What Goes On At Night

If you have been reading my blog lately, or seen my Facebook or Instagram 

posts, you know I am having a serious raccoon problem. 

Actually, there may have been one in the past, too, but I was 

unaware of it. 

However....

This, my friends, is a pile of raccoon poop on the front porch of the Hen Spa. 

I was reminded by Kim, a friend who is a vet tech, that raccoons carry a particularly nasty form of worm. 

I cleaned that up and sprayed the area down with disinfectant, and am happy to say 

there has been no further pooping. 

I spent a lot of money on the raccoon-proof cat feeder in the pasture... 

to no avail, the little bandits soon found a way to shimmy up the pole and get into the feeder. 

There are still two ferals eating in it, and I am putting feed out during the day and night there, 

however, I am only putting out dry food now. 

So...

I am going to show you a series of pictures taken last night. 

Here I am at 7:15, putting out the wet food.  Dry food has been out all day, 

because remember, I got the cats on camera last week coming in the day time. 

Now, the camera is making it look lighter out than it actually is, at 7:15 now it is very much dusk. 

Not sure what triggered the camera here, a minute later. 

At 7:25, Harley (Harlequin) showed up to eat.  I am sure she 

got all the wet food.  (note ducks in background)

You see it is well and truly dark. 

7:39, right on cue... comes the first raccoon. 

(and look at that temperature for October 2nd!) 

By the time Spooky or Rusty (hard to tell in the dark) got there at 8:49, there was no 

food left. 

There WAS dry food in the pasture feeder. 

Until two nights ago, I also had a small bowl of feed on the front porch of the Hen Spa (where the poop was), but I am no longer putting it there. 

So... they also eat bird seed, and I usually see one about 9 PM on the platform, feeding, 

you know... where they left this last week: 

Poop in the seed. 

Now I am cleaning the platform off at night, and they can 

scavenge for whatever fell to the ground.  I do leave enough 

for the cardinals, the last feeders, to have something... but 

the majority of seed is going back into the bin til morning. 

(That was the cheap seed I bought when I could not get to Valley Feed 

last week to get my normal seed). 

So... I am going to try, starting today, to feed only during the daytime, and hope that the cats adjust. 

I hate for the cats to think I have abandoned feeding them, but frankly, the number of 

raccoons is getting crazy... and you know I am not going to kill them, if you read this blog. 

I have the camera on today to see if any of the cats come by.  I also will leave the food 

out until 7:30, usually Harley and Spooky come by that early, and both of the boys (black cats) know there is food in the pasture feeder. 

I'll keep the camera up several days and several nights.  

The raccoons are still going to come after the duck feed and bird seed, 

but I believe I'll be spending less on cat food, soon. 

I love experiments.