Three Ring Circus

Haven’t we all at one time or another felt like our life was a three ring circus? Well, in our house we recently had a three ring circus of a different kind when raccoons decided to set up house in our attic. Yep, that’s right – literally raccoons in the attic, and figuratively too as we tried to figure out what to do.

Spring Has Sprung

One morning as I was sitting at my desk enjoying the sunshine, I heard a kind of a scratching on the roof and sounds that I thought might be baby birds. I quickly chalked it up to a bird nest on our roof. Kind of an odd place for a nest but OK. And wasn’t that a delightful sign that spring had arrived!

However, when the noise started to move to another spot and it wasn’t clear if it was on the roof or in the attic, I knew that I was sadly mistaken. The funny thing was, the noise lasted just for a short time in the morning and then stopped. I spent a few mornings thinking (hoping really) that the noise would just disappear but alas, it continued every morning for days.

My husband, ever the optimist, and perhaps having had some experience with my over reacting just a teensy bit in similar situations, was sceptical, and of course every time I tried to get him into the room to hear the noise, there was nothing. Eventually he did hear it and when the sound moved to an area where I was able to listen up close, it became clear to me that whatever the creature, it definitely was in the attic and much bigger than a bird. Clearly we had a problem that neither of us knew how to deal with. So for a few days we decided ignorance was bliss. I did however knock on the ceiling every time I heard the noise, hoping what I’m not sure, but it made me feel marginally better.

Night Moves

When we started hearing noise in the attic area of our bedroom at night we couldn’t ignore the problem any longer. But what exactly was the problem? Eventually we connected the dots and figured that it was likely a raccoon that was leaving the attic to prowl around at night and coming back in the morning to settle in for some shuteye. Yikes! And when my husband spotted an opening in the fascia that corresponded to the area where we were hearing the noise, and saw what looked like tiny footprints on the front deck posts and railing, it was all but confirmed.

Having heard that raccoons are smart and aggressive and could carry rabies, we were jolted into action and immediately started contacting pest control companies. We were referred to a “raccoon specialist” who said the best course of action was to blast heavy metal music into the attic and he all but guaranteed that this would drive the raccoon out of the attic. Really? Well, he was the expert, so we found some heavy metal music and started blasting it. We lasted about 24 hours and that was it. Neither of us could take hearing all those screaming vocals for a minute more. And of course the next day the raccoon was back…

Thankfully my resourceful husband found another pest control guy to help us. He confirmed that it was in fact a raccoon that had taken up residence in our attic and had a more mainstream solution; trap the raccoon and then relocate it. This seemed like a humane and more realistic solution so we were all in. To our surprise and delight, the next morning a raccoon was in the trap and was quickly picked up and relocated. After high fives all around we relaxed for the first time in weeks.

Not So Fast

Our jubilation was short lived when the noise in the attic resumed the next morning. So we had our pest control guy set out another trap and were hopeful that this saga would soon end. After a few days of no luck with the trap and the noise continuing we were thoroughly frustrated. But one night the noise started at the usual time but sounded like there was more than one raccoon, possibly some young raccoons too. What??

At that point we had no way of knowing, but I am happy to report that night was the last we heard raccoons in our attic. They seem to have moved out. Perhaps they found more comfortable digs?

With the hole in the fascia quickly fixed and no further action in the attic, life is pretty much back to normal. We did however have a visit in our backyard from, what I surmise was the raccoon family in residence, as caught on our backyard security camera. Perhaps just taking a trip down memory lane to see the old “house”?

We will be doing a new post every Monday so stay tuned for our next one entitled “No Bones About It.”