I'm going to give my half barrel pond to my brother. He has no raccoons.

Here's some pics of it in it's better days:












Saturday night a raccoon got in it again. After hours of work, it looked like this on Sunday evening.



Quite a difference, and I'm thinking "Not too bad when the plants grow in in a month or two." And there's little Molly fry which are quite cute:







So I went to sleep thinking the fish, plants, and pond would be safe. But no, the raccoon climbed inside and busted everything up. All the fish bigger than half an inch are dead and gone. Here's what I found Monday morning:



After hours of work, here's what I left it as last night:




I'm done. The raccoon wins. It's just not the same as it used to be. My brother has had ponds before and he has no raccoons. I think he can bring it back to it's former glory.

OH NO!!!
How did the raccoons lift the net?
Did any of the fish survive?

I'm so sorry for the bad luck that has happened.

Those darn raccoons are devils sometimes.

Two of my family friends had to get German Shepard dogs to guard their koi and backyards after raccoons were just mercilessly killing $100+ koi every night. The dogs worked.
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My friend McKay had the same problem with her half-barrel pond. In the end she installed a motion sensor with spotlight. Also she had her brother make a rig so that music would start playing if anything got too close.

oh no!!

oooh thats terrible !!!!...I would love to have a pond as well but I think I would encounter the same problems ..sorry about your loss ,racoons are good at prying and pulling ..it is almost impossible to beat them at their own game without harming them or killing them and I know I don't have the heart to do that .

Am so sorry about your fish and what happened to your beautiful pond. Am sure your brother will have it back to its old beautiful state.

I am so sorry for all the loss you have endured all because of raccoons. Your fish were all so beautiful. Were some of the fry still there, at least?
Raccoons front paws are almost like hands, and they manage to lift covers off of trash bins here - so that people us bungee cords to tie the lids on. I guess they look like bandits for a reason.

I hope your brother can restore your pond to it's beauty, and maybe you can enjoy it there.

Debbie

Poor fish, I'm sorry for your loss. If I could I would punch all the raccoons in the face everytime they came to anyones pond.

I was actually thinking that if it were me, I'd buy a 'coon skin cap and put it in the place of the pond. Show them who's boss....

Debbie

oh no! Poor fishies

That is terrible, Daniel! Isn't that the second time something like that happened to your pond? Darn, I would think that the metal would at least deter them some. Have you considered one of those motion sensors that look like owls? They either lit their eyes up when something moves, our make the owl sound. You could put it right next to the pond on the edge of the balcony.
I am so sorry you have decided to give up your beautiful pond - I have admired it many times over. I hope you have at least some surviving fish - this is a mess!

Again!! This is awful. I am so sorry daniel, it must be so frustrating and so upsetting

It's the third time I lost fish. And this time all the plants were destroyed.

It's time to give the pond to my brother, who can keep it safe.

Oh no i am sorry Daniel would it be possible to keep the pond inside next to a window? That way it still gets all the sunlight for the lovely plants growing it it.

wow - that is so disappointing Daniel, such desolation and destruction and despair.

I can picture the raccon hitting into the window..he won't try that again

so sorry for your loss of the fish and now the pond itself.

Ponds fish and raccoons don't mix. I am thankful I don't have them here.

For anyone else that does the best way to deter a raccoon is to build a pond that does not give them a place to sit and fish, deep straight sides.

Other possible things to use on a pond/watergarden is a big dog and electric fence. Some places it may not be possible to use the fence, but it will keep them away. Not very pretty around the pond though.

I am so sorry Daniel.

Nope. One of our baby raccoons tore the front screen of wire mesh off the rabbit hutch we had him in. He tore the same corner out 3 times. We took a staple gun, and stapled (like construction strength staples) every place where there was a + and we made an x with the staples over top of it. On every intersection and he still tore through it.

Can you pry a mussel open with your bare hands? Raccoons can. They are very strong for their size and they are clever little creatures. Probably my favorite "woodland critter".

A security light would probably scare them, but they'd get used to it and would come back.

I'm really sorry about your fish. It's sad that you have to give away something so beautiful...

It sxxk man... I felt so angry when I looked at those pics. I though the attack was over after the first round.

uh oh

That is sad. What you need is "Scarecrow". You can find it at OSH, ACE Hardware or any garden store. It has motion detector and can squirt water (if connected to a hose) or just the sound of motor coming on can be scary for racoon. After few days of sprinkle I think racoon will concede defeat. Do not give up. Your little pond looked amazing before. You can do it again.

I'm so sorry to hear that. I know how fustrated you must be

Your pond was beautiful! I am so sorry to hear your loss. It's hard to make decisions like this, but I agree this is probably the best option.



Sometimes racoons will try to get into windows. I had a group of them try to get into my apartment in the middle of the night when my cat had kittens. It was a quite traumatizing situation.