Some animal, could be a possum or raccoon, has decided that a certain spot on my wooden deck is now his official toilet. I am thinking that is what is is based upon the size of the scat. We have been left a gift of animal poop in this same spot every night for the past four days (and two other times someplace else on my property). This is getting old really fast and is disgusting. (I am tired of having to debate every day who gets to clean up me or my husband?)
What successfully works to repel an animal? I don’t want to damage my nice wood deck (would cayenne pepper stain it?). I also have no interest in catching it (have a heart trap or not). There seem to be lots of products out there, although most target keeping animals out of your garden not off your deck.
I have the same thing but on the patio. The lights from the motion detector don’t deter it. (I also think it’s a possum or raccoon). So I take my shovel and scoop it up, throw in in the bushes for fertilizer and hose off the spot. Takes one minute. I like wildlife and I enjoy seeing wildlife on my Ring camera.
My parents used to have a motion detector sprinkler for things like this, when they lived in a rural area and had more critters to deal with.
Maybe use something like Nature’s Miracle to get rid of the scent markings that keep it coming back to the same spot.
NOT to a farm. It’s incredibly annoying when people dump animals here thinking it’s ok. It doesn’t matter if it’s kittens or something caught in a trap. Very little survives TBH. Kittens get killed by resident feral cats. I can think of five in the past who have survived and that’s because we were able to catch them the first time we saw them and find homes. Usually we just see them getting scrawnier and scrawnier until something else takes them out. It’s sad. They’re scared and starving to death, then something violent gets them.
We take out any raccoons or opossums or whatever. If we didn’t, they tend to eat our chickens.
To the OP trying to keep something off of a deck, I’d go with various scents that Google says have worked for others. I can’t suggest any because we don’t go that route.
A product called BioBac may help remove the odor without being offensive to humans. I’ve read that Irish Spring bar soap repels some animals. I bought a 12 pack of it, cut the bars in half, and scattered it behind shrubs and flowers where a couple of free roaming cats had decided to make those beds their litter box. Security cameras have not been triggered by the cats since then. Years ago, I’d clean our long haired daughter brush every few days and put the hair behind shrubbery. It seemed to help, too.
I recently learned that relocated mammals seldom survive. I have done this in the past and feel bad now!
Do you have any water nearby like a dog dish on your deck? Years ago we had a lock and dam type water toy on our deck, and a raccoon used it to wash his food and left us a turd regularly. We stopped leaving water out there and it stopped.
We tried mothballs (which we had) the animal pooped right next to them. I just came home with ammonia (not easy to find - had to hit 3 stores) and cayenne pepper. Going to try the soaked rags on the deck and the pepper in the ground around the deck. Maybe not tonight as rain is forecast.
If it is using the same place every time, and especially if you see a mix of different stuff (including corn) in the poop, you could very well have a raccoon - they like using “latrines” which they return to.
If it is a raccoon, keep away from that poop - there are a number of really nasty parasites and pathogens which you could pick up from it.
FWIW, most experts catch and kill. Obviously we’re not opposed to this, but if someone were, it would be good for them to know.
Relocating wild animals is difficult because they’re very territorial and those already in the territory have no qualms about killing or running off newbies. The newbie, being new, has no idea where to hide, where to get food/water, and has no clan to back it up if it’s a communal critter. It’s stressful. Our state even tried relocating deer from overpopulated areas to underpopulated areas and found out it didn’t work. The deer didn’t know the food sources of their new territory and the stress of it all was too much. They resorted to shooting them in overpopulated areas. That wasn’t popular among some, but it beats the numerous car crashes. Since humans have taken out the predators, someone has to fill that role.
Our son would be happy to take care of this problem for you, but probably not the method you prefer.
In Georgia, wild boar are a problem. There is no bag limit for them, which allows hunters to catch as many feral hogs as they’d like year-round. Pre-COVID, we told our son that as soon as he got one, we’d immediately fly down for the BBQ. Damn this quarantine.
But, back on topic, I’m going to call out @cameo43 who lives on a farm and has recent experience with getting rid of skunks and squirrels and even a bear who likes to wander up on her porch (or maybe she made friends with the bear, I don’t remember). I think she said the coyote pee didn’t work, but hopefully she’ll chime in with whatever did.
I was advised to use ammonia soaked rags to get rid of groundhogs, but it didn’t work. Hired a pro who live-trapped one but wasn’t able to get the other.
We still have them and I don’t know how to get rid of them.
