RE: Stupid hawk, stay out of my house
06-05-2025, 07:31 AM (This post was last modified: 06-05-2025, 07:33 AM by Bob Schroeck.)
06-05-2025, 07:31 AM (This post was last modified: 06-05-2025, 07:33 AM by Bob Schroeck.)
I guess I might as well give the raccoon update...
Starting more than a month ago we've been hearing animals in the attic.
Three weeks ago, they had a fight, loud and violent enough to panic my wife and send the dining room chandelier swinging.
Two weeks ago it became obvious that one had died as a result of the fight, and we had its carcass removed. It was confirmed to have been raccoons, and the fight was probably a territorial one between a male and a female, with the female coming out the loser.
Later in the evening of the same day, we heard the animal(s) again. We haven't heard it since, but we hired the same company that cleared out the carcass to set traps and screen off known and possible entry points (we have an early-1960s vintage home, and its soffit vents are simply 2-inch by 10-inch slots with metal mesh -- unfortunately, over the last sixty years the mesh has fallen out or been pushed out of nearly all of them). On Monday they put new heavy steel mesh ("hardware cloth" in their parlance) over all the soffit vents except the one identified as the raccoons' entry point. That one got a trap hung directly under it, in case there was a raccoon still in the attic. Another trap is on the ground directly underneath it. Neither has caught anything all week, so we're pretty confident the attic is clear, at least. I've been told that the winner of the fight probably has several dens in the area that he rotates through, and he just hasn't come back to us yet; the company we hired will basically keep maintaining and baiting the traps until they catch him. And when they take down the trap under the eaves they'll put mesh over that last hole.
Unfortunately that's not the end of the story -- once that's all done we're going to have to have the old insulation pulled out of the attic, any droppings up there cleared out, the entire thing disinfected, and new insulation laid down. The one bid we've gotten so far for that job was over US$8000 -- not exactly in our budget right now, but we're going to have to get that done before winter. At least we don't use the attic for storage -- the trusses up there are all filled with diagonals that make it impossible to actually put anything of any size up there. Not to mention our only access is a small hatch in our front hall closet.
Starting more than a month ago we've been hearing animals in the attic.
Three weeks ago, they had a fight, loud and violent enough to panic my wife and send the dining room chandelier swinging.
Two weeks ago it became obvious that one had died as a result of the fight, and we had its carcass removed. It was confirmed to have been raccoons, and the fight was probably a territorial one between a male and a female, with the female coming out the loser.
Later in the evening of the same day, we heard the animal(s) again. We haven't heard it since, but we hired the same company that cleared out the carcass to set traps and screen off known and possible entry points (we have an early-1960s vintage home, and its soffit vents are simply 2-inch by 10-inch slots with metal mesh -- unfortunately, over the last sixty years the mesh has fallen out or been pushed out of nearly all of them). On Monday they put new heavy steel mesh ("hardware cloth" in their parlance) over all the soffit vents except the one identified as the raccoons' entry point. That one got a trap hung directly under it, in case there was a raccoon still in the attic. Another trap is on the ground directly underneath it. Neither has caught anything all week, so we're pretty confident the attic is clear, at least. I've been told that the winner of the fight probably has several dens in the area that he rotates through, and he just hasn't come back to us yet; the company we hired will basically keep maintaining and baiting the traps until they catch him. And when they take down the trap under the eaves they'll put mesh over that last hole.
Unfortunately that's not the end of the story -- once that's all done we're going to have to have the old insulation pulled out of the attic, any droppings up there cleared out, the entire thing disinfected, and new insulation laid down. The one bid we've gotten so far for that job was over US$8000 -- not exactly in our budget right now, but we're going to have to get that done before winter. At least we don't use the attic for storage -- the trusses up there are all filled with diagonals that make it impossible to actually put anything of any size up there. Not to mention our only access is a small hatch in our front hall closet.
-- Bob
I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh, Clark Kent, Mary Sue, DJ Croft, Skysaber. I have been
called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the sun grows dim and cold....
I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh, Clark Kent, Mary Sue, DJ Croft, Skysaber. I have been
called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the sun grows dim and cold....