Raccoon concerns (New Orleans, Lafayette, Slidell: neighborhoods, subdivision, living)

[Emerald Forest]

Hi Louisiana Forum!

My husband and I are interested in considering southern Louisiana for relocation. We're a little concerned about living around raccoons though, especially since we have children (ages 2 and 3), and we like to garden.

I've read about raccoons being carriers of not just rabies but also roundworm which is spread through their feces, not the rabies of course- but the roundworm is spread this way. So, you could possibly have raccoon refuse in your yard and not even know it. Is there a way to treat your yard so that it doesn't harbor the worms?

Thanks

[rawrockills]

Where are you moving from? Doesn't everyone have raccoons? By that I mean I do not think Louisiana has a problem any more than another location.

[aquietpath]

God Lord, wild animals are going to be on this earth no matter where you live. It's not like Louisiana has an overpopulation of them. Where are you moving from - a sanitized bubble? Keep your trash cans covered, and don't let your kids walk around outside barefoot. That goes for all the south, not just south Louisiana.

[HillWilliam]

is this a serious question? lol

[Artemissa]

Yum. Raccoon stew. That's some good eatin', y'all.



OP, where in southern Louisiana are you thinking of relocating? If it's in a metropolitan area or the suburbs, you might not have any raccoons visiting your yard. Same for possums.

[Blackhawk4440]

I live (for now) in the PNW and have learned that raccoons nearly become tame around people---about like squirrels. Some of them around here you can feed from your hand. LOL

As for raccoon stew---they taste like pork.

I wouldn't worry about them leaving droppings, mostly I've noticed in the woods they tend, like a lot of wild animals do, to have 'latrines' near their dens.

[Emerald Forest]

Yeah, that's true, raccoons are ubiquitous, but since they prefer areas around rivers, wetlands--places where there's an abundance of water (fresh water?), you may spot them more often in southern Louisiana than South Texas. I've never see one here in Corpus Christi, but my sister lived in a small town close to Lafayette and she saw them almost daily.

There are questions only locals can answer. Thanks for the replies.

[Artemissa]

And "micro" locals, probably, since even within the same area there can be differences.

I lived in New Orleans for the first 40-plus years of my life, and I never saw a raccoon in the various neighborhoods in which I lived (several different locations in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes). I don't recall even seeing raccoons in N.O.'s City Park, which is on a bayou and has many lagoons. However, some friends who lived in one particular subdivision of N.O. did have raccoons visiting their yard. Not sure if that subdivision still has them, since that's been *cough* several decades ago.

Visiting the North Shore (Mandeville, Slidell, Covington, Madisonville, north of Lake Pontchartrain) and the bayou country west of N.O, Lafourche, Terrebonne, Lafayette, etc., you'd see them for sure. Since many of those areas have become more populated, a lot of the wildlife has been pushed into outlying areas. Also, since raccoons are often considered "nuisance" animals, they may be "invited" to leave by the locals.

When I moved to the MS Gulf Coast, raccoons and possums were common. Ditto where I live in the Pacific NW now, a few hundred yards from the Columbia River.

[thisismyname10]

We have racoons that get in our garbage cans. We tied the lids down so they can't get in and theyve disappeared from what we can tell. They were never a problem other than that.