Hi thanks for all the responses :) I haven't decided where I should put the pond yet. We have a natural spring under one part of the property that stays wet most of the summer. In drier seasons it will dry out. There are a ton of large hardwood trees out there so lots of leaf litter and roots to deal with so I am not sure that is where it will go. I am thinking it might be better just to get a liner and put it in a more open area. waterbug_guy, I am not sure if I will have plant shelves or not. I appreciate your illustration. That is helpful! I was thinking of mostly planting around the outside and then having some sunken water lilies and some other plants that are out towards the center more away from where the raccoon can get in and knock over the pots. I have a few books on water gardens and saw they had the pots submerged underwater on 'pillars' of concrete block etc. Gary, Your place sounds like ours in relation to critters lol. I haven't seen any herons here but we do get the occasional large egret and both bald and golden eagles. However I suspect that if I build it...they will come (herons) lol. I have quite a few plants that could work in or around water right now. Various colocasias, tropical waterlilies, canna, papyrus, lizard tail. I have found that chocolate mint does excellent grown in a bog and doesn't freeze in the winter or die back during the heat of the summer. I grow a lot of mint for our rabbits that I use their 'bunny berries' for composting and vermicomposting. As far as fish goes. I really love the look of koi but due to the critters and my last koi liking to eat up all my plants, I might go with plain old goldfish. I have heard that the goldfish won't eat up the plants as much. I will just have to find pretty ones LOL :P darla, I had 4 koi that I kept in a large preformed pond. One is still there. It is all black. When we moved here a few yrs ago, I had to put them in a holding pool while I got the other one set up on the screened patio. Overnight, a raccoon ate up all the koi except the black one which I assume maybe he couldn't see. I will probably just keep him where he is and get him a friend. When I get the in ground pond going, I am thinking of using goldfish. Do your koi eat your water plants at all? That is a good idea about the motion sensor. Haha I am surprised that it doesn't bother the cats but then again they are probably smart enough to avoid where it sprays. Does it also help with keeping the large birds away? ~SJN

I've had a problem with raccoons getting in my garage. I've had to call for professional help, in July of this year another one got in my garage. So since I had some unused Bell and Howell sonic pest repellents, I thought I would try using one but I wanted other options also besides paying for a professional to come out. I found an article that suggested you can use organic apple cider vinegar or ammonia. Soak a small rag with either item, place in a paper bag punch holes and place near raccoons location. That I wasn't going to do. Yes I was too scared. So I soaked old sponges never used and too them in the garage. I plugged in one sonic repellent in less than 30 sec I heard the raccoons moving around. I placed my soaked sponges in areas around the garage and out of there very quickly. Went in the house and closed the garage door, waited around 15 minutes, raised the garage door and the raccoon came running out. So was it the ordor or the repellent. It worked no racoon even coming around my garage. Cost $0 had everything I needed in my home

I'm about as untech as it's possible to be and still function, albeit minimally, in this world, but maybe I can get someone to help me set something up.

With trapping any animal, you have to be really persistant unfortunately. I know raccoons are not the same as outdoor cats, but I have Trapped-Neutered-Released (TNR) dozens of cats in my neighborhood and if ya don’t get them all, you can expect more next spring. We have raccoons who come after the dry cat food on the porch that has a cat door. But one of the outdoor boys went after one of the raccoons a couple of weeks ago. I was worried my cat would get hurt, but he was fine and I haven’t seen the coon since……go figure! debra