File this one under "only the weirdest sh*t happens to RocketMan Tex"... My girlfriend and I are lying in bed at 3AM after doing the horizontal bop, and all of a sudden we hear what sounds like a road race going across my roof. We both look at each other, giggle, and say "it was a couple of squirrels or maybe a possum". There are lots of squirrels and the occasional possum in my neighborhood in SW Houston. At 6AM, I go outside and get my newspaper. I walk around to the side of my house where the roof noise was coming from, look up on the roof, and there staring me in the eyes is.... ...a racoon. My house has an attic ledge all the way around with parts of it covered with wire mesh, to allow breeze to go through the attic. I take a closer look, and four large holes have been gnawed through the wire mesh in different spots on that side of the house. These were new...I was out there a couple of days ago and they definitely were not there. I called Harris County Animal Control. They told me it would take them a week to get out with traps, but if I bought one and caught a critter overnight, I could call them at 7AM Sunday and they would come out that day to remove it. So I spent 50 bucks on a racoon trap. I called a buddy who is a handyman and outdoorsman. He went through something similar a few months ago (roof rats) and brought over some concentrated fox urine (I sh*t you not). Foxes apparently are the natural predator enemies of racoons and possums. You put a few drops of the urine on an old sock and toss it up through the hole in the mesh. Apparently it helps scare the racoons out. We did three socks in three of the four holes. I am about to set up my trap with dry dog and cat food as bait. I hope I don't catch a cat. I want to make sure the racoons are all gone before I repair the holes. My girlfriend wants to come over tonight to play hunter's apprentice. This shizznit is so crazy. Why didn't I buy a condo or a highrise? Oh yeah...I like having a yard. My Dad has been laughing at me all day with my tales of "racoon hunting". I just want to hire someone to take care of this, and go out of town for a few days! Oh well....it could be worse. At least my hot water heater didn't explode.
It is too late now but you can rent raccoon traps from the SPCA and from feed stores for like $10 a week. The thing about the raccoon once you trap him is that he is going to be like the Tasmanian Devil in a bad mood. They really don't like to be traped. They REALLY REALL REALLY don't like it. Stay away as one scratch = many rabies shots. I'm not sure they will fall for cat food. They will eat it if there is no danger but the little bastards are smart and will see something is up when they find it at the back of a trap. An opened can of tuna and a shiny piece of tin-foil would probably be better to make them overcome their concern. They are really crazy about shiny things.
not if it doesn't have rabies? right? I mean, it's in a trap; they would test it for rabies, right? Tex, There is no way my dog would let this happen. I know you might think girls are man's best friend, but probably not so much man's best hunting apprentice.
It is my recollection (and I think I learned this from watching King of the Hill) that it is not a 'simple test'. I think they have to chop it's head off and run expensive tests on the cerebrospinal fluid. So I guess you are right they would test and he could avoid the shots, but it would still be expensive to find the answer.
Actually, you hope it is NOT a female. She may be nesting for the birth(s). This happened in my house when I was a kid... a female got into the attic through our garage (a six inch or less gap on the bottom of the door), then once inside, tore through the soffet vents (the wire mesh screens) and came and went freely... Long story short... it happened more than once. And on the night she was coming in for the "birth(s)", my mom saw here in the garage... the raccoon hackled up, began hissing (protecting her unborn), and made lunges at my mom... My dad threw the 10' large dip net (for pier fishing) over the raccoon, and my mom had to stand on the handle to hold it down... it was freaking out! My dad had no gun... he whacked it on the head with a golf club and knocked it out. The animal people came and got it.. it was still breathing, etc... Of course we found out later that it was so ferocious because "she" was "with children." BTW- The traps we put out (multiple, like 4), that all had chicken in them, were picked clean. The raccoons basically scoffed at that effort. They got the food without even tripping any of the four traps. Little buggers. Also, my cousin had one of best hunting dogs (the kind that would "tree" a raccoon) get drowned in a shallow creek by one... the raccoon simply held the dogs head under the water until he didn't fight anymore. True story. Needless to say, the hunters following his dog stopped hearing the bark... and learned to never hunt with just one dog.
My dad used some kind of concentrated urine against squirrels a few years ago. But it didn't work, and we resorted to shooting them with a bb gun from the upstairs game room.
My neighbors and I feed our raccoons. It keeps them out of the house and no matter how many of them we trapped (along with opossums), we'd always get more. It's just the way it is. I actually fed one from the time it was just a baby. It ate right out of my hand and even sat on my lap.
I hear Home Depot is having a big-old Christmas sale..... We've been dating exclusively since mid-September. It's going very well so far and we are both very happy. In other words, I haven't screwed it up yet. Back to the story.... I baited the trap at sundown and poured myself a scotch. Babygirl my hunting apprentice came over about 10 PM. We drank, watched TV, and fooled around until we went to bed about 1AM. At 1:30 AM, we heard Rocky Racoon climbing out of my attic, down the side of the house and onto the ground. And that's the last thing we heard. I went out to get my paper at 6:30 AM, went around the side of the house, and there was my friend Rocky inside of the trap. I called animal control and they came by at noon to pick him up and haul him away. I am going to set the trap tonight and Monday night just to make sure there aren't any others. The fox urine could be keeping them away, I don't know. That stuff is potent smelling. My exterminator is coming tomorrow afternoon to inspect the attic and do anything he needs to, and a friend who is a maintenance manager for a property management company is coming by Tuesday morning to help me fix it. Time to put those Home Depot giftcards to good use!! IROC it...mine tore through the soffet vents to get inside. I need to find out if there is some kind of thicker wire mesh I can use as a replacement that they cannot chew through. I don't want this ever happening again. I have heard from several people that situations like this are becoming more and more common in my part of town (SW Houston - Meyerland/Westbury) with the old houses that have soffet vents.
Have you seen Over the Hedge? It must be a smart raccoon like RJ... next thing you know you see his turtle, squirrel and skunk friends
Another update....I set the trap right before sundown earlier this evening, around 5:15 PM. I baited it with dry cat food. I was sitting at my PC at 6:30 when I heard the trap door slam. I went outside with a flashlight, and there was Rocky's brother....Balboa Racoon...in the trap. I am now two for two. The good news is that I did not hear him exit from my roof down the outside wall onto the ground, so that might mean the three socks with concentrated fox urine on them that I tossed up into the holes might be working in keeping them out of my attic. We'll see.
Kelly...I have no problem with the great outdoors, as long as it stays outdoors and does not come indoors! City of Houston Animal Control is on it's way to pick up last night's quarry. Gonna set the trap one more time tonight before me and my handyman friend start fixing the holes tomorrow. I am so sick of this shizzzzzzzznit......
Jeff, I have been told by many peopple not to do this, as it will attract more racoons, and eventually they will break into your house, or attack a pet. DD
