My squirrel-proof feeder got a full raccoon family last night

So I'm in my yard in Cincinnati, watching the sunset. I hear this huge crash from the deck. My big tube feeder, the one with the weight lock, is on the ground. Not just tipped, but the whole pole bent. There's a mom raccoon and three babies just going to town on the spilled seed. I guess the lock only works for squirrels, not a 15 pound raccoon hanging off it. I had to wait inside until they left, then I brought the whole mess in. Now I'm looking at moving the feeder away from the deck rail and maybe getting a baffle for the pole too. Has anyone else had raccoons beat a weight sensitive feeder? What did you do?

3 comments

3 Comments

troy4392mo ago

Get a baffle, they're basically raccoon slides.

maxm632mo ago

That's a funny way to put it. I've seen the plastic cone baffles, but do the metal pole-mounted ones actually work better? I've got a determined squirrel that just climbs right over my plastic one.

the_derek26d ago

Nah I gotta be honest, baffles worked okay for me but the raccoons figured out how to jump from the deck rail and bypass the whole thing. Ended up just moving the feeder to a spot where they couldn't reach it from anything solid. That was the real fix.

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