Raccoon Invasion

bybrianscott

1.1K followers

4 years ago

Raccoons. Such cute little critters... and mischievous. I remember watching a Disney movie about a raccoon when I was young. The raccoon was a true brat. In fact the movie is called asRascal and starred a young Billy Mumy (known for playing Will Robinson in Lost in Space).

Anyway... I always thought they were cool... even though I find those raccoon skin hats to be silly.

Years ago, I was renting an apartment in the Bohemian section of Louisville (the Highlands). We were up on the third floor of a beautiful mansion sized building made into apartments. There was a family of raccoons living in the attic. They came out of a hole right by our window. I really thought that was amusing. One of them busted inside the apartment through and open window like a thief in the night and made a mess of the place. My stay there was short-lived because my room-mate was irresponsible, so I bailed.

What is that noise?

Many years go by, and my only encounters with raccoons are occasion spottings while trekking through the woods of Kentucky or Southern Indiana. I heard some horror stories of raccoons attacking people in numbers. A friend of mine claimed there were 50 of them at a campsite in Kentucky, and he was scared they were going to attack.

Anyway, a few months ago I heard a noise in my bedroom. I was trying to figure out what was the cause of the disturbance. It was driving me bonkers. I couldn't sleep. The next morning I poked my head up through the small attic hole and lit up the room... nothing.

Fast forward a month... it happened again... louder. I was putting my ear on the wall and trying to find the source. I had a powerfull fan blowing... an addiction of mine even with A/C and in the wintertime... I turned the fan off. I heard the noise again. Even scratching sounds. I knew something was up there in the attic.

I went outside to get my ladder out of the shed. It was just turning dawn. I took my ladder inside and looked in the attic hole again. Then... I saw one... a raccoon... wait, did it move over a little, because there it was again.

Back outside again... I have to find out how they are getting in there. I climb on the roof at the crack of dawn and I'm spotted by the neighbor. He probably thinks I am nuts. I found a screen mesh thingie torn open. walla, their entry point.

Should I Hire animal trapping service?

Of course, I can't sleep. I have to figure out what to do. It sounds like a circus up there. Are they playing. Is there a whole freaking family up there? I google. I check out prices for these services. Boy, they are not cheap.

I watch a few videos and figure out that they are just trapping the pesky little varmints. I check out prices on traps. They seem reasonable. I remembered a friend told me he owns a trap and has caught them in his home. I called and left a message. I know he is a procrastinator and decide to just buy one. These varmints can cause some serious damage in homes.

Later on that day, I head out to the local Lowe's, don my mask (it is COVID season), and trudge around the monstrous store searching for the cage trap... it said they had them in stock online. I asked a few employees and they kept pointing. They could have taken the time to walk me directly there. They were on the bottom shelf and hard to find.

I am a Trap Master!

I assemble the trap within 15 minutes. A video said to use sweet corn. Set the trap and nothing happened the first night. I put a little bowl of cat food in their with the corn. I got home late from work and low and behold... I snagged one.

I took my temporary pet to the Jefferson County Memorial forest and let him go. I came home and set the trap again. I woke up the next morning with another one. My cat spazzed out and hissed at the trappee. I released it in the same spot.

I caught another one. Released in the same spot. How many are there? I then caught a neighborhood cat... boy, was she mad! I set the trap again and woke up the next morning and...

I let her go in the yard. I then caught another possum. I am beginning to wonder if I have caught all the raccoons. Then... Something busted out of the cage and bent the rods. Oh my, the trap is flawed!

It turns out that my trap is not sturdy enough for big raccoons or armadillos... we don't have them in my area yet... I have seen armadillo road kill in Tennessee on the way to Memphis.

I watched a video on how to reinforce my trap. It busted out the other side this time! I was trying to reinforce the trap on the other side, but did not have a chance to finish, for I caught the big one the next night. It grabbed on some tarp and pulled it into the cage and it jammed the door shut. I struggled to get the tarp out and finally... I watched her wobble off into the forest.

I caught one more and my Mom informed me I was probably catching other ones that lived in the neighborhood. So, for the time being... I am retiring from my trapping career.

I certainly saved a lot of dough doing it myself and it was fun. A welcome break in a COVID world, and the raccoons are living in a nice forest near their favorite hangout... a picnic ground.

Thanks for reading,

Many blessings, Brian