How I Rid my Garage of Raccoons
Raccoons are wild animals that usually live in the woods away from people. Due to expanding human habitats, the wildlife habiatts are sharing the same space. When human and animals come in contact, it's amicable until the wildlife want to share human dwellings as well.
I recently discovered some noises in the garage loft and climbed the ladder to investigate.
The soft rustling stopped each time I looked. The loft is a floor in an open space without walls using a makeshift ladder that we used it for storage of leftover wood panels, vinyl siding and bags of shipping Styrofoam peanuts.
Earlier in the year, I had intended to throw all those bags of peanuts out but my mother insisted she needed them. The fact is,she …show more content…
“Oh no!” I thought,”that sounds like baby animals.” I slowly climbed the steps to the loft and the squeaking stopped. I waited and began to hear some movement and then the beady little eyes appeared in the dark corner. It's raccoons! And there's the big mama staring straight at me! I quickly descended and grabbed the iron rake and started yelling and hitting the bottom of the loft floor.
“Get out!” I shouted repeatedly. “Get out of my garage!” This must have seemed crazy to anyone in hearing distance but I persevered.
The garage
Our garage is from the 1940s era with heavy wooden doors that open out. The structure is sturdy with wooden plank siding, a wooden double-hung window, and an attached shed with a door and window. The weight of the double garage doors have created a slight sagging and a small opening is apparent on the top of one of them. After checking for other openings, I noticed the back window of the attached shed was broken out and large enough for a damn raccoon to enter. In the spring, animals look for locations to give birth and a dark, dry location. The loft has bags of soft Styrofoam peanuts so mama raccoon picked well.
The …show more content…
No one should approach a mature Raccoon, especially with newborn babies. I called several government departments looking for someone to come out and remove them. I thought animal control would be the right place to start but this only applies to domestic cats and dogs in my town.
The next step was to look for private companies and individuals to get them out. The price was ridiculously high. The “expert” claimed it would take two weeks waiting for the critters to climb into a cage after the bait. After that time period, the price would increase. They quoted $600.00 to $800.00!
There was no way could I afford that so I started to think about doing the job myself. I located cages and planned to capture them and bring them to the park a short drive away. “How hard could it be?” I thought. As I had bad dreams the following two nights about what could go wrong with my plan, I abandoned the idea and researched how others have removed raccoons. Playing loud music (heavy metal), leaving the lights on, spraying an awful animal repellent I found at a home goods store and banging on the bottom of the loft floor was the plan. I kept this up for 4 days. My brother came by and banged on the floor so hard that a few babies fell out. Momma quickly retrieved them so we retreated and waited
Raccoons are wild animals that usually live in the woods away from people. Due to expanding human habitats, the wildlife habiatts are sharing the same space. When human and animals come in contact, it's amicable until the wildlife want to share human dwellings as well.
I recently discovered some noises in the garage loft and climbed the ladder to investigate.
The soft rustling stopped each time I looked. The loft is a floor in an open space without walls using a makeshift ladder that we used it for storage of leftover wood panels, vinyl siding and bags of shipping Styrofoam peanuts.
Earlier in the year, I had intended to throw all those bags of peanuts out but my mother insisted she needed them. The fact is,she …show more content…
“Oh no!” I thought,”that sounds like baby animals.” I slowly climbed the steps to the loft and the squeaking stopped. I waited and began to hear some movement and then the beady little eyes appeared in the dark corner. It's raccoons! And there's the big mama staring straight at me! I quickly descended and grabbed the iron rake and started yelling and hitting the bottom of the loft floor.
“Get out!” I shouted repeatedly. “Get out of my garage!” This must have seemed crazy to anyone in hearing distance but I persevered.
The garage
Our garage is from the 1940s era with heavy wooden doors that open out. The structure is sturdy with wooden plank siding, a wooden double-hung window, and an attached shed with a door and window. The weight of the double garage doors have created a slight sagging and a small opening is apparent on the top of one of them. After checking for other openings, I noticed the back window of the attached shed was broken out and large enough for a damn raccoon to enter. In the spring, animals look for locations to give birth and a dark, dry location. The loft has bags of soft Styrofoam peanuts so mama raccoon picked well.
The …show more content…
No one should approach a mature Raccoon, especially with newborn babies. I called several government departments looking for someone to come out and remove them. I thought animal control would be the right place to start but this only applies to domestic cats and dogs in my town.
The next step was to look for private companies and individuals to get them out. The price was ridiculously high. The “expert” claimed it would take two weeks waiting for the critters to climb into a cage after the bait. After that time period, the price would increase. They quoted $600.00 to $800.00!
There was no way could I afford that so I started to think about doing the job myself. I located cages and planned to capture them and bring them to the park a short drive away. “How hard could it be?” I thought. As I had bad dreams the following two nights about what could go wrong with my plan, I abandoned the idea and researched how others have removed raccoons. Playing loud music (heavy metal), leaving the lights on, spraying an awful animal repellent I found at a home goods store and banging on the bottom of the loft floor was the plan. I kept this up for 4 days. My brother came by and banged on the floor so hard that a few babies fell out. Momma quickly retrieved them so we retreated and waited