Havahart brand says that in their field tests, cantaloupe worked best for ground hogs. They suggest rubbing the rind and juice all over the cage and then adding a piece inside as well as leaving a trail of juice leading to the cage (along with a couple of pieces near the burrow). Their site:
http://www.havahart.com/advice... also lists some other recommendations.
At our home, it is the racoons that are destructive. One year, we were waiting for our corn to reach that perfect stage and the night before we planned on harvesting, all but about 3 or 4 ears were stolen by these little monsters. I was extremely
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Also, 4 years ago we had a raccoon scale the side of our 2 story home and eat my husband's pet Koi that lived in a large balcony "pond". He had raised the 2 fish from small fry until they were about 20" long. When the first one disappeared, we thought perhaps hawks but then the second one turned up dead. We did locate the head and the detached body - we think the dogs chased the raccoon once it reached ground level - but the raccoon left paw prints in the dust on the railing and wet prints on the flooring so we are sure who the culprit was. I don't know how it knew that the Koi were up there unless it accidentally discovered them while exploring.
Now days, we have one that keeps climbing on my husband's motorcycle so we will be trapping it, too. Needless to say, I have no affection for racoons what-so-ever!
