Advice on dealing with racoons

[punter]

Hi,

I think that I may have a racoon in my attic. I heard some noises coming from my roof, the sound of something flapping in the wind. I went outside to take a look. A piece of the aluminum eaves, in one corner of the roof has been damaged, probably not by the wind, but, I suspect, a racoon.

I called a pest control specialist. He told me that I probably do have a racoon in my attic and that it would cost about $300 to remove it. I'm worried that, after I pay the money, the racoon, or one if it's buddies comes back, this or next winter. I guess that there's no guarantee that it won't happen again, since the aluminium eaves is not that strong (certainly not racoon proof).

My wife thinks that we should leave the racoons alone and fix the eaves in the spring.

Has this happened to you before? And what did you do?

 

[Master Muse]

Racoons

Doesn't the local government have some sort of animal control? That's what I called when I had too many on my roof. They set strong metal cage traps with tuna fish inside. The 'coon rattled that cage all night like a banshee but never returned from its visit to the animal shelter or wherever. Other than that, Do NOT go into your attic looking for it. It's a big rat and you know what is said about trapped rats.

At another house, I lured some out into my side yard with trails of tuna. I then popped a couple from inside the door with a 22-250. They left and never returned.

 

[phelan]

my advice is get it fixed before it becomes more of a problem as racoons now are looking for a place to breed. You don't want them coming back to your roof and breeding in there, next thing you know you won't have much of a roof left...just my 2 cents.

 

[CUPID]

Human hair repells racoons! Go to your hair dresser and ask for clippings and put them around the problem areas and the little buggers will stop bugging you.

 

[luv4lust]

pinesol works too they hate the smell you can get traps and fix the hole asap put chicken wire up under the eve

 

[unshavencuban]

If you value your home,kill them without anybody seeing,dump their dead body in a park or the lake or they will destroy your house,i know from personal experience the damage these little fuckers can do 2 a home.

 

[fjdude]

Just get a dog and let it loose in the attic...it'll scare the shit out of the racoon.

 

[Gentle Ben]

I had a racoon several years ago in my workshop on the property, what I learned was this. You have to make the racoon want to leave, if you try to make it leave, you will have a war on your hands, and racoons are very destructive.
There are several ways to make the raccon want to leave, constant noise, day & night such as music, constant bright lights ,day & night, the method I chose was houshold ammonia(soaked rags in it) at the point of entry, it irritates their eyes and the decide to move on. at that point you have to seal up the entry point.
I kept applying ammonia to the entry point for a week or so to be sure they got the message. after that I sealed up the hole & had success .
I got the information off of a website at the time, it made sense to me, and it worked.

see more info here http://www.projectwildlife.org/living-raccoons.htm

 

[Alexis696969]

if you poison or use body gripping traps you can be criminallyand /or provincially charged with fines up to 5000 buckaroos =thanks eye my mistake

they have commercial wildlife removal services that will remove them -so if you cant call them

if you shine a light it will bother them -to mabe leave


I once had a whole family living inside a crawlspace when i was a kid i could hear them hissing snarling and scratching they can even turn knobs these smart creatures


if you use anmonia or lysol and the babies are already in there since it takes 8 weeks to have a litter up to 5 they wont be able to get out

Also you will have to have the feces removed properly so you dont have any contamination

but for goodness sakes do not for any reason go near them when they are now in breeding season they will be very nasty and you dont want rabies

 

[Svend]

Pay to get rid of the raccoons now, put in a bowl of ammonia, then patch the hole. Your aluminum eaves are better than wood for keeping them out. This is a growing problem, but you have to keep up the fight against them.

 

[stang]

Try this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060217/od_nm/australia_poo1_dc

 

[fuji]

If you live in the countryside just wait around in the evening with a 30-30 until they come out, and then shoot the fuckers. If you live in the city your best bet is to annoy them into leaving, the ammonia rags + music sounds like a good idea. Don't leave them there, they will wreck your home.

 

[Alexis696969]

Try this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060217/od_nm/australia_poo1_dc

thats what i call a can of whoopass

LOL

 

[Yuri]

Racoons

There is an illegal way.....use Auto anti-freeze...either in a small disk & place in attic or soak in cloth & leave in attic, either way auto anti-freeze is sweet to the taste for the animals and will poison them within 2-3 days, problem with that is that you may have an after-odour from the de-composition ...either way get rid of them before they multiply and tear your roof apart.

 

[C Dick]

I have had them in my garage a number of times. Do not bother with an "exterminator", they are so tied up with ridiculous regulations that it is a joke. They told us that they were legally obligated to catch them humanely, and release them on my property, which totally defeats the purpose. I found that lights and music did not work, but mothballs did, I threw mothballs everywhere they might have been hiding, and they left.

 

[CapitalGuy]

I'd recommend a 12-guage with a modified choke. That will provide enough propulsion to get the shot through the ceiling, but still provide a wide-enough dispersal to ensure you at least clip the little bastard.

 

[KBear]

Raccoons go out prowling at night. Figure out how they are getting into the attic, stay up late one night and plug the hole.

Don’t think they would attack you if you stuck your head up in the attic to check to see if they are gone. You can shine a flashlight around and look for their glowing eyes. Would not go into the attic though, as it would be a mess if they charged at you in a small space, lol.

 

[shack]

Human hair repells racoons!

Will pubic hair work?

 

[PHNINE]

Just move...racoons freak me out...

In all seriousness, wait till spring and then fix the eeaves. Make sure you reinforce any opennings or spaces that a racoons may crawl through. I have heard of teh human hair bit repelling racoons and other animals, but you might need alot of hair. An ultra sonic sound gadget will work as well if you don't have any other pets. But it is best to wait till spring. If you do it now, there is a very good chance they will try to get back in because your house is heated and enjoy the insulation as much as we do.

 

[Alexis696969]

my brother used to have a pitbull .........he went into the garage and when Cooper saw the racoons hiding inside the garbage cans (inside the garage !) (our neighboorhood was infested and it was in the city !)(the city didnt help unless they were inside the house !)
well Cooper went mental , next thing you know 3 of them pop out of the cans growling . Cooper was ready to take them all on so he got loose and went nuts but guess what ... he had gashes ,and slashes from there sharp razor claws across his head and blood allover the place .It looked brutal ,yes he did scare the shit out of them and they never came back ...poor Cooper .we fixed him up ..but .it is rare that racoons will want to fight but the odd one is very agressive !If this wasnt a pitbulll its safe to say a smaller dog would be dead -protect your pets too