NOW ADDING RACCOONS TO THE HATE LIST

[Skycat]

I had a Neofinetia falcata hanging outside, that I had bought as a birthday present to myself in November, in the hopes that I would finally FINALLY be able to have a Vanda thing not die on me, and now I can't find it! I'm desperately hoping the wind just knocked it down somewhere, but we've been recently having an alarmingly bold raccoon come up onto the porch(IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!) and it already broke into a bag of stuff that was to be donated to charity...

so now I need some sympathy from anyone else who may have had an orchid stolen by wildlife

[jkofferdahl]

I can truly sympathize with you! I've been battling mice myself. They come from the vacant lot next to mine. They've eaten a lot of buds but have also chewed up a couple of plants - a Sederia is in bad shape and a Phal just isn't there anymore.

[katrina]

Yep, the raccoons love to mess with pots! I've never had them eat them but they do like to knock over pots and explore what's inside...sometimes leaving great destruction in their wake. If got so bad last year that I rigged a fence of sorts to keep them out at night. I assumed it was young raccoons because they were tearing up only the plants on a lower shelf...i think they were just exploring. After a couple of weeks the shenanigans stopped...they either moved on or got killed. Either scenadio was fine by me!

Usually though, it's just the squirrels, chipmunk, and birds I have to worry about. Not all birds...just the Carolina Wrens and the Robins. They both love to pluck material out of pots and off mounts and peck at buds and leaves.

Almost forgot...one year I had a rabbit that took a liking to orchid leaves...a temp fence solved that. Must have just been a weird rabbit because we do have a lot of them running around here and they usually just confine themselves to my young annuals and veggies.

Sorry about your luck but if you haven't found the neo yet...you likely won't. I don't know what's worse...seeing complete devastation or never finding the remains. ??????

[Skycat]

Found it!

[Pattywack]

Sorry about your Neo, so glad to see you found it though! I hope it isn't in too bad of condition.

I am not an outside grower for many nasty little reasons.

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by Skycat

Found it!

And is it OK? I sure do hope so. It's perfectly OK to still hate raccoons, though.

[Skycat]

It is in really bad condition, but not in any way related to this incident.

Also... it turned out I'd actually moved it to a different spot myself (so it could get rained on) and completely forgotten that I had. So now I feel bad for blaming the raccoon. Although the fact remains that raccoons have no business coming out onto people's porches in broad daylight anyway.

[charlesf6]

Originally Posted by Skycat

It is in really bad condition, but not in any way related to this incident.

Also... it turned out I'd actually moved it to a different spot myself (so it could get rained on) and completely forgotten that I had. So now I feel bad for blaming the raccoon. Although the fact remains that raccoons have no business coming out onto people's porches in broad daylight anyway.

You are so bad!!

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by Skycat

It is in really bad condition, but not in any way related to this incident.

Also... it turned out I'd actually moved it to a different spot myself (so it could get rained on) and completely forgotten that I had. So now I feel bad for blaming the raccoon. Although the fact remains that raccoons have no business coming out onto people's porches in broad daylight anyway.

Hmm. Now I almost PITY the poor raccoons you've so wrongly accused of evil! I hope you've apologized to them.

Seriously, the only animals I ever want on my porch are my dogs or the feral cats who live underneath (and their recent return has led to a seeming reduction in mice). Other animals are NOT welcome. Raccoons, opossums, and field mice are the norm here - and I live in a well-populated suburb of Atlanta! For the last few weeks we've been hearing owls, a wild interloper I'll gladly welcome. My neighbor is rightly worried about her chihuahuas (which I frankly would NOT miss), but as predators go they're pretty tolerable in the neighborhood. At times, with the yard-invading critters around here, I'm a bit jealous of my friends just north of me who see coyotes. And very few raccoons or opossums! Last week, one of my dogs JUST missed catching an opossum that was larger than a basset hound! (Would have been kind of ugly had he caught it.) As it happens, all of these creatures seemingly delight in spreading rabies through Georgia.

[katrina]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

Raccoons, opossums, and field mice are the norm here - and I live in a well-populated suburb...!

Yep...same here! Well-populated suburb of Columbus, OH and we have all sorts of critters running around. Including, skunks! We have a lot of raccoons but GEEZ we have a ton of skunks! Cute as they are...they are not bright, and, unfortunately, many are not that afraid of the dogs or humans around here and they don't immediately run but rather stand their ground longer than they should and it's resulted in many, many, many dogs in our neighborhood getting sprayed.

Our skunks are VERY bold! A few weeks back I watched one play charge and retreat with my neighbor's very large dog. Dog would run toward it...skunk would charge in defense and dog would retreat...dog would go at him again w/the skunk backing up and then the skunk would again go on the charge. This went on for a few minutes...back and forth...even w/my yelling and trying to distract the dog and scare off the skunk. I did my best but I didn't want to get in the line of fire...and sure 'nuff...poor Ollie got sprayed. And, no, rabies was not a concern. Although, admittedly, I did consider that but there have been no recent reports of rabies in raccoons or skunks around here. Bats have become the bigger threat for rabies in central Ohio.

At least the skunks don't mess w/the orchids but I'd rather have raccoons than skunks because the raccoons have sense enough to run when we go outside at night. And, I'm not going to get a nasty dose of stink w/a raccoon.

We saw a fox running around the neighborhood last summer...now that was one critter I didn't mind seeing. I would love to see more of those!