Varmints

[ygwilliam]

Recently I’ve been haveing trouble with raccoons getting into my pond and eating my fish... all of my fancy goldfish and koi have been eaten and I’m left with guppies and minnows. Does anybody know the most inexpensive yet effective way to keep the animals out of my pond that aren’t supposed to be there?

 

[kendragon]

Fido Shock electric fence is what I've seen installed on many small ponds

 

[TwoHedWlf]

Recently I’ve been haveing trouble with raccoons getting into my pond and eating my fish... all of my fancy goldfish and koi have been eaten and I’m left with guppies and minnows. Does anybody know the most inexpensive yet effective way to keep the animals out of my pond that aren’t supposed to be there?

I'd suggest a Marlin 795, but Ruger 10/22s are popular too. A silencer helps keep from irritating the neighbors...

 

[MrsE88]

Sorry, that really sucks. What size pond is it?
Other then electric fencing, if the pond is on the smaller end you could cover it at night.

 

[PYRU]

I agree. You almost have to shoot or capture a raccoon to get it to stop though.

 

[Dloks]

We used nets to cover our ponds over night and traps to capture the raccoons. They are persistent and will keep coming back. Or as Ken said try the electric fence

 

[smitty03281964]

TwoHedWIF answered it the best way. Raccoons can be a problem. I had 1 in my house last year, and it took almost 3 weeks to catch him.

 

[krichardson]

LOL!....a raccoon running rampant in your home for two weeks,that had to have been a nightmare.
If your pond is not too big you could make a "screen" out of chicken wire or even chain link fencing to stake down and lay across the pond.

 

[smitty03281964]

The crazy thing about it was that my brother was staying with me at the time. I came home and the refrigerator and the freezer was left open. When I came into the house I could here this beeping noise. I go upstairs thinking that it was an alarm clock. Not! When I go in the kitchen I see they were open. I knew my brother had a lot on his mind at the time, so I just called to remind him to close them, since he was not home. My brother said when he woke up he never went into the kitchen and left right out the house. I went back into the kitchen later and I noticed that 6 or 7 jelly packs that I had got when I purchased some Popeye's chicken were opened. I called him back and asked about the Jelly packs. He said he had not eaten any jelly. Now I know something else is up, because he would remember that. I go to the bathroom and noticed a dirty hand print on the bathroom tissue. The hand print looks to be the size of a 2 year old child. So we assumed his ex had come there with her 2-3 year old nephew. A couple hours later I went into a bedroom and the blinds had been moved. He was ready to call her up and lay her out. I go downstairs and was sitting on the couch and looked over at the love seat and noticed some dirty prints on it. Then I noticed the fireplace doors had been pried open. My brother said man you have a raccoon in the house and they have hands like people. We searched the entire house and could not find him. Animal control came out and looked at everything, confirmed what we thought, and they set up a trap. He was down in the basement, so we just did not go down there. But I left the basement bathroom door open so I guess he was getting water from the toilet. The reason it took so long to catch him is because they did not place the trap in the right place. They had it on the top step, and I told them he would not step up into the trap. Eventually they came back and placed it flat on the floor and he went inside it. Another crazy thing is how he removed a piece of molding from around the back door to try and get out.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Fire crackers, a fearless dog, and leaving a tv on help.
Although if all your fish are gone you might just get a giant snapping turtle.

Havahart traps allow you to relocate said coons.