A few years back I planted some snap peas. One day the sprouting seedlings were happily leafing out; the next day they had all been nibbled down to the stalk. I suspected the involvement of a wascally wabbit, but I could never prove it. Now we use bird netting to keep hungry critters away from sprouting plants. The netting seems to work pretty well.

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Boaters rescue baby raccoon....

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Well, I finally trapped one of the raccoons that comes in and eats the
cat food. I believe it's the one that was living in my attic. After I
trapped her I tried to look for active nipples, to discern whether or not
she was nursing kits. I saw nipples, but they looked like they hadn't been
used for a while. But what do I know? I have no idea what raccoon nipples
look like, used or not. So I got on the interwebs and tried to find some
pix or some info to help me figure out if there might be kits up in my
attic. Everything I read led me to believe that the vast majority of
attic raccoons are females looking for someplace to have or house their
babies. That's when I freaked out a little.

If this was my attic raccoon, then the odds were good that she had babies
up there. They might not still be up there, but they might. And if they
are up there, they're in a place that I can't access from my actual attic.
I've heard movement above my front porch which, I believe, is not reachable
from my main attic. That means I would have to cut a hole large enough to
climb through in the "ceiling" over my front porch.

With the mama raccoon trapped, I wasn't going to take her away and release
her without babies (that may or may not exist). I decided to take her outside
and release her. I will search for babies. If I find any I will use them to
trap her again. I'm sure, if she has babies, that she'll be back. If she
doesn't have babies I may never see her again anyway. She was obviously
scared sh*tless (as evidenced by the poo she left behind - thank God I
thought ahead and put a puppy pad under the trap). When I opened the trap I
think she broke the land speed record exiting the area.

So success! I trapped the raccoon! But failure. :-( I let her go.

What would you have done?

This is her, in the trap in a spare room to keep the dogs away. She almost
knocked the trap onto the floor, so I put it down on the floor myself. She
was my prisoner for about an hour before I let her go. It was after
midnight.

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~Sue~

Finally! fire flies in the back yard the last few nights. A few weeks late, but here they are.

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I'm glad that you let her go, but raccoons in one's attic are a bad idea.

Maybe wait until fall or early winter when all the kits should be weaned and gone, then trap her again and release her far away? Make sure you find the hole or holes that allow her into your attic and seal them up after you get her out. Use really strong stuff to seal the hole. Raccoons are good at ripping things apart.

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I'm glad that you let her go, but raccoons in one's attic are a bad idea.

Maybe wait until fall or early winter when all the kits should be weaned and gone, then trap her again and release her far away? Make sure you find the hole or holes that allow her into your attic and seal them up after you get her out. Use really strong stuff to seal the hole. Raccoons are good at ripping things apart.

That's a great idea. Thanks.

I already know where the hole is and was prepared to seal it up after she
was gone. I may get someone who actually knows what they're doing to do it
for me, though.

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~Sue~

Do you know about the flour trick?

Sprinkle flour outside the hole, then you can track who is going in and out by the direction (and number) of their tiny paw tracks. This is a good way to know if mama is taking her babies out and about yet.

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Do you know about the flour trick?

Sprinkle flour outside the hole, then you can track who is going in and out by the direction (and number) of their tiny paw tracks. This is a good way to know if mama is taking her babies out and about yet.

And they wouldn't just try to snuffle up and eat the flour?

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

And they wouldn't just try to snuffle up and eat the flour?

Nope. Raccoons show no interest in flour. It is what professional trappers use to make sure that attics are empty before the seal up holes in them.

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I've never actually seen a raccoon. Possums, but not a raccoon. We have plenty of squirrels to cause damage, though. They chew the lead vent pipes on the roof, and the wood support columns of my deck. I even had a squirrel incident recently involving a clogged drain. ~Turned out a squirrel had become stuck in a roof plumbing vent pipe.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Out a little pile of grapes and/or cat food in a location you can easily view from a window. Put food in the same place each night for about a week. I'm 99.99% sure that within a week or two you will see a raccoon... or several.

If you feed them, they will come.

P.S. Don't do this if you have bears in your area!

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P.S. Don't do this if you have bears in your area!

Funny you mention that. Just last night the local news had a story about bears starting to be seen near Louisville...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtDvI3B_Lvc

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Do you know about the flour trick?

Sprinkle flour outside the hole, then you can track who is going in and out by the direction (and number) of their tiny paw tracks. This is a good way to know if mama is taking her babies out and about yet.

Fantastic! Thanks.

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~Sue~

I've never actually seen a raccoon. Possums, but not a raccoon. We have plenty of squirrels to cause damage, though. They chew the lead vent pipes on the roof, and the wood support columns of my deck. I even had a squirrel incident recently involving a clogged drain. ~Turned out a squirrel had become stuck in a roof plumbing vent pipe.

We didn't have any raccoons around here until just a few years ago.

Poor, poor squirrel. Please don't tell us the outcome unless it was good.

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~Sue~

Had a nuisance possum. Chased it from the house a few times. Kept coming back. I finally had to relocate it. I even used a 2X4 to give a light wack. It played dead and I took advantage of it. I reached down grabbed its tail and hung it upside down. I walked down the road about a quarter mile and released it. The possum gave me no trouble while doing this.

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Just curious - what was the possum doing that made it a nuisance? All our possums ever do is eat birdseed and look adorable. Our possums are simply too dumb to ever get into any real trouble. I serenade possums with a special song whenever I see one in the backyard. Possums are great!

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Possums! What's not to love?

Their eyes look like shoe buttons and their ears look like burnt potato chips!

Possums are awesome!!!

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There are Possums and Opossums

Possums! What's not to love?

Their eyes look like shoe buttons and their ears look like burnt potato chips!

Possums are awesome!!!

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Just curious - what was the possum doing that made it a nuisance? All our possums ever do is eat birdseed and look adorable. Our possums are simply too dumb to ever get into any real trouble. I serenade possums with a special song whenever I see one in the backyard. Possums are great!

I was going to ask that, too. How does a possum become a nuisance?

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~Sue~

There are Possums and Opossums

Here we go again.

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~Sue~