Another raccoon family in the attic call. I advised that at this point it is best to allow them to leave on their own. I put eviction paste/fluid throughout the attic. The customer has talked to two other services that have advised the same. It has been about four days and no relief from the kits running about the attic and in the walls. I was asked how long will they be here. I advised until they leave which shouldn't be more than a week or two.

Any other guesses?

Thanks

Is the Sow still there? If the pups are orphaned, depending on age, they may need help getting out. If they are old enough and she is still there, an excluder can work. But, you don't want to exclude the Sow if they can't follow. She will rip the roof or vent apart to get back in. You can also catch her alive, scare the crap out of her while in the cage, let her go on site, and she will move the pups on her own (I do that when pups are young and unreachable, with about an 85% success rate). As long as she is alive you have options. I will often use a trail camera watching the entry hole to confirm she moved them.

She is still alive. The roof is a 10/12 or 12/12 pitch and she is using a mushroom vent at the top to come and go. I'm not making that climb. I've filled the attic area with eviction paste/fluid and set traps on the ground by the downspouts she is using. Now he has called saying there is a strong smell of feces and urine in the ceiling where they're hearing the kits running around.

Paste/fluid doesn't always work. Setting on the ground is not targeting the offending animals, although you may catch the right ones. Are you afraid of heights or just don't have the proper tools for the job?

I don't have the tools to get up there safely. I agree I may not catch the right animal, but it is a last resort. He has contacted two other ADC operators and they've said to wait until they leave. He (and his wife) are not happy with that answer. It may be the only answer right now.

Sell an attic clean out. They know they really don’t want the waste in there. The customers are asking for a solution. Tear outs can be excellent money due to the gross factor. Remove the old insulation, disinfect, and blow in new. Insulation vacuums suck the old insulation all the way out of the house to bags outside. It really cuts down on the mess and makes the job look good. We fill the 12 foot long bags right in the back of a 15 yard dump trailer that we rent.

On larger jobs we subcontract out the blowing in of the insulation as the insulation companies have bigger equipment and can often do it cheaper than you can.

If 3 companies are telling them the same thing, they know what they have to do. They might find somebody who will do it now, but get bad results that they don’t want either. If they are looking to control the job, walk.

I have advised on this topic previously a few times. Some just have to learn the hard way. If they won't follow professional advice walk away. I won't work for demanding clients that seem to know better.

Good advice all around. This guy is a friend of a friend. I'm trying everything I can do, but not getting the results they or I want. I'll see what the week brings. Thanks.

Can you reach the underside of that vent?

I've hung bodygrippers on the underside on some of those steep roofs.

But going inside an attic with sow is always a crap shoot that might turn into a rodeo.

They're going to need a new vent or vent guard anyway so someone has to get up there. Can you subcontract a roofer who does have the equipment?

I have a young adc guy that will do the repairs. He stays busy like all of us do.

The other two operators told them to wait until they leave because they don't want to get up there either. There isn't any job, animal, or customer worth risking your life for. We're all in this to remove animals and solve problems, but at the end of the day we all want to get home safely and have dinner with the family. It's like I've said, I'm not scared of heights, I'm scared of falling. Brian Mongeau is exactly right, you don't want to target all the coon, you want to target "thee" coon. If they want the job done right (and for your safety) ask them to rent a boom lift. For the amount of money they're going to have in the job, the cost to rent one is pencil dust.

Customer called at 7:15 this morning. He advised his house smells like feces and urine. I told him he would need to hire a large company to handle this job. I'm a one man show with five other customers at the moment. I gave him two local recommendations. We shall see where this goes. Thanks for all the words of advice.

I don't bounce like i use to.

Sounds like a good call.

From this point forward, I’ll stick with eviction fluid, then catch/harass/release and then fold up shop and leave.