| Re: Racoons invade attic - HELP! [message #311402 is a reply to message #311275 ] |
Fri, 11 April 2008 09:35   |
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 Gabe Nahshon
Messages: 341
Registered: January 2005
Location: San Francisco, CA |
Has No Life |
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I used to live across the street from Ocean Beach here in SF. One day I heard a little scratching sound under my tub, and my ex-gf and I attributed it to the constant pigeon problem. A few weeks later I was taking a dump and I heard a rather loud THUD from the tub. I went to our basement to investigate.
I go down with headlamp on full and a mic stand shaft in the other. I look around for a bit, and find nothing. I peek around a corner and see that eerie reflection off an animal's eyes. As I turn my head a bit to the right, the one set of eyes multiplies into about a dozen pairs. That's right, it wasn't one raccoon, it was a mother and her litter of babies.
Of course I back down at the sight of these potentially rabid vermin, and decide to call animal control. "You have to send someone down here to shoot these little bastards!" I say. The response from the woman at the call center is that it is illegal to shoot, trap, or even HARASS the little fuckers here in the city of San Francisco. The only solution is, to my dismay, that I must wait for the babies to mature, at which point they will likely clear out of my basement.
After a few weeks they were on to greener pastures.
I hate raccoons. 
Gabe
Attachment: raccons.jpg
(Size: 15.69KB, Downloaded 392 time(s))
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| Re: Racoons invade attic - HELP! [message #311449 is a reply to message #311275 ] |
Fri, 11 April 2008 12:13 |
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Bob, how close are your neighbors?
An air rifle might work... or it might just wound the animal, and then you've got a hurt, angry raccoon in your attic that might still not leave. I'm not sure I'd want to be in closed spaces with a potentially fast moving animal, trying to put a slug through it in my own attic, anyway.
Isn't there some kind of Raccoon poison you can use? I like the suggestions of using Mace (can you buy that in MA, though?).
-- Bennett Prescott
Director of North American Sales
EONA ADRaudio d.o.o.
Cell: (518) 488-7190
An amateur practices until they get it right. A professional practices until they can't get it wrong.
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| Re: Racoons invade attic - HELP! [message #311501 is a reply to message #311479 ] |
Fri, 11 April 2008 14:32 |
Dick Rees
Messages: 2181
Registered: September 2007
Location: St Paul, MN |
Has No Life |
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Apology in advance:
The Swedes solved their raccoon problems by putting lutefisk in the attic. Now they can't get rid of the Norwegians.
Neo-Luddite, Rocket Surgeon
He who laughs lasts best!!!
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| Re: Racoons invade attic - HELP! [message #311516 is a reply to message #311505 ] |
Fri, 11 April 2008 15:08 |
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"When raccoons tried
getting on our back porch,
Mama just chased them off
with a broom."
-Forrest Gump
-will
LH Productions Inc.
Ryder Truck Rental Enthusiast
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| Re: Racoons invade attic - HELP! [message #311739 is a reply to message #311275 ] |
Sat, 12 April 2008 08:52 |
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Bob Leonard
Messages: 2959
Registered: July 2006
Location: Boston, MA |
Has No Life |
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All good suggestions, so here's the deal. The house is over 100 years old and most sections have been rebuilt. I live on a one acre heavily wooded lot just north of Boston and there's plenty of wildlife.
The big problem is the proximity to one of my neighbors, less than 100 feet to the left, the gun laws and the wildlife laws. Having hunted for a good prtion of my life I don't think a .22 or hard hitting pellet gun will kill the racoons unless the shot is perfect, and then maybe. Anything larger than a .22 could kill a neighbor plus the laws are specific to proximity to other houses.
What I think I'll be doing is spraying the attic with ammonia and bleach along wqith some mothballs. One of the neighbors is good at catching them by the wings.
On top of that I'll set some live traps because kill traps are illegal in this state. I also can't transport the little bastard because of the laws, so that will be covert and done at night, if they live through the capture.
Here's a picture of mama looking out through an opening in a room that's being gutted, the living room. Another month and the ceiling would have come down below where she's looking out. She's standing on the ceiling for the dining room and had gotten onto that book shelf and retreated when I started beating on her.
The roar of the grease paint, the smell of the crowd.
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| Re: Racoons invade attic - HELP! [message #311777 is a reply to message #311739 ] |
Sat, 12 April 2008 11:45 |
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Mike Pyle
Messages: 1797
Registered: April 2004
Location: Napa, CA |
Has No Life |
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Bob,
Use the baited live traps. I'll PM you about what happens then.
Mike Pyle
Audiopyle Sound
Dealer for Yorkville, Allen & Heath, APB Dynasonics, QSC, RCF, KV2, FBT, JTR, Danley,
Audix, SLS Audio, Genie, RoadReady, K&M, Ultimate, Global Truss, DENON, Elation...
707-315-6204
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| Re: Racoons invade attic - HELP! [message #311788 is a reply to message #311777 ] |
Sat, 12 April 2008 12:47 |
Dick Rees
Messages: 2181
Registered: September 2007
Location: St Paul, MN |
Has No Life |
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Wild animals are territorial. They have now claimed your attic/house as theirs and there is no way of convincing them otherwise. You can drive them out temporarily, but once they've decided that it's theirs they will keep returning.
Live trapping and relocating for "humane" reasons often end up exactly the opposite. They've claimed your place as theirs because it's probably some of the only space left in raccoon world. Taking them down the road and dumping them in another 'coons territory will result in raccoon territorial wars and someone will die of peer inflicted injuries or starve.
Having been raised on a farm and taught firearms safety and ethics at an early age, I am quite used to the idea that sometimes the kindest resolution unfortunately comes with the bullet.
A friend of mine from northern MN did succeed in "claiming his territory" by peeing around the perimeter of his property. But his was preemptive peeing. Not sure it will work after the invaders are in.
Be careful and good luck.
Neo-Luddite, Rocket Surgeon
He who laughs lasts best!!!
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| Re: Racoons invade attic - HELP! [message #311898 is a reply to message #311884 ] |
Sat, 12 April 2008 19:04 |
Dick Rees
Messages: 2181
Registered: September 2007
Location: St Paul, MN |
Has No Life |
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In this case it may be better if PM stands for Post Mortem.
Neo-Luddite, Rocket Surgeon
He who laughs lasts best!!!
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