Nuisance

August 31, 2026

I blogged earlier about the two immature raccoon (Procyon lotor) invaders the dogs had surprised in our backyard and chased up under the eaves of the house.  I put the kids inside and coaxed them down, but one fell in the pool and I had to fish it out with the skimmer.  I hoped this would scare the pair so they would keep out of the yard, or at least out of the window feeders.  A week ago, I let the kids out at night, and they trapped a raccoon on the fence above the squirrel feeder.  I had given up trying to deter the red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) and dedicated two feeders away from the others with cracked corn (Zea mays) and whole peanuts (Arachis hypogaea).  Large birds like the northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) and grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) seem to like these seeds more than the squirrels, and the squirrels traverse the entire fence to get to the smaller seed.  Two nights ago, one of the raccoons was brave enough to again tackle the window feeders.  The kids were going crazy at four am and when Melissa turned on the light it jumped off the ledge and crashed through a nearby table of potted succulents, knocking several to the ground and breaking three of the terra cotta pots.  They had moved from invaders to a nuisance.

When I went online, I found several sites touting ways to get rid of a raccoon nuisance.  I chose one that tested “5 ways to get rid of raccoon’s”.  The first used scent-based raccoon repellents, like ammonia, mothballs, predator urine, or essential oils.  These worked but washed away in rain and needed to be constantly reapplied.  Motion-activated sprinklers blasts water when the animal gets too close but after a few nights the raccoon dodged the spray, waited for it to quit, and crept back in.  A third was floodlights but after a few nights the raccoons adapted to the light and felt safe to again go for food.  Humane traps and relocating the animals work but it is not always legal and new raccoons may come to take their place.  The best solution was a combination of ultrasonic sound waves and flashing LED lights.  The ultrasonic frequencies are silent to humans but irritating to raccoons, and the motion-activated lights are a visual deterrent.  This gave me a link for the best solar powered stake that “Works automatically, requires no upkeep, and is completely humane.”  I realized this was a veiled sales pitch, but other sites came to the same conclusion.  It sounded like the best solution

While the ultrasonic deterrent may be the best way to discourage our nuisance, there were other considerations.  The raccoon was encroaching on an area used by the kids, and they could hear the sound when they went out to play.  None of our local stores carried this product and online it would take three days to two weeks to arrive.  I needed something tonight.  That led me to the scents.  I found sprays that all contained a 4% solution of peppermint oil.  That made me think about making my own spray using the known deterrents of vinegar, garlic, and peppermint.  I purchased a spray and a bottle of peppermint extract thinking I could figure it out.  One of the bottles had pictures of what nuisances it drove away, and one was a bird.  The nuisance was the raccoons getting into the bird feeders and I could not spray around the feeders without driving off the birds.  My solution was the simplest.  I took the window feeders down last night because of the nuisance and put them up again in the morning for the birds.     

Thoughts: The number one response I found for solving my nuisance problem was to remove the food that was bringing the raccoons.  Feeding the raccoons is not good for their long-term survival nor for my garden and bird watching.  While this involves more work on my part (not much), it solves the problem in an ecofriendly way.  One reason behind many destructive human projects is to make our lives easier.  When this happens at the expense of the environment, we need to find alternative solutions.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.