Back in the Spring of 2003, I left the back door to my garage unlocked and wide open for the entire season. Not sure why, just thought that it wasn’t hurting anything. Except maybe the neighbor behind me, who once rang my doorbell one night to inform me that the back garage door was open.
A few weeks into the season, I began to periodically hear something moving around along the outskirts of the attic, most likely in the eves. Curious. I started to close the back garage door at night, but never locked it, since it was busted. However, when I let the dog out each morning, I noticed the door was wide open. Curiouser.
I pieced together that something, probably a raccoon, was entering the garage, climbing up the walls, shimmying into the eves, and camping out. Late one night, I could hear the chuckling of young raccoons in the eves above the screen porch—definitely a raccon, and she'd nested up there! I wasn’t sure what to do at that point. So the following Sunday, I fixed the garage door lock and locked it shut in a weak effort to keep out what was coming in.
I also planted flowers that Sunday.
When I woke on Monday morning and let the dog out, I discovered my house had been assaulted in an impressive effort by this procyonid to get back inside.
Back Garage Door
There are tears like this all over the screen porch. Apparently she climbed up the screen without considering that, to repair the holes she made, I'd have to replace the screen and spline on the spot since I can't remove the frame.
Here is where the nest is located. She pulled the gutter away from the roof, not sure how to fix this one yet.
Garage Door—Hopefully replacing this gasket isn't too difficult.
Trampled rose bushes. Either she fell or tried climbing up them. Either way, I can't imagine that thorns made for a pleasant close encounter.
Here's one of my scratches from mending the rose bush. I was right about the thorns.
Monday night I decided to leave the garage locked down and keep an eye open for my new tenant. I also had to figure out what to do about the young raccoons stuck in the eves. I didn’t want them to roast to death. Around 11 PM she returned and started laying into the house again. I watched as she clawed at the doors again, climbed up the gutters, clawed at the eves where the young were, then climb down and run off into the night. This repeated itself every half hour or so.
The pictures from that night didn't turn out at all - my little camera doesn't do so well at night (fixed shutter speed) nor through windows (no filter). Whenever I tried to sneak outside with a flashlight to take some pictures she usually ran off before I could get the picture. On a couple of occasions she started approaching me. That’s when I decided I will live the rest of my life just fine without pictures of a raccoon attempting to break into my garage or of one biting me.
Miko the beagle was very interested in what was going on outside and extremely vocal about it. I considered letting her out, but a second thought said that was a bad idea. I’m on a first name basis with the good people at the Animal Emergency Center on Silver Spring Ave, and didn't want to have to explain new dog injuries to them.
Around 1 AM I began to suspect that this determined bandit (raccoons have masks) was starting to dig into the roof above it’s nest. Having just spent six grand on a new roof, that's crossing the line. So I decided to throw in the towel and surrender the battle of wills—for now. I went outside and opened up the garage door, granted it regress, and went to bed. Tomorrow I would call a pest control expert.
On Tuesday, I did some research. The City of Milwaukee no longer handles problems such as mine, so I had to call an independent contractor. I called a few places before I found one that handles critters the size of raccoons. I scheduled to meet Rick from P.M. Pest Control later that evening.
Rick arrived on time and gave my place the once over. He checked out the eves, the garage rafters, and the attic. He complimented me on my attic ventilation—good air movement. Apparently they weren’t actually in the attic, just the eves. This made the nest extremely inaccessible, unless I was in the mood to cut a large hole in the roof. I wasn’t. We tapped on the eves all around the house but were unable to hear any raccoons. Rick guessed that she packed up the family and moved them somewhere that doors couldn’t be locked. After surveying the situation, Rick decided to set up some traps in the garage just in case.
Rick prepares the traps. These traps won’t hurt the raccoons, they will only contain them. Weird—my lawn is not this green in real life.
The traps are baited with apples. Raccoons and I are both suckers for a nice apple.
I paid Rick for his time—$125 for 2 raccoons, $25 for each additional. He was running a promotion this week—buy 4 get the fifth one free. Pest control dudes have a strange sense of humor.
Rick left and I locked up the garage. If she was already inside then great. If she was outside and started having her way with my home again, I was to let her in, then lock the garage again. If the young ones were still around, they would be drawn out by the cries of their trapped mother and kindly enter the second trap.
When I woke up on Wednesday, I opened the garage door and there she was, inside the larger cage. The scientific name for raccoons is Procyon lotor. No sign of her young ones though.
Rick came back that afternoon to pick up the raccoon. He made some joke about it being time for dinner. There’s that sense of humor again. He said he was kidding and would release her in a wooded area outside of the city. As for the young raccoons (they’re called ‘kits’), I can only hope they are old enough to fend for themselves wherever they are. Good luck little guys...
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