Hi,
This tough question concerns a condo that adjoins with three others. When first occupied, the exterior perimeter was sealed against furry intruders..all concrete was made impenetrable.
Very recently, a urine smell started emanating from the ductwork vents. Inspector type comes out, opens the access port under the house and is about bowled over by the strong smell of urine, etc.
Apparently racoons have been eliminating under this portion of the four-condo structure and nesting elsewhere. There is a plastic moisture barrier that they’re eliminating on..and the ground won’t soak it up, etc…
At least one of the adjacent neighbors is NOT sealed against intruders and these furry little bastards are going from his crawlspace into this one..despite warnings a year ago to get his place checked out and the problem fixed.
Now, to my questions:
I’m told that we need to trap the racoons and euthanize them. In CA, you need a special class of license, etc AND they may not approach the trap if they’ve been trapped before. Any advice as to how to capture them? What kind of professional does this kind of work? HOw much will it cost in the Bay Area?
Secondly, once the critters are gone, what can I do to eliminate the smell? Is there some product that will eliminate/neutralize it? What after the smell is neutralized? Is there a way to remove the plastic moisture barrier or, somehow, clean it?
The racoons seem to have pulled down some of the under-floor insulation and heating/cooling ductwork..I need it clean enough and odor-free enough for someone to go in and reconnect/repair the insulation and ductwork. Any idea about what kind of professionals and what this will cost?
Finally, once the neighbor has acted and sealed off the passageway, is there a way to keep Racoons away? I’ve heard loud music, strobe lights, etc.
Any advice is MUCH appreciated!
Thanks to all!
Replies
Kessler,
At our first house we caught about 5 of them. Used traps like the ones shown here:
http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/raccoon.htm
Cat food worked every time for bait. We used to relocate them to a State Park about 15 miles away. I dont see why they have to be killed.
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
Rules on trapping vary from state to state and county to county. In NY, you can't trap them without a license. Like my predecessor said, in one houe, I caught a bunch of them. I used sardines as bait (on the advise of an old trapper) and transported each one to a new home elsewhere (generally after dark).
As far as the smell, it sounds like you need the universal solution - remove/replace what you can, wash and aerate the area as much as possible and sue the bestard that let them in!
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
To All:As mentioned earlier, each state has its own laws with respect to handling problematic wildlife. NY is no different.Last year, I had a problem with raccoons. When I attempted to purchase a HAVAHART (live capture) trap, the store owner casually asked me what I was going to do with it. When I told him capture and relocate, he told me to watch out for in NY there is a law against capturing and relocating raccoons since they are major carrier of rabies. The fine? $1000.00!!I also found an excellent bait for raccoons - marshmallows. They love the stuff and you won't attract the neighbor's cat(s).Finally, New York State Environmental Law (11-0523 subsection 6) allows a property owner to dispose of raccoons, by any means necessary, at any time, that have caused destruction of property and/ or have become a threat.JohnG
Don
I am pretty certain that you can trap them in NY. But you cannot legally relocate them. Rabbies issues. But you can humanely kill them. "Baptism" is one legal way (dump the cage in a barrel/garbage can full of water that is larger than the cage). I forget the other legal method.... might be bow and arrow.
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Additional info: There seems to be a difference in NY between "trapping" as in being a trapper/hunter for pelts and catching a nuisance varmint.
The other acceptable method of nuisance dispatching is (as told by DEC game warden) is to kncok em out with a sharp blow to the top of snout and then supress their breathing with your foot.
But to whack them on the snout they have to be outside the cage!
Personally I'd rather do "it" quickly and painlessly with a bullet to the head but downstate you cannot discharge a firearm since neighbors are too close.
A good jolt of 220Volts from an arc welder might be quick but I guess DEC doesn't want people killing themselves at the same time.
Edited 10/5/2006 2:01 pm ET by PatchogPhil
My Dad has had a lot of coon problems in his barn. He got a live trap and baited it. Every night when he did chores he would shoot the coon, dump, it out, and re-set the trap. He caught coons 32 consecutive nights before he finally had one night where he didn't catch one. For bait, he used a slice of bread with molasses smeared on it. He claims it works better than anything else he's tried..I honestly think killing them is more humane that catching and releasing them. The world is already over-run with coons - They're little more than oversized rats. (I haven't heard of anyone catching and releasing rats or mice lately)Dumping a coon somewhere only moves the problem to someone else's area.
