Repelling Raccoons

I brought over a new rabbit for my rabbitry. A very pretty Cali doe. Unfortunately the only place I can put her that is away from the rest of the buns is in our front yard under a pine tree and a Scottish Brush plant. I got her all settled in for the night and went to bed. Now this morning I am seeing TONS of raccoon prints all around the cage. Her cage also happens to be near my garden. We live over a mile away from the Carson River and any of the canals that feed to the ranches around us.

My question to all of you is "How can I get this THING to stay away from my yard and rabbits?" This is the first and only time I have seen raccoon prints in the yard.

I know of no way to keep a raccoon out of a yard, except strong fencing with a top on it. About all you can do is rig some kind of enclosure so that the raccoon cannot get to the cage. I used to have a chain-link enclosure for the rabbit cages in summer. The chain link was "sewn" together with 20 gauge wire and extended right over the top. Something similar but smaller might work, the idea being that there is enough of a gap between the chain-link and the cage wire that the raccoon cannot reach through to where the rabbit is.

If protecting the rabbit in its cage is not feasible, you may need to bring the rabbit indoors at night for the period of its quarantine.

Thank you MaggieJ, that is feezable to bring her into the living room at night. At least all my maturnity and grow out cages are made entirely of 1/2 X 1 floor wire.

But just shy of shooting the critter, since I am inside city limits, or trapping it and hauling it several~30+ miles away, is there more I can do besides building Rabbitraz?

Sagebrush":2m3z5esk said:

But just shy of shooting the critter, since I am inside city limits, or trapping it and hauling it several~30+ miles away, is there more I can do besides building Rabbitraz?

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You might want to PM Grumpy. He will know what to do. :yes:

That is a good thought, MSD.

Cages made of 1/2 inch by 1 inch floor wire do give excellent protection. A weak spot could be the cage door, depending on how it is secured. I would bring the rabbit in at least until you get rid of the raccoon.

A live trap might work. In some areas animal control will remove a trapped animal for you. Worth looking into.

Aside from one very angry raccoon who ended up investigating a freshly tarred roof (and screaming about it all night long) It's been years and no coon has gone anywhere near my yard. Our backyard turns into woods, and the back edge of the property is the only place we are allowed to keep our animals. I do have solar lights around the rabbit enclosures, and I know other who will keep a radio playing on low to deter predators. It's something I have intended to try, but...so far no need.
Catch and release or hunting it would be options for me if they did start coming around. I like raccoons, but they are common, in no danger of extinction, and they would eat my precious bunnies.
My local raccoons produces some fantastic winter pelts, much nicer than ones I see for sale from most places. Of course...coons are really fatty and gross to work with. My husband buys a trappers tag every year just to help support game lands, but if coons were to become a problem, I would definitely have him out setting traps when the season rolls around.

Thank you all. I will PM Grumpy and see what the heck I can do to get rid of this raccoon. I will call Animal Control tomorrow when they are actually open to taking calls and find out what they have to say on the subject.

Sagebrush":1d9ntahw said:

Thank you all. I will PM Grumpy and see what the heck I can do to get rid of this raccoon. I will call Animal Control tomorrow when they are actually open to taking calls and find out what they have to say on the subject.

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PM sent.
The A/C people won't be much help. I'd give yourself a day or two and
see how everything works out. Just a thought.
They'll be back.....since they've gotten the scent of your rabbits.

grumpy.

I am hoping it is just the one. I only had large prints around the cage, and this is the first time since we bought this place that I have seen them.

Raccoons survive everywhere and a new one will show up eventually so raccoon proof enclosures are more useful than trying to eliminate raccoons from the world. There was one living in a garage in the middle of downtown that we saw run across the street in to it's hole many times. Then it got hit on the road. 6 months later there was a different sized raccoon living in that garage. We actually just left the big fat female on the property. We hauled out all the males and offspring hanging around but she wouldn't fit in a coon trap. She removed an entire quail body through the 1/2x1" wire of the trap with only some bloody side bars and feathers left. We removed her babies every year and just left her. There were already foxes and fishercats around so everything had to be in a building anyway. That just meant we had to close the doors in time. Some have put up electric wire and they even make electric netting. This has held back things as serious as bears. We were going to do electric poultry netting for a bantam chicken pen since they kept getting eaten by things during the day but then just as I'd replaced the killed ones the neighbor helpfully opened the coop for me while I was gone for a couple hours resulting in everything dead. Fishercat was spotted 2 days later and we gave up on poultry except these mutt standards that were surviving against all odds.

The scent of a dog around sometimes makes raccoons more hesitant. Raccoons rarely caused issues when the retriever male was running about marking things and killing the odd coon. You can buy stuff like coyote urine for repelling some animals but I don't know how well it works. I have talked to women who told their husband to go pee around the animal pen and garden. :lol:

Well I doubt I could get my dad to pee around the rabbits :lol: I have my dog Sage that goes over there and pees as well. He is neutered and that might be why this one has decided that my bun looks good, Sage not being a big enough deterent. I will try what I have been told works and go from there. As it is she is in a cage, suspended on 6' T-posts, inside another cage that is 2' bigger all the way around with a wire top. Her cage is covered on top and down the back with shade cloth to help keep her cool during the day. She is also coming in at night while in quarantine.

After coons killed a bunch of rabbits and chickens for me one night, I got very upset, ..I tried killing all the coons in Florida first, and I trapped a bunch of them, but then sanity prevailed, and I just built coon proof enclosures for all of my critters . I have had to admit that coons are here to stay, and will move back into an area as soon as the previous residents are exterminated, -- kind of like pulling your finger out of a bucket of water and looking for the hole.

but-- some people say they have had success with the motion activated sprinklers set up around the perimeter of the animal areas....

Michaels4gardens, I know what you mean. It is just like all the field mice at my property. You get them out and a few weeks later more are there.

On the raccoon note today, no prints around the cage or anything. I am still getting the stuff I was told about today and will have that ready for when it comes back.

Sagebrush - while I actively set traps for raccoons, the only real solution is to put your critters in predator-proof digs and then be sure they're secure every night. There are other predators to worry about, too. 'Possums, skunks, coyotes, foxes, neighbor dogs, and feral cats are others to guard against. And sadly, these days, it's not just four-legged pests that need to be guarded against. (Hopefully, that's not anything you have to worry about.) Good luck to you - sure hope you can keep your rabbits safe.

I understand that SuburbanHomesteader. I have that in the back, not completely. I am sorry that at the moment I can not seem to spell anything correctly. View attachment 4

I have it up on 6' high T-posts. The trees help to give it shade during the day. I will have another set of T-posts up around the cage that the woven horse wire is to attached too. I also put a top on of more woven horse wire. The cage itself is 36"X24"X24". The total cage will be 5'X4'x5'. All this to protect Bugzy. If you have ever watched the movie "Bedtime Stories" you will understand the name. :lol: