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smoothy · May 2, 2014, 06:06 PM

Well , I got a problem to deal with now, sort of ASAP... raccoons ripped through the screen on the eves of my attached garage and got up in the ceiling apparently Yes its sheet-rocked on the inside. Heard a racket, neighbor called a saw a raccoon on my deck... (deck is on the garage roof) heard a racket that sounded almost like it was in the house.. couldn't quite pinpoint it but went out with a flashlight and found where the screen was ripped out and some insulation pulled out.

I can't get any hardware cloth up until tomorrow, too dark tonight... but I don't want to have to deal with ripping out sheet-rock to remove a decaying animal in a week. Or have them find the one possible way to get into the main part of my house and tear it up. Shooting it isn't an option, inside town limits besides I'd have to see it first.

What's the best way to encourage them to leave first. Babies or not... its gone or its dead... I want the least inconvenience for myself. I have more wildlife than I want or need on my property already.

tickle · May 3, 2014, 02:34 AM

Racoons are pretty diligent and hard to discourage once they have found an appropriate nesting area or food source.

I don't know how much time you want to spend on this but baiting a cage, catching him/her and taking same to animal control would be one option.

Fr_Chuck · May 3, 2014, 04:16 AM

Cage and capture, then relocate. If you are in city limits, animal control should assist

Catsmine · May 3, 2014, 04:58 AM

Baiting is your best and fastest way to get coons out. They like apples and pears as they can't normally get those in the wild. Place a dish of fresh water on your deck with the fruit scattered about it (maybe on cardboard). Feed them over the weekend and Monday night they'll go into a cage trap almost without hesitation.

ScottGem · May 3, 2014, 06:20 AM

I had the same problem. Raccoon tore up the eave and got into the house. Had to hire a guy to trap it. Not too expensive, but it was the only good way.

joypulv · May 3, 2014, 06:40 AM

Hardware cloth? We've had them rip aluminum flashing off that was nailed onto soffits. Not only is it hard to get them out, it's hard to keep them out. They are very 'hands on.'

talaniman · May 3, 2014, 06:55 AM

There are many spray repellents for critters that work rather well. Home Depot is where I found mine for gardens, porches, and attics. Works well with rodents and squirrels, cats, and dogs, deer, possum and rabbits.

smoothy · May 3, 2014, 08:31 AM

THanks I'll give that a shot... I think I might have gotten lucky and it left deciding its not a good place to be.. . it at least was in a place that's really easy to hear ANY movement in. Haven't heard any movement since it got in initially. It's a spot that gets horrifically hot in the summer. I don't think it really wants to be there for the long haul. I think there was bees nest from a few years ago it might have gone after for food (honey) rather than make a nest.

I'd be less concerned if there wasn't an old disconnected dryer vent that passed through that area ( I put a more direct shorter one in when I remodled the bathroom next to that space) it could get access into the main part of my house through. Guess I have my motivation to cut out some sheet rock to get to it and remove it and cap off the hole through the sill plate. Up until now it was out of sight out of mind.

smoothy · May 4, 2014, 05:47 PM

Oh, this has just gotten, much, much worse... the are in the house now... litterally between the joists between the lower and upper level of the house (both levels are finished in sheetrock) Without one of those inspection cameras or a stethoscope... I'm guessing above the downstairs bathroom.

I guess I'm calling a animal/pest control person tomorrow morning. When they figure out they can dig through the sheetrock they could literally enter the living space who knows where. And do a whole lot of damage.

Passive wait and see baiting approach isn't going to work... I really don't know how they got into that area... but they did. Heard a few scratches on metal pipe... 90% of the plumbing is on that vertical wall.

smoothy · May 4, 2014, 08:09 PM

Well.figured out its at least THREE of them. Guessing the mother and at least two babies. Heard two of them in slightly different locations inside... and saw the mother trying to get out of the garage eves but is apparently stuck (a the result of some work I did yesterday) For the life of me can't figure out how they got from point A to point B... but I guess I've got to rip out a lot of Sheetrock to find out how once we get rid of them however.

The garage was added after the house was built...and that wall is brick faced cement block between them.

smoothy · May 5, 2014, 05:53 AM

I have pest control people coming by this afternoon. One of the baby racoon is stuck in the basement wall between the utility room and the bathroom, and at least one other in the downstairs bathroom ceiling. THe mother it stuck in the garage and can't get out... I assume it didn't get out it did eat a rather large chunk of aluminum screen that was there and isn't now (about a square foot) Was there at 11pm last night and it was gone this moring... it did not get through the hardware cloth I had backing it. If it got out it's not getting back in... I left that end unattached as I heard a growl when I got to the end. But apparently didn't leave quite enough space... saw it with its head stuck in there trying to get out at 11pm. But the others were still where they were when I went into the house.

Not sure how long they can go without food or water, but its been at least since Saturday. Much longer and I'll be tracking down a foul stench. I honestly don't care if they come out alive or dead... my compassion for wild animals ends when they eat my shrubs or invade my house.

smearcase · May 5, 2014, 05:58 AM

I would definitely remove whatever was put at the eaves and which is now blocking their egress. Sensing that they are trapped may have caused them to move further into the house, and they may continue to do so, looking for an exit.

smoothy · May 5, 2014, 06:12 AM

Well, removing that last night in the dark wasn't an option about 20 screws on an 8 foot strip of wood securing one side of everything to the siding,.... standing on a ladder in the dark with a ticked off mother raccon ready to pounce out when I was holding a flashlight in one hand and drill with a screwdriver bit in the other. The wall is 24 feet long and I've only secured 16 feet of it (ran out of time then I heard a commotion that night so I didn't finish it hoping they would find their way to the other end of the garage to get out.

