We have 45 acres that also border a State Park, and porcupines average range is just about that big. Also, our land is heavily forested, so finding the porcupine after finding a fresh chew is not nearly as easy as you may think. I have spent many hours going through the woods looking for porcupines and have had some luck, but not by tracking them which is next to impossible given the ground cover around here). I live about a quarter mile into the woods and although I do have a few neighbors, they are not close and are also used to the occasional nightly gunshot from coyote hunting, etc. As for the hose idea.....it's a good one if you just want to keep them from one spot, but in my case, eradication is what I am going for. But thanks for the input

 

.... but in my case, eradication is what I am going for .....

Hmmm. So, was it the porcupines that gave you your name?

 

Try this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5-d3rZZ-_M&feature=fvw

For the luv off............ I can't stop laughing.
My gut hurts !!!!!!!!

Rifaa

 

Is it possible that there is a substance in your logs that the critter likes? I mean the little SOB has the whole damn forest to eat but he prefers your house. Maybe the logs were treated with a sodium based preservative? If it's salt that he craves, then serve it to him on a 20KV metal plate!

 

Salt is a attractant to a lot of critters in the woods, especially deer. I've heard of the porcupine problem, usually with ax handles. The sweat leave a lot of salt deposit, and they naturally like chewing on wood.

The big odd pest where I grew up in Oklahoma was armadillos. The encyclopedia article the family read said they can dig faster than an enemy could pursue them, imagine what they could do to a pier and beam house if they were so inclined. We had one that was so inclined, it was actually kind of funny watching my Dad leaning out of the window of the house with a 22 pistol popping away (it worked).

About the 555 oscillator, we used to use that in my dorm for crowd control, especially if the crowd was next door (and noisy). Some frequencies you can feel, but not quite hear. It is very spooky. Add a capacitor to the output of the 555 and you can drive a stereo with it, which is what we did.

What voltage would you use for the 555 circuit? I work around that, once I have it.

 

Guys don't forget my Iquanas project which is coming along
better than expected,even got some mice leaving the scene.
I was told that I was taking on an Impossible problem, a
little science from south america has helped. Capt,I was going
to tell you about everhart 42" live traps.You got It under control.

 

cddrivel: You are absolutely correct about the salt, as the log ends he has eaten are the ones that get the salt splash from the ice melter salt we put down on the front steps in wintertime.
Bill: As for voltages, I would probably run it off of 12VDC as I have plenty of car batteries here from various wind and solar power projects. So 12VDC would be my first choice, although 9VDC would also be a good option for portability. Any chance I could impose on you to draw up a schematic both ways? If not, either way will work good for me and I am not picky.
steveb: No, my name came about from another time in my life, although I am going to kill the joy in this porcupine's life when I get him!
Thanks Again for everyones help and comments!

 

What Is your elevation And temperture this time of year.

 

Use the PIR sensor to activate a sprinkler valve. Most critters don't like to get wet.

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G4567

I have a few of these, and work good. They go on sale once or twice a year. They come with instructions for soldering in a relay. They also sell a wireless kit, that receives the signal, but never got bought one. Not weatherproof, but a little silicone will fix that.

Pir doesn't work well in sunlight, lots of false triggering. Don't think porcupines are nocturnal, pretty much do what they please. Might try animal control, not a very healthy pest to have wandering around people and pets. I know my black Lab pup would have a face full of quills, probably daily (a little slow learning).

 

Porcupines ARE generally nocturnal.

The problem is, I think, to provide a bait that porcupines would be attracted to, yet be discouraging to other animals to help reduce false triggers.

 

OK, I've never built this, but it is slated to become one of my experiments. I am going to try 2N2222A/2N2907A to start with, but for your application I'd go with power transistors. It should be a snap to protoboard, and the speaker might be a challenge due to frequency response.

Your dogs and cats will be very unhappy with it if you try it out in their presence, same as you would be on the frequencies you can hear.

On the frequencies you can't hear, but can sense (U/S just out of your hearing range will do that) it can be spooky. One frequency will convince you someone is watching right behind your shoulder. Other frequencies can involk some odd emotional responses, especially if you don't know it is there. I had a lot of fun with these kind of circuits in college.

The zener diodes are there to prevent a condition called shoot through, where both transistors are on at the same time and shorting the power supply. You can go lower, I figure 5.1V zeners will work, but that is on the edge.

 

Bill, was going to try this, but while entering it into my schematic program, I noticed that all the transistors are NPN. Is that correct? I built a microcontroller project, open source, with a similar arrangement, and never got it to work right.

 

Bill, was going to try this, but while entering it into my schematic program, I noticed that all the transistors are NPN. Is that correct? I built a microcontroller project, open source, with a similar arrangement, and never got it to work right.

Bill probably didn't notice that he did that...(Spice Typo). Q1 and Q3 should be the PNPs. If using the 2N2222/2N2907s that he mentioned, they would be the 2N2907s.

 

Bill probably didn't notice that he did that...(Spice Typo). Q1 and Q3 should be the PNPs. If using the 2N2222/2N2907s that he mentioned, they would be the 2N2907s.

That's what I did, and simulated just fine. Did the artwork for a double-sided board, but just don't feel up to etching today. Might breadboard it later though. Thinking I should change over to power transistors though. I've got some piezo tweeters, 50w & 100w, that can handle over 25 KHz. My dog is going to be hating me for a day or two...

 

Damn, I hate it when I do that. I will be back...


OK, fixed. Thanks for the heads up. Nice catch.

If you use a pizeo you might think of a step up transformer (though it will produce a 24V P-P across the speaker). Might blow the pizeo, but it could be fun.

Please note, I am not resposible for any broken glass or unexpected animal attacks this might cause. Use at your own risk.

 

<<Broken Glass>>
Bingo!!! Will get back to you

Rifaa

 

I'm building one in to my motor cycle. I think I will test it out on the road.
This is gonna be fun!!

Rifaa

 

You are right Sarge...they are generally nocturnal which is why I am having such a hard time getting him. Mainly cause I'm not nocturnal! Hopefully I will get the chance though.......

 

Bill....Thanks ever so much for the circuit design. I will be proto-boarding it tomorrow after work and hopefully test it out tomorrow evening. I will let you know how things work out.

 

I don't see why you're going to all the trouble (other than it's fun to build stuff). I'd suggest trying those Hav-a-hart traps. We have a few of them around our house that we use to catch the dang raccoons that come at night and kill our chickens. Once we've caught one, I just take it into the garage and pop it with a .22 (I live in the city so I don't want some stupid fine for shooting a gun within city limits). We've done away with 4 or 5 raccoons this way. We do occasionally catch our cats and chickens though, so the traps can't be left unattended for more than a day or two.

You definitely don't want your dog catching up with that porcupine. I was hiking with my sister when her two dogs got one and I spent the next hour removing quills from the mouth area of two very unhappy dogs.