Snake netting and raccoon question

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MamaBruff
Posts: 1466
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2013 12:21 pm
Location: SW Missouri
Martin Colony History: 2013-2016 Unsuccessful at starting a PM colony. Health problems.
Rehomed all my PM stuff. Good Luck and Best Wishes to All.

Can a raccoon go over a snake netting guard on a 24" diameter rigid ring?

I have been researching and planning to make a snake guard for my PM house. ( I have a pipe preadatotr guard from the PMCA too)...

Then I thought this would be a good idea for my BB house also, but worry that a raccoon or cat could grab onto the netting and crawl out and over the edge and on up to the birdhouse. The house is on a metal electrical conduit pipe, with a lock pin on the door and a 2" thick entry hole. Would a thick coat of axle grease on the pole help?

I am hoping my BBs will renest in the pipe mounted house, after losing a brood of four 12 day old chicks to a raccoon last night. It apparently climbed up and OPENED the house and threw the nest out, leaving only a few pinfeathers on the ground. (Yes the nest was on a tree, bad choice on my part- it is coming down today) I just hope the Mama was able to escape.

All this killing is getting to me. I trap and eliminate S&S daily, lost a brood of Chickadees to a HOSP attack, and now the BBs. A very sad day here....

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
:cry:
Mary
~Mary B~

Lifelong PM Admirer and Nature Enthusiast.
Ruthless trapper of S&S year round.
2013-2016 Unsuccessful at starting a PM colony. Health problems.
Rehomed all my PM stuff. Good Luck and Best Wishes to All.
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Carlton
Posts: 1959
Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pm
Location: Florida/Deerfield Beach
Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.

I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.


At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.

At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.

Keep after those HS. Eventually you will get them under control. I know they seem to come in waves here and after I catch them I do not have any for awhile. Good luck! I catch so many with my Spar o Door device as well as a lot with my nonrepeating bait trap.

Your chickadees can get through a 1 inch or 1 1/8 inch entrance hole which is too small for a HS. Make your entrances smaller for next season. My Carolina chickadees zip right through a one inch hole. Only the house wren can get through that size entrance (other than the Carolina chickadee). The Blackcapped is SLIGHTLY larger.
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Carlton
Posts: 1959
Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pm
Location: Florida/Deerfield Beach
Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.

I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.


At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.

At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.

As long as the netting does not hang down over the predator guard the raccoon should not be able to get hold of it. A cat does not have the right kind of paws (nongrasping) to use the netting. My opinion. The snake netting should go above the predator guard if possible but it should not hang down to the sides of the predator guard.

Snake netting devices alone will not stop a raccoon - only snakes. Cats catch most of their prey by leaping up as the bird approaches the house.
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Eyestothesky2
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2004 10:30 am
Location: Montevallo, Alabama

We use homemade predator guards on both our PM and BB poles. We found the plan in a book all about blue birds. We used a section of 8" stove pipe and fashioned a collar to attach the stove pipe to out of pressure treated wood. A radiator hose clamp holds the collar in place on the pole. The BB book suggested using a 1/2" X 1/2" wire in lieu of the wood. We had the lumber on hand and this was in inexpensive fix for us. If you use the wood just be sure to keep an eye out for wasps. The wire would prevent the wasps from building in the predator guard. I know how heart breaking it can be to watch those babies grow and then lose them in this way. We had a snake problem years ago, but have had not one since using these guards. Hope this helps!
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DebA
Posts: 1941
Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 7:43 am
Location: Pratt County/Kansas
Martin Colony History: Start 2009 with one pair. Upgraded from S&K houses to two Trendsetter 12's with gourds beneath in 2013. I have experienced job, pet, and parental losses since '13. The Purple Martins lift my spirits and remind me how life continues forward by flying their little selves from Brazil back to my yard. As one forum person once told me, chin up DebA, look at the martins. Danger all around but yet they soar in the sky without a care in the world.

I'm sorry, Mary. Please hang in there.
Hugs to you.
Deb
PMCA MEMBER
Pratt County, Kansas
2016 34 PAIR
2015 27 PAIR
2014 23 PAIR
2013 13 PAIR
2012 6 PAIR
2011 4 PAIR
2010 2 PAIR
2009 1 PAIR
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MamaBruff
Posts: 1466
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2013 12:21 pm
Location: SW Missouri
Martin Colony History: 2013-2016 Unsuccessful at starting a PM colony. Health problems.
Rehomed all my PM stuff. Good Luck and Best Wishes to All.

Thank you everybody for your comforting words and kind advice. You are wonderful friends who really understand and have a heart for birds. I believe I will try and make the stovepipe guard as suggested. So far I have only seen the male BB... Off to Lowe's I go...
Hugs to you all.
Mary
~Mary B~

Lifelong PM Admirer and Nature Enthusiast.
Ruthless trapper of S&S year round.
2013-2016 Unsuccessful at starting a PM colony. Health problems.
Rehomed all my PM stuff. Good Luck and Best Wishes to All.
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Nealbopper
Posts: 67
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:56 am
Location: Michigan, Oakland

When I built my BB houses I added a 24 inch section of PVC pipe right up under the house fitted over the steel fencepost. I read someplace where Raccoons and snakes cannot grasp / climb that.
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Louise Chambers
Site Admin
Posts: 6208
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:07 pm
Location: Corpus Christi, TX

Raccoons can climb 4 inch PVC and 6 inch PVC - doesn't mean that they all will, but that some will bypass it. stovepipe guards of 8 inches diameter are pretty good protection against raccoons but top needs to be 4 ft above ground -so many photos show guards placed too low, where a large raccoon could reach around them while standing on ground.
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