Hi- My BIL and SIL have a pond in town (La Jolla, CA, part of San Diego). They are having a terrible time with raccons. The pond is a preformed kind. It is by their front door and inside a gate. The racoons don't care. Glenn says he needs a sign that says Glenn's sushi bar they are so into coming to his house for free fish. The eliminated the turtles first, leaving the shells on the grass on their way out. Apparently they just climb right in and stand there feasting on the goldfish and koi. I told him I thought he needed a deeper pond. He isn't too keen on having to dig one and have a liner (had troubles with that in the past). He has never had a racoon problem at other houses where he has had ponds so is stumped on what to do here.

any ideas?
thanks
deb

They sell a motion detector water sprayer specifically for that purpose. I have read of other people who have used these with great success. Basically when the racoon walks by it turns on a sprinkler and it scares them away.

We had a problem with them until we put the lights on all night. They don't like the bright lights.

How deep is their current pond? My one is 2 feet and the other one is 4 feet. They never bothered the fish is the deeper side.

Thank you both. I am not sure how deep the pond is but it is one of the bigger preforms. (It seems big to me!) I will tell them about the motion detector tho I am wondering how it will work for them since the racoons currently ENTER the water to go fishing. Do all night lights affect the fish negatively at all? I would kind of thing it would be like a tank where you want the lights OFF the give them a night time. (Of course if the fish are all killed by the racoons, they won't have to worry about having a night time so it must be a trade off.)

thanks
deb

Well if it is a preform we can probably rule out 4' deep. The way the motion detector works is as soon as anything wanders past it before it even has a chance too get in the pond a sprinkler comes on and blasts them with water. I have also heard of people setting up a motion detector that is hooked up to a tape recorder that plays either music or just peoples voices recorded. They say it scares the racoons away but I am not sure how happy the neighbors would be.

When we have problems with coons we put out live catch traps and transport them far from home - far, far from as cause they will come back. Put moist cat food in the trap and wait. It may take a few times - depends on how many you have. I have never had that problem in the water garden - but it is 500 gallons and I know how hard it is to catch them! Good luck!

You may need to actually put some sort of covering over the actual pond. Not the prettiest thing aesthetically but what can you do? Also if he wants to get really involved, Ive seen some ponds that are actually enclosed in things like gazebos. I realize thats a big job but its the only way I'll go when I build a pond. It woudl be much safer and the sunlight could still come through just fine. It would also add some nice shade which Im sure they need during the summertime there! You know, you could always consider getting a large dog, too.

it think i saw this thing that sprays water
at things that come close to your pond .....
not sure about it