The Joys of Home Ownership

[peleroja]

Sometime in the middle of the night I heard the unmistakable sounds of somebody breaking in.  I gritted my teeth cuz I knew what I was in for.  This morning I checked, and sure enough some "body" had indeed broken in, not to my domicile, but to "their" domicile under my house.  My carefully constructed obstruction to my crawl space had been broken down and the raccoons were no doubt in residence . . . . . AGAIN!

Several years ago my neighbors informed me I had a family of 8 raccoons living under my house.  The trappers trapped two and momma skedaddled with the rest of her brood.  Sadly, momma made the mistake of coming back two weeks later and ended up deceased in the trap cuz the trappers couldn't get back to her in time to release her into the wild.  This is the second time the babies have made the trek back to where they know best (or something romantic like that), and once again it will cost money to rent the trap and to have the critters removed. 

The city I live in is useless when it comes to wild animals.  They say if you trap them, their agents will remove them.  Well, duh, I don't own a trap.  They wouldn't even come and remove the feral cat who had a litter under my deck.  That time I got rid of them myself, but they left me a present.  I don't remember what it cost to spray the yard for the fleas!

[jbeany]

Such fun - I got rid of the skunk with frequent and liberal doses of tobasco sauce at his entrance hole. A couple boxes of pepper helped, too.

[dwcrawford]

OK, I have the same problems with raccoons and cats and other varmints...so I'll be watching this post for suggestions.

Don't know where you live but Houston has the same policy of "you catchem and we'll pick em up".  In the end i bought a trap but Houston will loan you one (bring it out and pick it up when you catch an animal).  Of course there is a fairly nice deposit but all returnable.  The problem was the waiting list to borrow a trap plus you had to turn it in after catching just one animal and get on waiting list again. 

Anybody want some baby raccoons or kittens?

[jbeany]

Cats don't like tobasco or pepper either - but if you don't want to spend your time sneezing on the pepper, a cat hates lemon juice, too.

[dwcrawford]

Didn't know that.  They don't like moth balls either but neither do people...

[willowtreewren]

The raccoons found the ct door into our garage and hoo boy! What a mess they made. It took us a while to trap them all and move them. We still have that live trap and have to use it every so often. We have a host of "wild" animals in our neighborhood. I have seen coyotes, fox, and deer in my yard (not to mention all the raccoons and snakes). I've seen turkey in my subdivision, but not in my yard.

Live trapping works pretty well for raccoons. But it takes time. We've tried all sorts of pepper solutions, but they just aren't as successful as trapping.

Good luck.

[del]

We don't have raccoons, snakes or skunks in Newfoundland.  WE do have cats though that people are "supposed' to own!!!  I have said many a nasty word on the cats that "pee" on my deck or my door or other things we have in the yard. (nothing worse than the smel of tom cats urine!!). 

[tyefly]

  Sadly, momma made the mistake of coming back two weeks later and ended up deceased in the trap cuz the trappers couldn't get back to her in time to release her into the wild.  This is the second time the babies have made the trek back to where they know best (or something romantic like that), and once again it will cost money to rent the trap and to have the critters removed. 

....... but they left me a present.  I don't remember what it cost to spray the yard for the fleas!

I certainly would not use any trapper that would leave a animal to die in a trap......   what a slow death.......  come on   get real......after all we are in there neighborhood..... we invaded there home......   but  thats alright  they are just animals......  and they don't need a home.......

Fleas...


Edited: Fixed quote tag error - okarol/admin

[Stoday]

Wow! You have a lot to put up with.

Here the indigenous pests are only wasps and hornets.

We also have gray squirrels which steal all my walnuts. But they are not indigenous. They come from America.

[Hanify]

Oh da purdy widdle waccoons!!!
I say this from a country that has none....

[kitkatz]

Occasionally we get the neighbors peacocks in the yard. Those are big scary birds!

[peleroja]

tyefly, they didn't deliberately leave her to die.  They had so many trappings that day that they couldn't send anyone out in time to take her to the wild. 

Speaking of peacocks, kitkatz, there used to be a peahen in our neighborhood.  One day I found her in the bushes in my front yard with her head to one side and I thought she was sick.  I called animal control and they came out and said she wasn't sick, she was nesting!  Sure enough she had 4 eggs she was sitting on.  They would never hatch because the nearest peacock is in Palos Verdes, and neither peacocks nor peahens can fly that kind of distance.  The eggs would ultimately have rotted, so when she went foraging for food I grabbed them and my friend made a pretty healthy omelette with them.  She was so funny walking back and forth in the yard thinking to herself, "I know I left them somewhere around here."

[jennyc]

Our council won't even remove them unless it's a dog or cat. we have blasted indian minor birds and we have to get pest control out to remove them. The roost in the gum tree out the front that the council wont let us remove beucase it's big! (yeh its a ghost gum.... so called becuase sit under one in summer, winter, rain, hail and your likely to become a ghost... they drop huge branches without warning and then suddenly topple)

[dwcrawford]

Actually your neighborhoods sound like fun.  Only stray cats and racoons here!  I do have a woodpecker though.  Once when I lived in Wyoming I saw a white ermine outside my window (in the snow even).. the animal.  not the kind ladies used to wear.

[peleroja]

Thus far I've caught one feral cat and three raccoons.  The bill just keeps mounting!