Q: Why do men name their sexual organs?
A: We don't want a total stranger making most of our decisions.
I assume getting these guys into the cage is the easy part.... How do you get them out?
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -Albert Einstein
No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now. --Richard M. Nixon, 1985
Hi Pete -
Long time, no see (since Tipifest).
As far as getting coons out of the cages, I was equally concerned - rabies, bites and all...When I caught the first racoon, he was pretty unhappy about being in the cage. Anything within grabbing distance became part of the cage. Happened that there were fishing lines and hooks nearby. They were yanked in there too. I wasn't about to insert anything I owned near him. When it got to the time that I wanted him to leave, I got the cage on the ground and pulled the wire to open the door. I was ready to jump in the truck if necessary.
That sucker took off and never looked back. (Didn't even say thanks for saving his sorry life.) I'm no wildlife expert, but I expect they are more interested in freedom than in biting somebody.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
Raccoons work at night; you need to seal up their access port while they are out of there. If they can't get back in, they will usually go elsewhere. If they hang around and cause trouble, spray the area with dog urine. You don't need to soak it to the point where you can smell it; just enough so they can. It doesn't take much. If they think there's a dog or two on the premises, they'll look for easier pickings. A 'coon can kill a dog if cornered but they will not go looking for a fight with one.
To get rid of the smell from the raccoon urine, you can try large quantities of baking soda (buy it from an industrial baking supply company in a 30-gallon drum). If that does not work, you will need to do as another poster suggested and excavate and replace the contaminated fill.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
Does anyone know if powsered lime will work?
I empathize with the "humane" approaches - I've lived in California for many years...
However, I also acknowledge the effectiveness of the "less-humane" methods...
My mother, back on our family farm in northern Michigan, uses a mixture of Blue Streak Fly Bait and Dr. Pepper, mixed up in a small dish and left out overnight in the area they've been frequenting (the base of her fruit trees, in her case). She gets it (the Blue Streak, that is) at her local farm 'n feed outlet. The stuff is EXTREMELY NASTY, but quite effective. However, it's effects aren't instantaneous so you don't want the 'coons wandering into an inaccessible place after consumption.
EMPHATIC REMINDER!!! Don't even consider using this stuff if there's a remote chance that children or pets might come in contact. Again, it's nasty but effective...
I believe it is now illegal to use fly bait for any purpose other than fly control in a barn. It is fast and deadly.
For getting rid of the stink try OdorXit (odor exit) at:
http://www.odorxit.com/index.php
really works on all kinds of vile smells.
I can't comment on the legality of the approach, nor would I recommend it for every situation. I CAN vouch for its' effectiveness. Although I'm guessing that rural landowners in some regions enjoy a little more lattitude in "controlling pests" than their metropolitan counterparts...
Then again, my preferred approach (whenever I'm home visiting, I am assigned to "critter patrol") is the old standby Ithaca Model 37 12ga. - #4 shot, 2-3/4" low brass is sufficient...
Michigan and California are worlds apart, indeed...
is the old standby Ithaca Model 37 12ga. - #4 shot, 2-3/4" low brass is sufficient...
Can't argue with that, as it works.
Tho- I'm more of a mind to reach for an H&R youth model in .22, with shorts or CBCaps for rummaging around in a crawlspace.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Not sure why you wanna get all offical about this. I've had raccoon problems off and on for a while here in Oakland CA. I borrowed a live trap and bait it with wet cat food. We catch a coon and then (under cover of dark) relocate it to a large park nearby. The traps also work great for catching the feral cats the plague the 'hood.
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
Thanks. I'm not sure we do want to get all official either. I'm more concerned with three questions:
"How can we catch these guys"
"Once they're gone, how can we rid the crawl space of the smell"..that's the most important unanswered question
"How can we keep these guys away"
Thanks to all!
kc
Use mothballs to rid the area of racoons. They are repelled by the scent of naptha.
> "relocate it to a large park nearby"The trouble with this, Dan, is that the raccoons I've observed around here (North Oakland) tend to travel in the sewers, and they know them like subways -complete with "stops" in particular places. Once your house gets put on their route as a good place to eat or drink (koi ponds get five stars), you pretty much have to eliminate the attraction or provide some kind of deterrent. My friend's goldfish pond got hit regularly until certain changes were made.
