When I was a kid and we had the old school metal garbage cans we didn’t have much trouble with animals breaking into them. It was a pain to carry/drag those big metal cans out to the curb. The new plastic cans with wheels are much more convenient to push down the driveway but they are also convenient for critters to hop into. The light plastic lids on a hinge are a snap to open. Even if you strap the lid down it will only take an hour or two to munch a hole big enough to crawl through.
Just a heads up, but you might have just started a war with the people at Sandra and Woo.
http://www.sandraandwoo.com/
Uh oh…
Well maybe we can offset this by suggesting people look up squirrel catapults instead? Youtube has an amusing selection nuts sitting in front of rubber banded baskets (not your avg. rubber band either, those BIG ones). I think biff needs his garbage can turned around though, gaping, sharp holes in the window, while certainly increasing air flow, generally aren’t welcome.
Plus now he’s got a dazed raccoon in his kitchen.
I looked at that Sandra and Woo thing….interesting but I fail to see the war issue, unless they’re undisputed animal lovers.
Yeah, nature has a way of getting into things and places. Doesn’t help when you catapult it straight through your kitchen window. Or did the raccoon aim for the fridge?
Watch where you point that thing, Biff – you could put someone’s eye out…
Here in Australia, we call them Wheelie Bins.
Never had that problem.
Then, I lived in the desert for the longest time. We don’t have raccoons
Oh this brings back memories of all the things my parents used to do to try to keep raccoons out of the garbage, when I was a kid & we lived in a woodsy area. Pickup was so early you had to put the trash out the night before, and the raccoons would knock over the cans, take off the lids, and strew the garbage everywhere! Whatever they did, it had to be something that still allowed for can-emptying by the garbage men; I think the most successful was just heavy cinder blocks on top, but even that didn’t always work. It’s really hard to keep those little critters out; they have full-fledged HANDS!!
raccoon are like giant cats with bad tempers and hands. just kickm the damn thing till it stops moving or if that doesn’t work get a hammer and scare the thing off
In my area there are alot of bears, so our garbage cans have built in locking mechanisms, to keep the big furry puppies out. Same with most public cans aswell, although its a different design altogether.
I think my father came up with the best idea to date…his father comes in second place.
2nd Place:
Step 1: Place wire mesh on ground.
Step 2: Place tire on mesh.
Step 3: Remove Female end of extension cord and split the wires.
Step 4: Attach one end of the cord to the metal handle of the trash can, and the other end to the wire mesh.
Step 5: Wait for raccoon to complete circuit (it doesn’t kill it, but it never bothers your can again).
Step 6 (optional): Unplug and remove wires before trashman comes. (Again, it doesn’t kill, but if you skip this step, he’ll never come back again.)
First place:
1: Place amonia into the garbage bags right before tying them shut, tightly.
If a raccoon (or any other animal) DOESN’T smell the amonia before ripping into the bag…it’ll get a nasty moutful that it’ll never forget. This has worked for us for years.
Well, it worked
.
Well, in these parts, we drill holes (one each side of the can) and bungee the top down. THo, racoons aren’t the worry – big cats, deer, elk, and the occassional farm cat are what we are avoiding.
In my hometown, to keep the bears out, one place had an electric fence. I wish I was kidding.
Just finished reading the archives. My internet browser history states that I started at 12:51 PM on Thursday, January 21, 2010. Just over 6 days of reading archives. Now to patiently wait for the next one…
I dealt with raccoons back in Monroe. They weren’t going to bother with garbage. They went after the suet my dad would put out for the birds. On one particular occasion, there were two raccoons gnawing at the suet.
@Jylanie – Welcome!
my grandpa did this, he would pee in a spray bottle, and spray it around the trash cans, and the raccons thaught that it was some animal territory, it was fun to take out the cans to the curb.
I’ve never had a problem with raccons, but when I was a kid living in Arkansas, we lived next door to a peacock farmer. Those birds drove the dog NUTS.