[knittingmomma]

My parents have been struggling with raccoons since last summer. They have torn open the soffits of their home in several places (initially it was one location now as the evictions fail they are tearing open more) and getting into the atic. Between a pest control person and my father they have trapped 10 raccoons, 1 opossom and a skunk (that was messy).

My father is wanting to put pans of amonia soaked rags up in the atic - this screams bad idea to me. They are also trying music and bright lights.

I worry he is going to get bitten and I hate seeing all these animals destroyed and clearly it's not working.

Any thoughts out there. This has become a very expensive proccess in animal life, property disctruction, and mental anguish. Any help would be appreciated. They live in the suburbs of Chicago if that is any help.

 

[4just1don]

I am not aware of "ONE" redeeming value of a raccoon. You have very little choice than to 'eliminate' all of them and keep after them because they repopulate quickly. Go outside just after its good and dark with a BIG flashlight/spotlight. and see how many eyes are looking back at you,look thru the trees, the grass, the buildings,everywhere. friend said he did that last week and was greeted by a "sea" of eyes looking back at him. You CAN live trap them in time, using honey or marshmellows as bait. Hunting them at night is faster. A small sweet corn patch in summer will attact them,,,then I 'heard' of a solution, but never tried it. Coke a cola in a shallow pan,,,and mixed with golden maldrin fly bait,,maybe a cupful. IF they get more than 10 feet from pan before all four are in the air,,,mix a bit more fly bait. The ONLY good one is a dead one,,,thats a fact!!(they carry a HOST of diseases,children have been known to DIE from that!!)(if in doubt,google it)

When they rip siding and enter homes and sheds,its time they go,they can do ALOT of damage,,,ever see insulation after those fat hogs waller thru it?? And there droppings are DEADLY,,,have I mentioned that yet??

 

[knittingmomma]

He (my father) is exterminating them. It's illegal to relocate them. It's probably illegal to kill them and it is surely illegal to be out in the suburbs hunting them in the backyard.

He's looking for more ideas - b/c he keeps killing them and is not seeing an end.

 

[Leah Frances]

I love nature and I go out of my way to preserve and protect it until it crosses certain lines. Spiders in the house - AOK! Spiders in the shower at the same time as me - going to get washed down the drain. Mosquitos are fine with me until they land on my skin. Rabbits cute and fuzzy until they eat all my vegetables.

Sure, raccoon genocide seems wrong at a gut level. But, it is also inhumane to fight a long slow war of attrition that will inflict misery and terror on both sides.

Raccoons are smart. Unless ALL of the multiple cohorts are destroyed - they will continue to try and get back into your parents house.

Since the VALUE of your parents home is being threatened I would suggest bringing in an expert to deal with the problem once and for all.

 

[Scuba_Dave]

I couldn't find anything stating its illegal to kill a raccoon (except Canada)
Canada (some areas?) you can't trap them (jaw trap that will kill)
In many (most?) places it is illegal to trap them & then release them anywhere but on the same property where they were trapped

You need to seal every entrance with wire
One thought is to electrify this wire -not recommended
An electrican friend did this around his birdfeeder w/switch
Raccoon stepped on the metal matt & started to shovel food into his mouth. He flipped the switch - raccoon froze. He cursed - it wasn't working...shut the switch off......and the raccoon keeled over

Raccoons have never bothered our house or garbage
Possibly due to cat litter in the trash & now diapers
The only time I hade 4 raccoons (3 babies) on the back patio is when I was cooking lobster outside. They smelled it & knocked the top off the pot - empty.
I left the empty shells down by the stream well away from the house. Not a shred of shell was left the next day - rocks were overturned as they looked for more
One died trapped in the fence, I see the others foorprints - but have not seen them

 

[47_47]

My wife likes to hang bird feeders on a rail under our back proch. The raccoons would get to, empty and destroy the feeders. I stripped back 10' of 14-2 romex and stapled the wires 5" apart. At night plug it in. After 2 zaps, no more raccoons.

 

[Gary in WA]

Had a mother with three babies in attic, for over two weeks before I found out. My neighbor thought they were cute, something for her and her family to watch. Left a radio on 24/7, on a talk station. Music is soothing, they don't like talk. They left after two weeks. G

 

[BillyB44]

I have heard that the ammonia-soaked rags work REALLY well on skunks, so it is worth a try on Raccoons. Once they associate that harsh smell with a specific location, they will avoid it for a long time...if not their whole lives.

 

[Chemist1961]

I heard an exterminator on a talk show say he had seen a house repair done where the babies were trapped in the attic by mistake. The mother came back and clawed and chewed through brick to get them. This is a fomidable opponant.
We have them in our neighbourhood but have noticed since we separate and seal all wet kitchen waste in a locked recycle bin, they haven't touched our garbage once. One day last year I watched two scale our neighbour's 8 foot chimney and hop inside. Funny to watch but scarey to think where they can get to.
I have seen and heard that a mechanical motion sensing owl is a great cure. Never tried one but the device is a natural predator. You need to beat nature with nature and elimainate the hospitable envoronment. Play some AC/DC as well
Also saw a guy on Detroit news last month, who is layed off, who traps and skins and sells them. $15 each. "good eatin!!!!!!" He had about 6 in his freezer ......skinned like turkeys. You may want to look him up and have him drop by.....