I don't think the mother ever got into the house itself... but the babies did.through a gap small enough to fit through. THey were in the ceiling, one is now down at the bottom of the wall... might not be able to get back up and out. Assuming there is only two. They weren't out in the garage where the mother was.

I assume its two babies and the mother....Mother in garage, the babies in two different spots not far appart inside the house. Plus I read twins are a common litter size for them. I saw the mother, I've only heard the babies so I don't know how big they are....they are quite vocal.

This isn't the attic, its between the first and second floor, no place for a trap. No indication they ever got to the attic....and there are no openings for them to get in there from the outside. Two story split entry Colonial.

Caps on the Chimney I put on over 15 years ago means they didn't get in through either fireplace.

I'm at work now... all the interior doors are closed to limit access if they do come through a wall or the ceiling before I meet the exterminators later this afternoon. Can't so anything more before then.

smoothy · May 5, 2014, 03:38 PM

OK, Update... the guy was about an hour and a half late... but I had to uninstall the washer, drier, and slop sink to get the panel on that wall removed to expose the studs. On of them was certainly in it this morning... scratch marks back that.

THey were out of the house and back in the garage when I got home. Removed one of the strips holding the screen and pretty soon I saw a small pair of paws and a snout pushing through... it was one of the babies and it dropped out... It was really young... wobbly legs and weak... I put on a set of gloves picked it up and sat it in a box on the ground to entice the mother and others out...(Must have been really young or just really weak because it put up no more of a fight than a puppy would) but only the mother came out after that...and eventually knocked over the box and got that one little one... don't know where they went but there is still more in there.can't see how it could have gotten back in the way they came out since everything was almost spring loaded against the siding, no way to push under it to get in) Guy told me litters were between 3-7 on average. Where in the heck did I read litters were like two? I thought I only heard two plus the mother.

Capped off the garage at his request to keep any from returning or new ones getting in. Opened up the utility room and put a trap baited with tuna and hopefully they will move to trap and get caught there... at least it saves cutting a hole in the bathroom I'd have to fix.

Have to keep an eye on it several times a day and see what we trap. Can still hear at least one other in there....but it could be more..

smoothy · May 5, 2014, 08:10 PM

OH... I'm ready to start killing every wild animal that sets foot on my property now...

Its 11PM... sons a beaches got in AGAIN... (yeah now they are in my utilitiy room and not just the ceiling and walls... 11pm and they JUST quieted down... spent an hour with them freaking out like they were on PCP... hate to see what that room looks like right now.

Wife called the pest control people little bit ago at 1030pm... wifes been spazzing out. I tossed in some rat poison blocks into the room so if they don't go in the trap the guy set in there... and get the tuna... hopefully the SOB's eat the rat poison and die... because I'm buying a pellet rifle on the way home tomorrow if I don't come home early to do it and kill every one I can see in there. Obviously I can't discharge an actual firearm for a whole lot of reasons. And I don't have anything smaller right now. Don't know anyone I can call tonight that does have one either. BB gun won't do it but a decent pellet gun should have enough to do it. Too damn bad if the babies die.

One electrical circuit went dead in the house so they must have chewed through the romex. Maybe that's why it got so quiet... the damn thing electrocuted itself before the breaker popped. I can only hope.

smoothy · May 6, 2014, 08:09 PM

Damn... this is more like a plague than an infestation, exterminators pulled another three racoons out of my laundry room today... One adult and two babies... there is still a baby in the ceiling, they should be able to get in in the morning. I got one adult and one baby out of the garage ceiling yesterday. 5 total so far, none where there before friday night. Its not tuesday night.
They tapped the mother... they say it but was unable to snare it and the baby earlier... but mom got in the trap tomight. I'm hoping after the other baby that's the last of them. I have an epic mess to clean up in the room... looks like a tornado tore through it, half the stuff on shelves now strewn across the floor. And there were a lot of shelves in that room.

ScottGem · May 7, 2014, 04:55 AM

Yep Raccoons are not fun visitors. Sorry you had to go through this.

J_9 · May 7, 2014, 05:20 AM

Sounds worse than when I had the mother skunk deliver her litter in the crawl space of my house.

smoothy · May 7, 2014, 06:30 AM

They don't smell anywhere near as bad as skunks do at least.. but gawd are they destructrive creatures... SO much stuff is strewn around and pulled off the shelves I can't even get the ouside door open (it opens inward), luckily there are two other doors into that room.

The worst is over... there is still one other baby we know of... if that's the only one left we either catch it or it will die of starvation and start stinking up the house. They clearly probibly aren't even 5 days old yet... wobbly legs so I'm guessing they aren't weaned yet.

I seriously hope there are no others we haven't heard yet. I'll know this evening when they get active. Thats for sure. One is too many....five with one left to go is unbelievable. Plus side.its a small baby...if it dies..it might desicate rather than rot and stink.....air conditioning season will keep the air dry.

smoothy · May 8, 2014, 06:24 AM

Woo Hoo, Got the last one out about 5:30 last night. Haven't heard a single noise since then. Now the cleanup starts. Anyone know where to buy Febreeze by the industrial drum? That room has a stench in it now I really hope goes away soon... I'm at the office now and its still in my nose.

TIme to start tossing out stuff that was chewed up or damaged by scratching or broken while being knocked of the shelves by them.

That makes a total of four removed from inside the house by exterminators and two I let out of the house by temporarily opening a hardware cloth and screen barrier.