19 May 2009

Anastasia Appeal

So what DO you do when a family of raccoons has adopted your garage? I don't want them destroyed, but would love to see them OUT OF HERE!

19 comments:

Thursday's Child said...

Place some yummy food in a trap and release them into the wild?

You should be able to call animal control. They would surely have some ideas and maybe be able to help you without killing them.

Or you could just accept the inevitable and adopt them. Beats messing with compost, KWIM?

Anonymous said...

Play loud music. That got rid of them from our attic once.

Lutheran Lucciola said...

Yes, try the load music during the day, when they sleep. I suggest The Ramones. Plus maybe an air horn on the off beats.

If that fails, humane traps.

X said...

Fire crackers?
Stink bomb?

Rev. James Leistico said...

LuLu, P-Dub probably doesn't know who the Ramones are. (For that matter, my guess is he's clueless about the inspiration for the nickname you gave - unless his kids told him who P-Diddy is... but then again, even if he asked, he probably forgot.) He's horribly deficient in knowing anything about late 20th century music. All that knowledge devoted to Lutheran hymnody leaves little room for it.

William, I bet Jeff Schwarz might have some recordings that would work for what Anonymous and LuLu suggest. Or maybe go no farther than asking your kids.

Anonymous said...

If you keep cats, remember that coons are the primary vector of feline leukemia,,,,, rabies to humans if you bite one, as well.

Jon Bakker said...

'Exclusion' is the permanent solution for unwanted animal guests.

1. Determine their entry point (and see if there are other alternatives).

2. Seal/repair the entry points so that they can no longer pass through one way or another.

3. Open the garage door, and close it when they leave.

This won't work if they only have the one entry point - if that's the case you can make it an 'exit-only' temporarily, and when they are all gone, seal it up.

Or call animal control, though (depending on the state) there can be costs associated with this, and once the animals are trapped and humanely removed THEN seal it up.

Animal control may also be required by local bylaws to destroy certain animals because of the role they play in transmission of disease (usually rabies). Raccoons are often included in such bylaws.

Good luck - the first year and a half in our new home we had about 10 bats that I had to deal with. Now we've been bat-free for 9 months (and we've got the mosquito bites to prove it! :-) )

Jon Townsend said...

Cayenne pepper - applied liberally to where they live and their entry and exit points.

X said...

Y'all don't understand the logistics of this. It's a one car garage that is ALWAYS open. I don't think you'll convince them to "seal" anything. haha!

Frank Gillespie said...

Find a CD with Days of Elijah on it and play it loud. Raccoons hate CCM.

Anonymous said...

GET rid of them!!! I don't want my babies ending up with rabies!!!!!!!

and no. He has no idea who the Ramones OR P-Diddy are either (probably because none of us listen to P-Diddy to tell him, and all he would do music wise is to tell us to turn the music down, that is, when he could hear it!)

Anonymous said...

P.S.
David has some music you could use.

Anonymous said...

I mean Dum Dum.
yikes! I can't believe I actually called him David!

X said...

*snort*

The Midland Agrarian said...

Speaking as a long time trapper and fur hunter, Pastor Bakkers advice is best, exclusion. Trapping and releasing Racoons is generally a death sentence to the relocated animal. Raccoons can survive at densities of up to one per acre in the right environmental conditions, but this makes them more territorial. They have about as much chance of surviving away from their home territory as dropping the average American in the Congo.

If they can be driven and barred from the garage, they might get frustrated and go elsewhere. Some mammals are repelled by mothballs.
Please be careful. They do bite HARD, and they can carry rabies,distemper, and other diseases.

Raccoons are near the top of the food chain in many suburban areas. Their only natural predator is often cars. In my youth, they were valued for their fur (And secondarily for barbeque meat pies or dog food) and this kept the population in check. Alas this is no longer the case, and overpopulation and disease is the result.

Elephantschild said...

Play Joel Osteen sermons.

That'll get them out of your garage, but then you'll have them building an 8-bdrm house with a four car garage in your backyard. And you'll have to look at their boats, Jet Skis, snowmobile, AND their BMW Z4.

It would be kind of discouraging to you and your wife, to say nothing of what the church's trustees would think! Maybe you'd be better off letting them experience the theology of the Cross in your garage?

Rev. Jack A. Kozak said...

What? Move the vermin to my neighborhood so they can infest my garage? Bite my children? Kill my pets? Ravage my garden?

Better to call a professional trapper who will humanely kill them. A trapper comes to my church annually. We need to control our pest problem. We have a preschool here. We also don't want people breaking a leg on a groundhog hole. Moving vermin from one location to another is only going to cause harm to your neighbor.

Anonymous said...

They'll leave on their own once the mother feels the kits are big enough to stand up to non-related males. And, the nursing mother's need for water (your cat's water) isn't so great. Until then, remember that about 40% of her diet consists of insect types.

William Weedon said...

Thanks one and all for the various advice.

Ramones? Diddly? I'm lost. Jim and LEW are right on that.