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East Tennessee raccoon birthing season

Posted By: TNADC

East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/18/22 11:46 PM

Customer called about a squirrel in the attic. It is a raccoon. I have trail camera video of it. The attic is blazing hot during the day. I do not think they still should have a nest. I have looked all over the place and can not locate a nest. Any thoughts? Thx
Posted By: Bob Jameson

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/19/22 02:16 PM

If she is still there, most likely she may have the pups down between the wall studs where it is much cooler. Probably down near the baseboard floor area. See if you still have video of her coming and going frequently. They aren't easy to locate unless the pups are making their excited calls as mom comes and goes or she moves and disturbs them.

Much cooler there and many in your area may have the A/C running already which makes conditions more tolerable.
Posted By: Brian Mongeau

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/19/22 02:55 PM

Soffets, wall voids and the most inaccessible tight spots you can find.
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/19/22 08:52 PM

I have video of her moving around in the attic last night. She also reopened the soffit I repaired. A skunk beat her to the trap I put below the repaired soffit. I put more eviction fluid out today. I can't locate the nest and I have been all through the attic. I will see what tomorrow brings.
Posted By: Brian Mongeau

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/19/22 10:12 PM

Are you sure it's a 'she'?
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/20/22 08:54 PM

Originally Posted by Brian Mongeau
Are you sure it's a 'she'?



funny you ask; this am I caught a male outside the house next to a tree that is close to the house. The soffit was pulled up or pushed up on this corner of the house as well. I am hoping it is not a female with a late litter in the attic. I have fixed the soffit in two other places that it has been pulled up or pushed up. I have a camera in the attic now and will check it over the next couple of days. There is also Eviction Fluid on Q-tips throughout the attic.
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/21/22 11:48 PM

Originally Posted by Brian Mongeau
Are you sure it's a 'she'?

Now I know it is a she. I have video of her carrying a kit in her mouth towards an opening in the soffit. The second clip showed her retreating deeper into the attic. I have asked her nicely to leave and continue with eviction juice. I have caught two large males outside the house now.
Posted By: Brian Mongeau

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/22/22 12:17 AM

The way you're trapping, even If you do catch a lactating sow, you won't know if it's the right one. Catch her in a positive set at the entry in a cage. If you still can't find the pups, you still have the option of releasing her. If you harass her enough in the cage before release, there's a better than avg chance that she will go back in and remove the pups herself.
That tactic has worked for me 7 out of the last 9 times.
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/22/22 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by Brian Mongeau
The way you're trapping, even If you do catch a lactating sow, you won't know if it's the right one. Catch her in a positive set at the entry in a cage. If you still can't find the pups, you still have the option of releasing her. If you harass her enough in the cage before release, there's a better than avg chance that she will go back in and remove the pups herself.
That tactic has worked for me 7 out of the last 9 times.



Thanks. I am trying to figure a way to do that. The entry/exit has been a few different places in the soffit. The soffit is not your typical area where a roof and dormer meet. This one is right under the eaves.
Not sure how I could hang my comstock there. In the attic, I'm afraid it will get too hot and she may die quickly.

My next tactic is to go and harass her in the attic and hopefully she will leave. I have put out a bunch of eviction fluid throughout the attic.

This is a tough case.
Posted By: Bob Jameson

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/22/22 11:47 AM

Sometimes you have to be creative to set traps, particularly large ones that need to be elevated. I have never had to do that in my lifetime with any coon work except in pulling a coon and pups from a chimney if the client won't wait for them to mature and leave on their own.

Setting on the ground as stated won't always ensure the right animal is caught. There is a long learning curve with working structural coon at this time of year.

I have success with eviction fluid and/or harassment or both methods in most all cases. Momma coons don't usually take kindly to disruption of their chosen birthing site exposure to humans or another coon. Every now and then you may run into a stubborn one. That motherly instinct is very strong in most animals to protect and defend at any cost. Most cases they will choose to move or relocate.

If you know it is a coon and pups in some cases they are best left alone until they leave on their own. Educate the client when It may become too invasive to the home owner and costly. Some listen to advice others don't.

Some of these circumstances can be frustrating even when you have most of the answers.
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/22/22 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by Bob Jameson
Sometimes you have to be creative to set traps, particularly large ones that need to be elevated. I have never had to do that in my lifetime with any coon work except in pulling a coon and pups from a chimney if the client won't wait for them to mature and leave on their own.

Setting on the ground as stated won't always ensure the right animal is caught. There is a long learning curve with working structural coon at this time of year.

I have success with eviction fluid and/or harassment or both methods in most all cases. Momma coons don't usually take kindly to disruption of their chosen birthing site exposure to humans or another coon. Every now and then you may run into a stubborn one. That motherly instinct is very strong in most animals to protect and defend at any cost. Most cases they will choose to move or relocate.

If you know it is a coon and pups in some cases they are best left alone until they leave on their own. Educate the client when It may become too invasive to the home owner and costly. Some listen to advice others don't.

Some of these circumstances can be frustrating even when you have most of the answers.



Thanks. With that in mind, I have ordered a strobe light and plan to install that and a "boom box" style radio in the attic tomorrow. I will take some more eviction fluid and soak qtips and throw them in the area I believe she and the kits are denned up.

