Under the deck inhabitants!

Living in the country (okay, in a subdivision out of town at least) we tend to have a lot of animals around our place. The place they tend to take up residence is under our back deck. We have had a number of animals under there, including raccoons, possums, rabbits, and (wild) cats. The possums, rabbits, and raccoons we leave alone for the most part, and the cats we "dispose of." ;-)

Well, we once again have raccoons under the deck, but this time thigns are a bit different. A few years ago we had a mother and babies under there, and we were able to get her to move by going out and stomping on the deck, and banging on the windows when we saw her out. Within a day or two we saw her one evening at dusk, carrying her young off one by one.

All this week we have had a mother on the deck every night around 7 pm, which is a bit early as they like to be out in the dark mostly. She is VERY tame, and does not seem to fear us at all. She was out last night so I snapped some pics:



Here she is getting off the picnic table, after looking for food and not finding any. The window is only a few of feet from the table, and she did not seem bothered by us at all!

I snapped this as she worked her way around to the steps on one side of the deck. It's a little blurry due to the lack of flash and the fact it was hand held, but you can see she is seems to be nursing her young:



She looks like a young mother, maybe the first year for a litter.

Of course our killer Lahsa Apso was on the case! Seriously, although they are small dogs, they have some balls (figuratively in this case as his were removed) and are pretty good guard dogs. Of course, a raccoon protecting it's young would tear him apart I'm sure. This video shows she was not too worried about him!:

http://media.putfile.com/Racoon-67

Hope the link works!

So, the babies are usually weaned by mid-July, so if she is still around by then, we will start the process of driving her out with more noise and maybe some moth balls tossed under the deck.

The good thing about this is that they aren't skunks, eh?

Sorry John! :-)

Al, if all those vermin can get under your deck, I'm surprised you haven't had skunks there in the winter (or maybe you have but you haven't 'irritated them' the way an 'expert' said I had with ours.

Easy solution to keep them out from under your deck. Animal proof it. That means doing what I had done. Dig down a foot and out a foot. Lay down 16 guage steel mesh vertically mounted against the deck and then horizontally out a food and tied to the verticle mesh. Then back fill it and compact it.

I won't be having any animals under my porch any time soon...

[C.J.]

Like you said, Al, at least they aren't of the more offensive oder variety
BTW, I could hear the audio in the clip, but no video It could just be my computer though

[padi56]

Myself love wild life I have been trying to get a picture of a badger who
comes to the back of the house.But alas he or she visits when very dark
will try and rig some sort of trip switch with camera.

Love that picture almost a poser,kind of sad look maybe asking
to be fed,please please Al..

[dman]

Great pics Al!! Looks like an interesting pet to make your own.

Just to add to wildlife in the backyard... it seems my ducks won't go away. I've seen them a couple of times in the backyard since the pool was opened, but not 'in' the water.

However, this morning there was Mrs. Duck, standing atop my pool blanket. I guess she thought she was a moderator at another watch forum and thought she could walk on water.

I took C out to have a look and C said in a loud voice, "hey duckie, you want something to eat?"

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by C.J.

Like you said, Al, at least they aren't of the more offensive oder variety
BTW, I could hear the audio in the clip, but no video It could just be my computer though

Must be your machine, Craig. I was able to see the video and hear the audio. Kinda cute.

It's easy to be brave when you have a nice strong glass door between you and your opponent.