I've found that a shotgun is a great attitude adjustment tool! They tend to not do anymore damage!
I've spent the last several years putting a major dent into the local population. They do nothing, but damage to everything.
They aren't native up here and have virtually no controls on their population.
I had a group rip the roof off of my chicken house and wipe out my Bourbon Red turkeys!(The last straw!)
I'm not sure exactly how much you know about them, but they can really hurt you and your pets.
I've had them come at me, especially if cornered. I have an absolutely no tolerance policy about them.
I haven't had them go after any orchids that have been out for the summer, but I have thought about it as well. They
did wipe out some fish that I had outside for the summer my first year here. They will also ransack your garden and anything else that they can find.
If you won't/can't shoot them, a very high powered electric mesh fence will really slow them down.

Scott

I've only had problems with them in my pond. An electric fence solved that problem. You can buy one called Fido Shock which is easy to use and not really dangerous.

Don't mess around with these critters. I hate 'em as much as squirrels and they can cause diseases in humans. Read below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Raccoon problems

Well, as much as I would love an electric fence, I feel it might send the wrong message to my neighbors and the owners of the apartment complex. Actually, it sends the right message, but still isn't a terriably viable option for my circumstances. I had no idea they caused so many more problems than chewing on perlite.

In the meantime, Mean momma sparrow, who has been stealing Sphagnum Moss has made a nest in my Nepenthes miranda hanging basket, so the eggs and baby birds that will certaintly come will only entice the raccoon more.

Maybe cheap motion sensor lights would scare him away?

Thanks
Bob

I think my neighbor used motion detector lights to keep them away from her koi pond. It worked for her as I recall.

You guys probably don't want to hear about the litters in my attic...

I have seen the suggestion that Ex-Lax sprinkled around seemed to work as a deterrant.

They are eating the PERLITE? Ye gods, man..they must have some sort of nutrient imbalance or something. Never heard of that one before!

They will eat anything. I hate them too. One night I forgot to close my kitchen window and the darn thing chewed a hole in my screen and pulled a loaf of bread off the counter. I was lucky he didn't come in to shop. They have raided my pond and gotten my biggest, prettiest fish.

You can use live animal traps and have the game warden type people remove them, hopefully to a grave.

Brooke

wow, war against Raccoons huh?
the shot gun suggestion kinda shocked me, but i love the ExLax idea!
wait, would that mean drips/tails of Raccoon runs? that is kinda nasty

my sympathy goes out to all the people who have lost chickens and koi to those critters, i think i would start shooting them too at that point

If you want shock, open up a chicken house after racoons have riped the heads off of thirty heritage/endangered turkeys!!:~(
The only thing worse was when a bobcat got in!
Walt Disney and his cute animal specials LIED! They may, perhaps, be cute way out in the forrest, but they are like weasels and kill everything.
I stopped "relocating" them a long time ago.(Except to a hole in the ground!)
Raccoons are pretty nasty critters period.

Happy late birthday, by the way!
I just had one, as well.

You're lucky, highjack!
Some of the locals have had cougars come in recently!
We had one here, last year, and lost an estimated 30-40 sheep! The state hunters killed it after it took out a neighbors horse!
Everything goes for the easy food!
Scott

A neighbor of mine has had a 30 year raccoon, squirrel, possum and armadillo relo program. She still has all that and more but then we are a fraction of a hair above living in a swamp (okay, by a couple of feet). She just traps them and releases them somewhere else.

My guess, though, since you live in an apartment in the city (eliminating the possibility of using even a BB gun), animal control will take care of any raccoon bold enough to be seen in broad daylight.

scott361 - we don't have cougars here but cuyotes(?) popped up and it is illegal to kill them. I live in the middle of the Bluegrass horse farms and they were starting to lose very expensive foals. Amazingly, I haven't heard the howls at night for a couple of years now. Funny how that goes.

Brooke

Another suggestion might be to scatter moth balls. It messes up their smell. I use it in my garden for snakes and rabbits. (I have no small children who might be tempted into thinking they're candy).

There hasn't been a Roger the Raccoon sighting in two days. I'll try the mothballs though, that seems like the cheapest, easiest, least bloody option. Thanks

I think that my raccoons have been put out of business!
We just got a Anatolian Shepherd as a Livestock Guardian Dog! We still have coyotes living out back and they snag sheep just like everything else does! :~(
By the way, Brooke, I can't remember all of the details but we have a Federal law that gives you the right to kill coyotes that are into your livestock.
(That includes horses!) Dogs and cats are not included. This is a Federal Law and overrides State or local laws!

Scott

Raccoons are among the small group of animals that seem to be able to adapt to human environments.

Please don't put out moth balls. There are animals that will mistakenly eat them. It is not a pleasant death. If you're going to kill them do it quick.

Really surprised about the perlite -- would think that would rip up the critters insides.

While I sympathize for the folks who lose livestock, I feel for the animals too. As Scott said "everything goes for the easy prey." And let's face it why wouldn't they? We've taken over their hunting areas [& predators by necessity have large hunting ranges], in many cases pushing out or drastically reducing the numbers of their natural prey, and have "stocked" the area with helpless [penned in] and often not too bright [domestic sheep are not the Einsteins of the animal world] prey. The cougars can't "just go somewhere else" or suddenly become herbivores.

The moth ball Idea may work, I know it works for me to keep critters out of my Veg garden. Don't bother with the relocation bit though...In Texas it's illegal to relocate many wild animals with out a permit and then you have to pay for vacinations for the animals that you can move...Racoons are banned from relocation by individuals due to the high rate of Rabies cases in Racoons.
If the moth balls doesn't work there is a motion activated device that will spray the critter with water. I'm not sure how much it costs but I know a lady who uses it successfully to keep deer away from her flowers in her yard.