Lots of luck with that.

My neighbors were successful with a battery-run electric fence 8 or so inches above their pond's edge. (Likely there's an online source for that.)

I laid hog wire fencing over my rather small pond, supporting it on the edging rocks. That worked too. (Also kept the blue heron out.)

Washington State has this great resource -- Living with Wildlife at http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/

Here is a link that might be useful: Living with wildlife

I'm going to raise the height of the pond's border this weekend

==>> i find them 35 feet in the oak tree harvesting acorns in fall..

i doubt if raising the border will do any more than give you some exercise

is your yard fenced??? that is where you might want to start ...

ken

Thanks for the responses Jean and Ken!

Ken- I'd been thinking about building up the border anyway -I have the raw materials- and if I can make shifting the marginals even a bit tougher for those darn raccoons I will! But I do see the futility in expecting a total change from just that.

The yard is fenced in. I put wire over the areas I have seen Racoons coming/leaving from small slits/rotted areas. I'll probably get some new panels for the fence soon, but I'm at a loss for anything to keep them away besides the fencing/wire. I've read, since posting, that Garlic and Mint may repel raccoons, and this became a much bigger problem when I cut back my mint nearly entirely, so perhaps I'll just let the mint go a bit and the coons will be kept more at bay. I have a bench near the pond and I'll probably plant some mint under it as well.

I'd certainly prefer to avoid electrical fencing, but I'll keep it in mind.

Jay

They will hop onto a 6' block wall if they need to. My 6.5' west block wall seems to stop them but if they really wanted to get to the other side, they might go over that. One part of my back fence is 4.5' chain link and they go over that with virtually no effort, like it wasn't even there. I'm sure that an electric wire will stop them but they seem very smart so you would have to make sure they have no way around it.

I'm having a tough time thinking about Santa Monica and that much large wildlife. Are they living in the neighborhood or coming from a wild area?

My experience is that they come into an area and then leave when there isn't much to attract them anymore. I've had a 10" wide racoon come through a 6" wide cat door to get at the cat food but they don't come back when I hit one in the rear end with a BB gun a couple times when they wash snails on the first step of my pool.

DON'T get in the way of one or get it mad. I had two of them kill a coyote in my backyard.

In SoCal, racoons are well adapted to living in the city. They forage freely on the abundance of "outdoor markets" -- tree fruits and pet foods.

Jean,
formerly of Long Beach, CA

You remove the food sources, you remove the pests, period. No plants repel them. Most widgets don't do a thing to repel them. And as long as they're not living in our garage or under our porch, I am content to just let them be.

You remove the food sources, you remove the pests, period. No plants repel them. Most widgets don't do a thing to repel them. And as long as they're not living in our garage or under our porch, I am content to just let them be.

You remove the food sources, you remove the pests, period. No plants repel them. Most widgets don't do a thing to repel them. And as long as they're not living in our garage or under our porch, I am content to just let them be.

I live in a city. Surely shotguns & rifles are illegal here. However, perhaps a BB gun would pass muster and would deter the pests? They loiter outside my lanai. Lights don't phase them. My hollering doesn't make them run. Even repeated slamming of my screen door doesn't deter them. One time I exited the front door, grabbed a huge palm leaf, and ran to the back of the house where the coons were, screaming and waving the huge palm leaf back and forth. The 3 raccoons didn't care. I threw a rock (missed), and I retreated in fear. Electrical fencing isn't an option because of all the neighbors. Does anyone have a better solution? With the amount of destruction caused by the raccoons, and the amount of $$ damage they've caused, I'm willing to shoot them with a BB to teach a lesson. (I'm also willing to kill them, just dunno how to do it in a city, don't want to place poison.)