I believe that my wife was told that if you capture a coon in your own trap and call Oaklands animal police they will come get it. But they take it away and 'euthanize' it. My wife being a vegetarian didn't like the sound of that so whenever we do catch one we let it go elsewhere.
Having the fishpond has not been as huge of a problem as I thought. We only get 'hit' a couple of times a season really and I have yet to loose any fish. They just eat the plants and make a giant mess of things.
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
The problem with my friend's pond was that it was poured (concrete) shallow with sloping sides, and the racoons could just stand in there and grab the fish at will. My friend had installed a low electrical fence, which did nothing to deter the predators but somehow managed to zap me several times ("is this thing ON?...@#%*&!...it's on!), and he was considering adding a heavy wire grill just below the surface of the entire pond. I talked him out of it because I thought that the fish might need to surface occassionally if the water lacks oxygen. Besides, the "maximum security " look kind of starts to defeat the purpose of having a pond in the first place. We tried rigging the pond with all kinds of Indiana Jones style traps, snares, flying darts, rolling logs- even a motion sensitive sprinkler device that I found at Urban Ore, but had to scrap because - like everything else- it had an unacceptably high "backfire" rate ("is this thing ON?"...).We ended up solving the problem by draining the pond and bolting sections of 4" black ABS connectors to the bottom so the fish could hide (BTW *anchoring* is essential, and heavy rocks didn't cut it). Also, we learned that the type of food used to feed the fish is critical to their survival. The flake variety which floats on top creates a situation where the fish learn to come up to surface when they detect a presence. If you feed them with the pellet variety they essentially become bottom feeders and maintain a healthy distrust for mammals. Racoons give themselves a particularly bad rap because of the damage they cause at the crime scene (it's almost like they don't want anyone else to discover their favorite restaurants), but I can't help having a certain respect for their outlaw ways and cool costumes... my friends want to kill them, though. Then again, I Know people in North Berkeley who regard deer as rodents. I guess they never saw "Bambi"...
KC,
Nail a topless 55 gallon drum to a tree or post, put sardine or catfood cans that have holes punched in them in the bottom. It will fill up with coons. You could probably use a big trash can and avoid the "trapping" issue.
Spray the urine area with enzyme cleaner as mentioned.
Spray area with Pinsol (sp) for deterrent.
Either dump the coons far away or get some sweet potatoes. :)
KK
Lots of good comments already posted. I'll add one in regard to keeping racoons away.
Racoons are the ultimate free-loaders, and are attracted to easily obtained food sources. And, if there are none of those nearby, you are unlikely to have a nesting problem. They'll eat darn near anything. Everyone knows about racoons being quite resourceful at getting into garbage cans, but they seem to love cat food and dog food, so leaving pet food outside in bowl for pets is also an attraction.
You may want to take a look around to see if there is any easily eliminated food source.
And running around with those little masks. Who do they think they're fooling?
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"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire
They are very cute when tiny furballs. And also when they show those sad eyes from within the cage, but when you get close they "bark" snarl and growl.
Don't I know it. I've shot quite a few of the varmits.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire
As cute as they are, they make a mess. Just before I bought my house from my grandfather's estate when he died, racoons tore off the roof vent and lived there with a litter. They tore the insualtion all over. They must have the largest azzholes cause it looked like a horse took a dump in there. Had to have all the insualtion removed.
I've had my share of garbage knocked over and strewn about. Presently there is a big fat momma racoon getting in my "lockable" (yeah right) garbage can. At least this one eats inside the can and doesnt knock it over. I've tried chasing it away when I hear the lid get thrown on the ground. But it doesn't seem to fear me, just walks away lookin at me like I am nuts. Now I have cinder blocks on the lids until I rig up the trap.
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Edit for typo
Edited 10/5/2006 6:51 pm ET by PatchogPhil
All the raccoons I catch always assume room temperature never had a problem getting them out of the cage or ever coming back !!!!!! Dan
Huh?+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire
When you become room temperature, it means that the heart is no longer pumping and it assume ambient outdoor temperature DAN
LOL+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire
Kill them - whatever way works for you.
Nature's Miracle will remove the urine smell.
Good luck!
We have coons and Opossum here. A friend uses a HaveAHeart trap and then takes them to the east side of town to a park. He had done it a number of times with great success. Another friend of his was complaining about all the opossums he was encountering. My friend explained what he did for his critters, releasing them by that park and all. His friend exclamed "I LIVE AT THE END OF THAT STREET!!!" oops.