More to come I am sure.
Posted By: Bob Jameson

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/22/22 03:05 PM

I believe you need more eviction odor then that with Q tip applications. I saturate blue shop towels and wrap them around pieces of gravel and wind it up to give it weight to toss in difficult to reach areas at times. You can recover them if you wish and bag them in a zip lock baggie for future use. I have wrapped the soaked rags with a heavy cord to toss them around and bring them back and re soak them if needed then drag them back thru the attic to your point of location etc.
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/22/22 04:46 PM

Wow. That is a lot of fluid, it seems, but this is the first time I have ever used it so I would not know. The small bottle I bought is only 1oz. Are you saying use the entire bottle or half or buy more? I was hoping that their smell was so good they would smell it and leave.

Thanks, Wally
Posted By: rick brocious

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/22/22 05:24 PM

I agree with Bob . I take tennis balls and poke a hole in them and put a rope through them , I then satuate them with eviction fluid and toss them around the attic .
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/22/22 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by rick brocious
I agree with Bob . I take tennis balls and poke a hole in them and put a rope through them , I then satuate them with eviction fluid and toss them around the attic .

This attic is full of blown in insulation. Do think that would still leave enough scent? I have a couple of cotton clothes that I plan to pour fluid on and hang them in areas the homeowner is hearing them and in an area I have seen momma with some kits on video
Posted By: Bob Jameson

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/22/22 06:00 PM

You should be able to see some trails in that type of insulation you would think. Maybe you could find some scrap wood like an old 2x4 a couple feet long or thin cut piece of plywood to lay on the insulation. Then staple an absorbent material to it and wet it with fluid to help keep the odor in a good position lying on top of that insulation or hang and staple a strip of material or several to one of the truss members over head for better odor distribution.

We can go thru some fluid in a busy season, but I keep the saturated material and zip bag it when I can recover it. I make our material so it's always available.
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/22/22 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by Bob Jameson
You should be able to see some trails in that type of insulation you would think. Maybe you could find some scrap wood like an old 2x4 a couple feet long or thin cut piece of plywood to lay on the insulation. Then staple an absorbent material to it and wet it with fluid to help keep the odor in a good position lying on top of that insulation or hang and staple a strip of material or several to one of the truss members over head for better odor distribution.

We can go thru some fluid in a busy season, but I keep the saturated material and zip bag it when I can recover it. I make our material so it's always available.



I have trails galore. She thought she had a squirrel. When I saw the trails I knew it was a raccoon. Good idea on stapling a rag to a beam. I have a couple in mind as I type this reply.

Thanks
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/23/22 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by Brian Mongeau
The way you're trapping, even If you do catch a lactating sow, you won't know if it's the right one. Catch her in a positive set at the entry in a cage. If you still can't find the pups, you still have the option of releasing her. If you harass her enough in the cage before release, there's a better than avg chance that she will go back in and remove the pups herself.
That tactic has worked for me 7 out of the last 9 times.



Today I caught a sow outside the house with exposed nipples. Is it the right one or not, I'm not sure. I harassed her in the cage and then released her. I did go back into the attic and reviewed my trail camera. I have a raccoon still moving around in there and left about 9:30p. I have put eviction fluid on some rags and hung them in the main "thorough fares" in the blown in insulation. I also put a boombox still radio up there blasting rock and roll music from a local station. Tomorrow I will install a strobe light that amazon is delivering today.
Posted By: EatenByLimestone

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/25/22 10:39 AM

Any new activity?
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/26/22 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by EatenByLimestone
Any new activity?

After two days of blaring rock and roll music, running a strobe light and also dowsing the "runways" with eviction fluid, I got a video of a raccoon walking around. Not leaving; not carrying out and kits, just passing by. The soffit is pulled open again and the homeowner has asked me to remove the radio which I did today. I also re-soaked the eviction fluid rags and moved one to an area that seems to be where this stubborn animal is coming from. I have convinced the homeowner that we may need to wait for them to leave. There does not appear to be any damage and certainly no feces that I can find.

I'm not sure where I go from here, but I have ordered some more eviction fluid and will continue to put this down.

Any suggestions - I'm all ears.

Thanks
Posted By: EatenByLimestone

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/26/22 12:29 AM

Trap it on the hole.
Posted By: jzahntrapper

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 05/26/22 01:13 AM

the vanish paste put down heavy around the hole she is coming in and out works better for me than the fluid but still most of these jobs are a nightmare
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 06/01/22 10:11 PM

to close the loop - she and the babies are gone. More eviction fluid, a strobe light, boom box, crushed red pepper and me tramping around seemed to have run her off. I have sealed up all the soffits. Thanks for all the suggestions along the way.

Regards, Wally
Posted By: EatenByLimestone

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 06/01/22 11:35 PM

Excellent! A happy ending!
Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 06/02/22 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by EatenByLimestone
Excellent! A happy ending!



And I learned alot.
Posted By: EatenByLimestone

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 06/02/22 09:25 PM

I don’t think there’s a single person here who doesn’t learn new stuff every day. No matter how much you think you know, there’ll always be an animal that’ll throw you for a loop. It usually happens right after a client asks if the animal will do X, and you reply, no, they never do that.
Posted By: JoeyHalk

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 06/06/22 03:47 AM

Always positive set. Where’s there’s a will there’s a way. Sometimes it really is impossible but most of the time it just takes some extra thinking.
Glad it all worked out in the end.
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Posted By: TNADC

Re: East Tennessee raccoon birthing season - 06/06/22 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by JoeyHalk
Always positive set. Where’s there’s a will there’s a way. Sometimes it really is impossible but most of the time it just takes some extra thinking.
Glad it all worked out in the end.
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I have used Comstocks before for positive sets, however, I was concerned with orphaning the kits. Inasmuch as I did not have a great idea where the nest was I was going with the eviction method this go around. I love my Comstocks. Packing up now for a groundhog call.
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