I'm a newbie to both water gardening and on-line forums, but trying to learn. I suspect that racoons abducted my goldfish last night. Our outdoor pond is 6 months old and has been undisturbed up to now, but my fish are gone, and rock borders very disturbed. I live in suburban Los Angeles, but there is a large golfcourse and greenbelt two blocks away...various small animals do reside there. I've been using dried coyote urine as a deterrant, but cooler and damper weather may have rendered it ineffective. So, the question of the day is whether anyone can weigh in on the "water scarecrow" and can tell me if it is worth the investment? Thank you. I hope to learn enough that I, too, will have something to offer to this discussion board. :)
water scarecrow
HI there. We have used the scarecrow successfully for deer, and for herons. The deer do not like it all , but you also need to move it around a bit so they don't get too used to it in the same direction all the time. The herons fly away pretty quick once it starts up.
I would give it a shot for the raccoons. We have three scarecrow sprinklers in our yard, and they were well worth the price. They saved our dwarf cherry tree from the deer, and the goldfish from the herons!!!
Hope it works for your raccoons if you get one!
Glenda
I shooed off the racoons with twinklin Christmas lites----by accident. We hung some below our fenceline just for fun, and it turned out to be a good deterrent for the racoons. I read somewhere that they get used to the static lights, but don't like ones that turn on and off. Ours are currently on a timer----I plan to put them on a motion detector.
Put a 5 gallon buck on the bottom of the pond, cover with rock to hide it. It will give the fish somewhere to hide from predators.
That's terrible, sorry to hear you had an attack! I hear so many horror stories about raccoon attacks, not just to the fish either, but the equipment and plants as well, horrible little critters for looking so cute :o( I have no suggestions, sorry!
I just learned that if you put moth balls around the pond the raccoons will stay away. The are suppost to hate the smell. That will be real cool if it does work, then I can take down the electric fence and stop shocking myself. lol.
Moth balls are suppost to be a deterent for skunks, raccoons, ect. I just put some in the greenhouse also to keep the rats away (I hope). They said to just put the moth balls on strips of tape to keep them in place and it works as a barrier. I am put them all around my property.lol
Linda
Linda... I tried that moth ball trick too in trying to keep squirrels out of my vegetable garden. The squirrels didnt seem to mind the smell but it bothered the heck out of me :)
I have a scarecrow that I use sometimes and it does seem to be effective.
Charlotteda - what a good morning chuckle you gave me!!!
Judy
I have heard the moth balls are a good deterent for snakes. I have tried it, and I don't know if it worked or not, but I didn't have any snakes that year. I tried it for armadilos, however, and it did not deter them.
Glad you chimed in chiele. Other than rattlers, our snakes are beneficial (one of them kills rattlers) and I wouldn't want to run them off!
What we need is something to keep our neighbors dogs away.