEN him.

Well this weekend I caught him in the act and when I surprised him he ran up the stair case instead of down trapping himself as the only way to get away would mean he'd have to come right past me. Or so I thought. Over the next five minutes I watched maybe the greatest feat of climbing ever as he carefully monkey bared his way under the stair shelves and onto a thin railing which he easily negotiated toward safety.

Entertaining as it may be I would rather not have an encore performance at another 3am presentation. I have already Raccoon proofed my deck (or so I thought) by installing plastic chicken wire everywhere I could think a critter could squeeze thru the bars. I’ve installed motion lights every where. I even bought some predator gaurd red bliking light zizmo that is supposed to deter coons. But he seems to have climbed right over that thing. I then put in DYI squirrel baffle type shelves where he apparently climbs over and now I have gone completely crazy and used dish detergent to soap the rails and sprinkled them with cayenne.

I am growing Cukes, Zuchinni, Tomatoes and Peppers. There no fruit yet so he hasn’t done too much damage, but I'm afraid he knows he has found the jackpot and its only a matter of time.

Just be honest with me am I going to lose this battle?

[Susan W]

Don't know whether to laugh or shake my head! We have raccoons, but a different urban setting, -mostly single family homes, even if yards small, are green and treed, also enticing bowls of pet food left out.
Your critter has excellent taste in food. It could be rummaging for left over burgers and fries, pet food, and garbage, but goes for healthy veggies.

[Bobberman]

Trap him in a cage trap and move him a mile away near a creek. They are very dangerous so be care ful. You can buy the trap at tractor supply for $34 and get a second smaller one with it free.!

[Lindsaylew82]

Bless your heart...

They're pretty ballsy around here. I leave cat food out for Stray cats and raccoons would come eat and stare at you through the window. Possums, too! Not scared at all.

[Bobberman]

Do not corner one they are very wild! They also carry rabies so be careful!

[Susan W]

Agreed, it will need to be trapped out of there. You can try the city animal or vermin control. Chances are they'll tell you you're on your own, but worth a call. Then if it is trapped, very hard to dispose the mad critter. You don't want to put it in a treed park 2 miles away for it to ravage someone else's yard. I have enlisted my sons to empty live trap in an area along the river (Miss) that is part industrial and has lots of low land.
Also call the private animal - pest folks and get a price.

[PerfecTommy07]

Human society says this about trapping and relocation

"Raccoons are a clan animal. They live in groups of several adult individuals, as well as juveniles, and are very dedicated and dependent upon family ties for survival, protection and nurturing. For this reason we strongly discourage live trapping and relocating of raccoons. Studies done by the Humane Society of the United States have shown that more than 90% of relocated raccoons die within a short time in alien territory that is habitat to other resident raccoon clans. Many of them die on roads in their desperate attempts to get back to the safety of their own clan. Many others are killed by the resident raccoon clans protecting their territory".

https://www.animalhumanesociety.org/wild ... e-raccoons
For what its worth...

[PerfecTommy07]

Dumping unwanted animals like raccoons "a mile away near a creek" is a really bad idea. The first thing the 'coon heads for is the nearest corn field, vegetable garden or hen house. Rural areas are not a dumping ground for unwanted wildlife. If it is a pest in town, it's a pest in a rural area. Call pest control or your municipal animal control. They can help you without imposing your problem on someone else.

For whatever reason the city of Chicago does not consider Raccoons a pest species, and will only step in to remove the animal under very special circumstances.

[PerfecTommy07]

In any case the Raccoons in this neighborhood have apparently been here for decades. I myself moved here 2 years ago, but my neighbors have plenty of stories to tell about the critters and most of them are not bad. As long as they keep trash containers properly in order they don't seem to be a problem.

I had them visit my container garden last year as well. I only grew tomatoes and peppers last year (jalapenos). What I did was surround my tomato containers with the pepper. the result was an occasional half chewed pepper and less frequent visits from the critter who apparently does NOT have a taste for spicy chilies.

My concern this year is the cukes and zucchini will create a wild life farmers market.

[Lindsaylew82]

There's always the electric route!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001B2R5P ... ot_redir=1

[PerfecTommy07]

I ended up deploying some potted cacti around the small permiter railing I'm trying to defend on my balcony, and ended up stabbing the ever living **** out of my hand. So. I know they work!

We'll see how that goes.

[slackercruster]

OP, I have 20 something small but producing fruit trees. The coons stripped them all clean last season. I got nil fruit. I just set up a few traps and am testing the waters for best bait.

Yes, raccoons can be fun to watch if they were not so destructive.

[RedBeard1987]

I ended up deploying some potted cacti around the small permiter railing I'm trying to defend on my balcony, and ended up stabbing the ever living **** out of my hand. So. I know they work!

We'll see how that goes.

I'm now picturing you chasing the raccoon away only to fall into the cacti while the coon gets away unscathed. hahaha!

but I hate raccoons. they were such a pest in my old home. I also live in the chicago area. If you trap the raccoon you are only legally allowed to release it within 15 yards of where you caught it, if I remember correctly. For the reasons stated above, raccoons are a clan animal and should not be separated. I however found a loophole. I caught the whole family and brought them to the animal wellfair league who relocated them. Good luck with that thing. theyre smarter than you think and those little thumbs of theirs give them a big edge. they are relentless ive seen them chew through solid wood, take bungee cords off garbage cans like nothing, open gates to get to trash cans. And they are not afraid of you. They are hell spawn sent to make you miserable and destroy your beleif that you are the dominant species on earth. the babies are pretty cute though.

[rainbowgardener]

They are really cute and they are REALLY agile and smart. One time I was camping and we hung our food from a high tree branch. In the middle of the night there was commotion. We discovered that a raccoon, had climbed the tree, gone out the branch, gone down the rope, OPENED THE ZIPPER on the bag, and was chowing down on our food and calling its friends.

They are fearless and will come right up to you. Where I used to live, I had raccoons eating out of my hand. I know I could do that again, but I decided it wasn't good policy.

From reading here, I have the impression that us urbanites (I am 4 miles from downtown on a big busy street) have worse problems with some of these critters than the country folk do. My theory is that in the country the critters are still used to wild foraging. In the city, they have gotten adapted to living with people and relying on their food - pet food that is out, garbage cans, food trash on the streets, bird feeders, compost piles, densely planted gardens, etc. With year round availability of lots of rich food, the critter population density gets higher. We saw a raccoon mom one spring with NINE raccoon babies following her. I think she had to be well fed to do that.

I just rely on caging everything in with deer netting that I don't want to share with the raccoons, squirrels, woodchucks, possums, deer and other four leggers.