What animal is pooping on my stuff???

[Mark_in_NH]

Bob,
I know this will sound disgusting to some,and I apologize. I also don't know it is allowed within the rules of the TBN. But. If possible, can you post a picture of the poop ? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
A picture is worth a thousand words. If it is racoon poop, one or many of us will know it instantly.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Mark, we had heavy rain storms today so the poop is now in pieces and sort of melted. Certainly not picture worthy. Maybe in a couple of days. But I'm reasonably sure it must be racoon poop based on the drawings from Pfred. And the fact that they are very commonly seen in and around the yard.

 

[DannyD]

Sorry, I saw no humor in the post. As for the coons in the area we are talking about, guess what, if you live near woods etc. you are going to have wildlife. I used to have a skunk that lived under the drive in the pipe, he would come up and eat the cat food, then leave. Never even attempted to spray anyone or anything, kind of neat really.

IF the animal is rabid, you are doing it and all a favor by humanely killing it, other than that I would let it live

 

[MarkLeininger]

You can get prints by putting baking powder on a piece of cardboard if it's in a structure and there's no wind, or put out some damp sand.

Raccoon scat transmits round worms, particularly to children who tend to put their hands in their mouth while playing. The scat also carries a nasty airborne virus whose name I can't remember, so use a respirator if you're cleaning it up in an enclosed area. Raccoons are a host for the tick that carries Lyme. Distemper is pretty common. Need any more bad news?

 

[DannyD]

I vote with the rest, take away the food source (your garbage must stay INSIDE) and they will leave. They are on the porch for one thing, food. If you have berry trees that close, you have a food plot for them. One other thing could be doing this, and that would be a cougar or other predator, that is running them off. You will not see it, but the coons know it is there, if in fact it is. I dont know of many predators coons have in the wild, since they can run fast, and climb fast also. Hawks maybe, snakes if big enough, or it could just be a banner year for young and you are getting them.

I do wish you were close to me, I know of lots of places to release them that would be safe and secure.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

The garbage cans are always locked in the garage, there is no dog food outside, the pool house is not stocked with food (unless you consider beer in the mini-fridge to be food), never seen any signs of racoons inside there or the garage. But they are all over the pool areas, the stone paths, the stone steps, the play areas, etc. At least the poop is all over those areas.

The only way I can remove the food source is to burn down the woods. All the fruits & berries are native to the woods, we have dozens of naturalized apple trees, hundreds of hawthorns (thorn apples), dozens of assorted crabapples, and countless other sources of berries like wild raspberries and mulberry. I don't even have a bird feeder because the seeds used to attract the racoons into the yard where the dogs would attack & kill them (took the feeder down 7 or 8 years ago).

What I don't understand is WHY THIS YEAR? It has never been like this before.

 

[beenthere]

Bob
Have read with interest your plight, and have had the same experience.
Seems the raccoon will dump on a spot, and it will attract others to do the same thing, as well as the original coon will come back to that spot. What I do, when I find it on my deck, is wash it down with the hose, then spray with a solution of bleach. Seems the bleach will cover the odor of the scat and discourage them from returning to this area as a 'toilet' dumping spot. Ihad a lot of firewood stored in an open shed, and for years had the problem of the surrounding coon using it as a 'dumping' ground. There was a layer a few inches thick from the visits, that could not have been just one coon. After thinning them out, they still used it but not as much. I now store all wood on pallets outside, and have enclosed the shed. No more coon in there!

As to trapping, I live trap them. 3 and 4 years ago, I trapped 36 one year and 38 the next. This has been discussed in another thread. I 'imprint' them before they leave the trap, so I know the same one doesn't get back in there another time. If I had a spot, I too would just lower the trap in water and drown them (I think this is the cleanest way to go, as they blank out and there is no mess). Sorry Danny.

This year I am back at trapping. Find that marshmallows work pretty good in the live trap. Part of my problem is the nice folks who trap them in town and then dump them off 'out in the country' to give the problem to someone else. Having trouble now with too many squirrels, and find a neighbor who lives in town has been doing just that. Braggin' about how many squirrels he has live trapped in town. I have gotten pretty deadly with the .410 double barrel, and have the population thinned down a bit.

I am concerned about the disease that the coon carry, which can become airborne from the dried scat. Whatever it is, it stays viable for a long time, and am concerned for children that visit and just touch everything and don't wash before putting their hands in their mouth. It is a disease that is particularly rough on children. I need to locate the source of the information I have somewhere.

P.S. I don't put out any food for any animal or bird.

 

[thcri]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">(
IF the animal is rabid, you are doing it and all a favor by humanely killing it, other than that I would let it live )</font>

I was told that drowning was the most humane way to get rid of an animal. I would never kill an animal unless it really got to be a pest by destroying things or if it was rabid. I have a daughter that loves animals and if I even thought of killing one I would be on her list. But in my dad's case the racoons over came their welcome. Yes they pooped on everything, destroyed bird feeders and they had no fear even during the day to come out and about around the kids. I don't blame my dad for killing them the way he did. And as another poster posted, moving them only took the troubles to another area.

That is also why Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota are raising the limit on deer because there are just getting to many and creating diseases.

murph

 

[MossRoad]

Sorry to hear of your poopy predicament. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Sounds like racoons. The little buggers are prolific. Do you ever hear them fighting at night? Most terrifying if you are close by and it starts. YIKES!

As for gettng rid of them, pretty hard. As you have already mentioned, make the garbage innaccesible and don't feed them anything. What I can't figure out is how folks will put out food for birds, then shoot cats, racoons, woodchucks and anything else that shows up for the banquet they put out. Just doesn't make sense. Bottom line is, don't feed ANY wildlife if you don't want wildlife around your home.

As for your particular problem, I don't know of anything that will repell them. Sounds like your dogs did a good job. Might be worth looking into that angle again. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

We had racoons for years as kids. They were wild and every night we would feed them half a loaf of bread. The moms would bring their babies and let us hold them and play with them. My dad had a half of a giant clam shell for a bird bath. It was about 2.5 feet accross(you know, the kind that would grab Tarzan by the foot when he was under water). They would take their food over there and dunk it first. It was all great fun for 15 to 20 years until one particularly aggressive male figured out we kept the food in the house and he wanted it. He'd get into the house any way he could... through the doors, windows, garage and chimney. We did a good job keeping him out. So good that he started clawing through the roof. He did about $2000.00 damage. It was our fault he was there and our fault he found out about human food. We created the problem, so we felt responsible for the bad behavior of the animal. So we ended up trapping him and the DNR re-located him.

 

[DannyD]

My guess would be a bumper crop of little ones. Being the animal person I am, I would love to see more where I live. Wish I had a more agreeable way for ridding them for you, best I can do is the animal control