 

[ocoee]

This is what I do for a living

Deterrents only work as deterrents not as evictions
Once they have established a home site putting ammonia, that only smells like urine same as their next anyway, will not force them out

All you can do is trap the offenders
Just because you are trapping several ***** in the area does not mean that these are the ***** that are causing the problems

You have to trap the animals that are actually coming in, that means proper trap placement

You also have to identify and harden not only the current entry ways but all secondaries
They have nothing to do all nigt but look for a way in, you have to think like they do
.Eave gaps are the most common way that they get into a non crawl house
Harden all of them at once

There are also attic treatments that eliminate the odors and pheromones that they leaves behind that will attract others in after they are gone

 

[ettevyva]

Possible solution to raccoons?

Today I saturated my bird feeders hanging from the roof of the front porch with ground Cayenne Pepper throughout the seed to hopefully keep the squirrels away from them. The birds don't mind it, but I was told the squirrels usually don't like it. Tonight there was a raccoon on my feeders. He started eating some of the mixture of sunflower seed and peanut butter but kept licking his mouth. Then he went away and came back for a short time....and apparently realized that when he tried to eat the seed, it burned his mouth. He didn't come back a third time. Hopefully this will help deter the raccoons away from the feeder. It might be a solution. (No guarantees, though).

 

[gma2rjc]

Cool idea! How much did you mix into the bird seed?

 

[ettevyva]

Reply on Raccoons

I had more Cayenne Pepper than seed throughout the seed feeder and suet feeder. After I'd written I had a larger Raccoon come to the feeder and climb up the wooden polls and eat more of the seed. He wasn't as intimidated as the younger Raccoon was that didn't like the burning of his mouth with the Cayenne Pepper. I ended up taking down the feeders for the night. I'm still trying to come up with more solutions meanwhile.

My daughter tells me Fox Urine or Wolf Urine can be bought at various Feed and Seed Stores to deter Raccoons; but is quite expensive when you can find it -she said. (She owns a landscaping business).

I'm continuing to research how to resolve this.
Thank You and Take Care
Ettevyva

 

[Scuba_Dave]

I knew someone in NH who was fed up with *****
He connected up wires & breaker & switch
Metal matt - one wire on the ground that they would have to stand on
Heavy duty Metal birdfeeder - 2nd wire

Raccoon stood up & grabbed the birdfeeder, he threw the switch
Raccon just stood there, didn't move
He shut it off & went out to chase the raccoon away
...and the raccoon tumbled over...dead :laughing:

He only used it that once...he only wanted to shock them & scare them away

 

[nap]

I knew someone in NH who was fed up with *****
He connected up wires & breaker & switch
Metal matt - one wire on the ground that they would have to stand on
Heavy duty Metal birdfeeder - 2nd wire

Raccoon stood up & grabbed the birdfeeder, he threw the switch
Raccon just stood there, didn't move
He shut it off & went out to chase the raccoon away
...and the raccoon tumbled over...dead :laughing:

He only used it that once...he only wanted to shock them & scare them away

He didn't notice the **** was all of a sudden smoking?

an electrified fence charger, like in a horse fence would have done it.

Hey, has anybody tried that? string the electrified wired under the eave where they would have to go to get in? You would have to run 2 wires since an electric fence usually uses the ground as one conductor so you would have to engineer a placement that would cause the ***** to be touching one conductor as they reached and touched the other. Wouldn't be that hard to do and not very expensive either.

I know my Akita/shepherd mix dogs really shy away from the fence for a long time once they get zapped just once.

Scuba_Dave I couldn't find anything stating its illegal to kill a raccoon (except Canada)

I think the fact he is in the suburbs of Chicago might be why it is illegal to hunt them although, if he goes into the city, I am sure he could find a lot of guys with enough guns to eradicate all the ***** he has:whistling2:

my dad had a **** chew through his roof. Kind of right in the middle of the roof. No rhyme no reason for that spot that we could tell. Just started chewing through the shingles and kept on going through the roof timber and into the attic.

 

[expresshost]

You could try

My neighbor had a problem with ***** and armidilos last fall. He was told to try a scent called danger zone. It worked great and we have not seen any more animals around since......:thumbup:

Worth a look;

here is a link.

 

[rusty baker]

Almost anywhere you can trap an animal that is damaging property. Here you can sell the pelts and it is legal to trap them. The city will set traps and dispose of the animals. I have my own live trap. I have disposed of *****, possums and feral house cats. The cats did more damage than the ***** or possums. Last summer I caught 4 ground hogs.

 

[kathyann]

Raccoons are so destructive! If its possible in your area, your dad might try a live trap like: http://www.thehardwarecity.com/?sku=2431047 Where I live animal control will come and pick up the raccoon from the trap.

 

[Cattman]

Trapping

We had this problem with my grandmothers 2 story farmhouse several years ago. Predator specialist live trapped 26 under the tree they were going in and out on. They were coming down an old unused chimney and pushing out thimble covers in the attic. Fabricated a cover for the chimney and they climbed up the siding and tore a hole thru a gable vent. After the specialist ran up a high enough bill, we purchased 2 live traps one outside and one in the attic and took out 15 more. All perisihed from lead posioning prior to emptying the traps. Sealed all openings with hard chicken wire nailed to studs or ceiling joists. It took 8 monthes to finally empty the attic and space between the first & second floors of them.:wallbash:

The coke and marlin fly bait is a very good mix and they normally will not go more than 10'. Another is to mix antifreeze and marlin (keep up out of pet reach).

 

[oh'mike]

Best trap bait--

Marshmallows -peanut butter-and-pancake syrup

Old pest control guy gave me this mix--Worked great for my **** problem last summer,skunks like it too.:laughing: