FWIW: trapping and then relocating racoons in New York is illegal. The law states that they should be euthanized. Mark Mazer Hertford, NC On Sat, Jun 27, 2020 at 10:26 AM Ernie DeMarie via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > Raccoons are a real menace here as they get into the pool and eat fish. > But of course the thing that really ticks me off is that they chew up > waterlily flowers and go dig up the rhizomes so roots end up floating on > the surface. So they must be trapped and removed but the havahart traps are > not consistent in trapping them, either they have some clever way to get > the bait (marshmallows and or peanut butter work well) or they perhaps dont > scoot end all the way and are able to back out. We've also had them bend > traps (their newer traps are not as sturdy as the old ones were) and in one > case they took off the handle while inside and we never found where it > went. That trap has to be carried by my wife and myself both when it gets > a raccoon. Most often the raccoons are afraid and remain quiet till > release (very far away--best to go 15 or more miles as they are supposedly > good at finding their way back) but occasionally we get an aggressive one > that hisses and carries on. Those can be quite scary at times. Grace > breaks down any large cardboard boxes we get to make flat pieces of > cardboard to put in the back of my car as they are needed. Why? Because > the disgusting raccoons tend to crap and otherwise make a mess of the > bottom of their cage and this prevents getting the back of the car dirty. > We keep several layers of cardboard in there at all times, so we can throw > away dirty pieces as needed. Transporting them is not fun either, they > stink and windows need to be kept open. I don't know how to set up an > electric fence, especially around a pool with brick patio on one side and a > cement walk on the other. For the root problems, we have recently started > taking the bird mesh and tying rocks to it, placing it over any roots > floating on the surface, and sinking it to trap the roots and bring them > back down. We are hoping that the mesh will confuse future raccoon > efforts to dig up waterlily roots and rhizomes. This year the chipmunks > decimated the crocus more so than usual. This in spite of frequent > trapping and removal. For some reason their population was extremely high > this spring but it seems to be coming down a bit lately. If it werent for > certain mammals, gardening would be a hell of a lot easier....Ernie > DeMarieZ6/7 border NY where Alstroemeria aurea is making quite a show and > is self seeding a bit. Buds on some agapanthus, lilies beginning to open > with more to come, earlier season hemerocallis blooming nicely, and some > dierama still in flower. Weather has been oddly dry and sunny for weeks > but rain is coming today. Overall this kind of weather is very good for > most of what I grow. > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…