Tag Archives: raccoons in the attic

Animal in the Wall, Raccoons

What’s Living in the Attic?

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There are raccoons in the attic of our rental home.  My family has lived here for about 7 weeks now, but before that it sat empty for 2 years; I think they probably started nesting here during that time.  The first 3-4 weeks we didn’t even notice them because of all the racket we were making trying to get settled in, but after that we started to hear sounds almost every night and we started to suspect that we weren’t the only renters in the house.

It started as just small thumps from the ceiling, and at first I just attributed it to the new heating system, I figured everything was still adjusting.  Then we started to hear scraping and thumps in the walls and the sounds of baby animals whining and calling out to their mother.  That’s when we figured out who our house guests were.  Obviously we couldn’t call anyone in to confirm our suspicions until our landlord approved it, unless we wanted to pay for the inspection out of pocket; so we called him and let him know what was going on.  He told us he would take care of it and set out some live traps hoping to catch the raccoons himself, but no luck. We suggested that he call a professional Wildlife Removal Technician, but he wanted to try everything else first; so, we waited.

It wasn’t all that bad, we knew that the landlord would take care of any damages caused by the animals so that didn’t bother us.  The problem was, my daughters were terrified of the sounds they would hear at night.  They’re 6 and 8, so their imaginations are vast and even though they knew what the animals were, they were so afraid that they were trying to eat them while they slept.  Cue sharing a bed with my kids for two weeks. BUT, last night my landlord called and told me I could call in the big guns, so there’s an inspection scheduled for later this afternoon and hopefully the raccoons in the attic will be long gone by the end of the week!

Raccoons

Raccoon Problems

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Raccoons in an attic
Raccoons in an attic.
(Artwork by Sharon Davis. Contact us for her contact info.)

Dear Mr. Atwell,

I am very sorry to inform you that I will need to break my lease due to the severe raccoon problem I have been dealing with for the last few weeks.  I know this puts you in a difficult position, since you are out of the country, and it will make it hard for you to find another tenant.  I just can’t deal with this anymore.

We have been hearing bumps, chittering and squeaks coming from the ceiling and our neighbor told me he saw a couple of raccoons on our roof the other night.  The noise is bad enough.  It wakes up the whole family, and my dog just goes crazy, barking at the ceiling and whining.  I’m afraid to put the dog outside at night, because I’ve heard raccoons can attack pets or give them diseases.

But, it’s not just the noise we’re dealing with.  I’ve repaired the rain gutters and fascia a few times now, but they just keep finding other ways inside.  Would you be willing to repay me for the cost of materials and my time for the repairs I’ve made?

I strongly suggest you have a property management company to make further repairs and inspect the attic once we’ve moved out.  They’ve made a hole all the way through the ceiling in the master bedroom.  Last night, I woke up to see a snout and then a paw come through the hole almost right above my head.  I am sure the insulation is soiled.

I’m not allowing the kids or our dog to play in the backyard, because I found a whole bunch of raccoon droppings by the back fence and also under the back stairs.  I understand that my children or our dog could actually get raccoon roundworm if they touch something that had raccoon droppings on it, and I just don’t want to take the risk.

Mr. Rodriguez, I really don’t want to break our lease, but I have to think of our health and our safety first.  I am sure you understand.

Yours sincerely,

John Mackey

Dear Mr. Mackey,

Thank you for informing me of the raccoon problem.  Please allow me time to find a good nuisance wildlife removal company to take care of the issue before breaking your lease.  I will find a company that will remove the raccoons, repair the damage and sanitize the attic.  Please believe me when I say I want this problem taken care of quickly.  You have been an excellent tenant and I am sure you do not want to move.  I assure you this will be taken care of in the next couple of days.

Arturo Rodriguez

Arturo,

By the time I opened your email, the wildlife control company had already called me to set up an appointment for raccoon removal and to assess the damage.  I’m really impressed!  They’re coming this afternoon and I’ll let you know what happens.  Hopefully it’s all taken care of soon, because we really do want to stay.  Thanks!

–John

Raccoons

Removing Raccoons

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Raccoons in attic
Raccoons in your attic.
(Artwork by Sharon Davis. Contact us for her contact info.)

Who would think of removing raccoonsfirst thing in the morning??

The comforting smell of fresh brewed coffee makes it way through the house in the early hours of the morning.  Alarms are softly buzzing in different bedrooms.  Everyone is sluggishly moving about their morning routines, getting ready for the hustle and bustle of a normal day.  Someone turns on the TV while Mom is scrambling eggs.  Talk centers around homework, after school activities and what the general schedule is for the day.

Suddenly, someone says, “Shhhh, shhhhh!  Listen!”  Everyone stops talking and looks awkwardly at each other while trying to figure out what they’re listening for.  “What . . . “ Dad says, but he’s quickly shushed.  There, softly, everyone hears it.  A quiet scrabbling coming from right above their heads.  Then, a small squeak.             Someone volunteers to run outside and see if there’s anything on the roof, but nothing is spotted.  The scrabbling reoccurs.  Dad sighs.  “Must be something in the crawl space.”

Suddenly the day isn’t normal anymore.

Dad gets out the ladder, grabs a flashlight and climbs up into the small hole in the ceiling.  He shines the flashlight around every corner, and almost misses it, but there!  A shiny flash of eyes staring back at him from above the kitchen.  One set of eyes?  No, more.

Dad comes back down the ladder where everyone else is watching expectantly.  “We’re going to have to get help.  I think there’s raccoons up there.”

Everyone bursts into exclamations.  “How did they get up there?”  “Why our house?”  “Come on, Dad, you can get ‘em!”  But, Mom walks over to the computer, gets the number for removing raccoons, and calls.

When the raccoon removalserviceman arrives, he verifies there’s a mother raccoon and her pups up in the attic.  They’re nesting on the opposite end of the house, far away from the crawlspace access, so he suggests the best way to remove the raccoons is to cut a small hole in the ceiling close to their nest.  He’s going to reach in and remove them one by one.

Mom’s worried about the mess.  Dad’s worried about having to patch up the hole afterward.  But, they decide messes can be cleaned up, holes can be patched, but those raccoons must be removed.  The small hole is cut.

The brave serviceman climbs up a ladder, wearing heavy gloves and armed with nothing more than a mirror.  The mirror lets him see where the raccoons are.  He looks, retracts the mirror, and sticks his arm up into the hole.  A short time later, one pup is removed.

“AWWWWW!” says everyone, including Dad.

One by one, the adorable raccoon pups are removed and placed carefully into a bag.  Soon, the bag is wriggling and squeaking.  Although these are pests that have invaded their home, the family can’t get over how cute they are.  Still, they’re happy to have them out of the house.

Removing mamma raccoonisn’t as easy.  It requires a specially devised noose, but she’s removed, spitting and growling and unhurt.  She’s carefully loaded into the truck, along with her pups.

All of a sudden, the house is quiet again and the family goes back to their routine activities.  They still love talking about their little raccoon family!