Hi everyone. I have a little dog who has tiny poops. However, this morning I noticed 2 long pieces of scat in my backyard. It doesn’t look like my dogs poop at all. I was wondering if anyone could help me identify this based on the picture. Sorry in advance for its grossness, but I’m nervous that it can be an animal that can hurt my dog or bring diseases. There seems to be chunks and little black strings in the scat.
I don't know where the flies in my apartment are coming from recently (no exposed food/garbage or opened windows, etc), but I know they're there. It's not a huge infestation, but it is an annoyance. Regular-sized flies, not fruit flies.
It seems there are two main alternatives for killing flies, outside of using a swatter (which I tried, with an electric swatter, but the ones in my apartment are too restless and quick) and poison spray (toxic, gets over stuff, needs cleanup, etc). Those two alternatives are scented traps and zapping lights.
The scented traps seem recommended for outdoors due to the strong smell, so I'm wondering about the issue of the smell being in my apartment, including with regards to how hospitable my place would be while the trap is there, whether the smell lingers after the trap is removed (and if so, whether something like an ozone generator would take care of that), and crucially, whether the smell would be strong enough to attract flies from outdoors through the tiny pathways connecting the outdoors to my apartment, which is obviously unwanted.
So, normally I'd select zapping lights. However, I read that unattended zapping lights are a potential fire hazard, and in my case, they would be almost entirely unattended at the moment. I've been staying at my girlfriend's, awaiting cleanup of the apartment opposite mine that suffered a fire a month ago (that's why I bought an ozone generator, but it's not enough to stop continued transfer of the smoke smell from the opposite apartment); I now only visit my apartment periodically, generally once every few days or less, for up to several hours at a time, not staying overnight.
Regarding another alternative, fly paper, I read that it's unreliable, especially for bigger flies. But I'd like to be proven wrong.
So I welcome advice, preferably based on experience. And if I didn't mention a trap style that you think would be more suitable for my situation, please note. Thanks in advance.Read More
Where I live is a very woody area. I have a 25 lb. terrier mix dog. He can smell possums and other wild animals that come into the yard.
He barks and this is quite disturbing at 1am when he barks.
I feed the birds daily. Besides bird seed I'll throw out old bread.
I have a security camera and watched 5 🦝 raccoons wandering about in the front yard eating whatever leftovers they could find. Then they went to the neighbors house and got into his trash.
I bought a Havahart trap. I found a guy who feeds the raccoons and would welcome more.
He taught me how to use a trap as I'd never trapped anything before. They love PB&J sandwiches.
We have caught 8 raccoons. I thought that was it. Well, we caught 7 and my little dog killed a young one. Yikes! :RIP:
Lo and behold another 4 show up on camera.
Now someone kept eating the bait but no one was in the trap. I read online that a bigger raccoon may eat the bait then back out of the trap and to set a brick on the end of the trap door so that when it shuts it slams (for lack of a better word) and the raccoon can't back out. That worked on 1 raccoon.
But now something strange is going on. They will NOT take the bait. They don't even come back every night. I might see them on camera every 3 nights. The bread hasn't been eaten as before they would eat it all up.
Can anyone tell me what's going on? I washed the trap with soap and water. I just can't figure out why they don't come every night as they use to.
BTW, I don't hate raccoons or wildlife. But they do carry disease and the vet said if one poops in your yard and the dog steps in it he'll probably get sick. Plus, I'd like to be able to sleep all night with no barking.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
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09-24-21, 10:16 AM
