Remove Raccoons in the Wall

02.03.2004 - This was a very challenging job.  The homeowner knew she had a raccoon in her attic.  She'd called another company to take care of the problem, but they told her that it'd be a minimum of $2000 to solve the problem, and that they'd set traps on the ground outside the house.  I know that if a raccoon is in the attic, it's going to be a female raccoon with babies, and that traps on the ground will not solve the whole problem.  There's 3-4 baby raccoons somewhere in the attic, and they must be removed, or they will starve and die without their mom.  I was hired because I knew a lot more about the situation than the $2000 company.

I arrived at the house and did a full inspection and found some open areas on the roof that the raccoon had torn into. I got in the attic and started my inspection.  I could not find any raccoons.  It's possible that the female was out foraging for food when I arrived in the late evening.  This was the most convenient time for the customer.  The $2000 company would only meet during 9-5.  I searched in the attic for over an hour, looking for the young.  I knew that they had to be up there somewhere.  Most wildlife trappers don't even search, and then they give up if it's not an easy 5-minute job.  I never give up.

I looked in every last nook and cranny in this huge house, and I finally sat very still in the perfect dark of the attic and listened for 5, 10, 15 minutes.... finally I heard some faint chattering, and I knew it was the baby raccoons.  I headed to the spot, crawled into a tight crevice, and looked down a tight and obscure wall, and I could just make out the edges of some baby raccoon fur.  I finally found them.  But they were impossible to get.  There was no way to reach or use a snare pole in that area.

I went outside, and I told the customer the situation.  I got out my 24' ladder and climbed up to the second story area near the attic and the wall I'd climbed to inside.  I felt the wall for warmth, and sure enough, there was a warm spot.  I cut a hole a foot above it, and removed four young raccoons, as seen above.  I fixed the hole and painted it, and it was good as new.

I used the baby raccoons for bait and I trapped the mother raccoon.  I then fixed all the holes on the roof leading into the attic, and I cleaned up the raccoon poop in the attic.  The job was complete in two days, and I did a better job than anyone else ever would have.  No one else would have found those baby raccoons.  Heck, few people would have even been able to crawl where I went.  The other companies just send out a lazy employee who just wants to set some traps on the ground and get to the next house.  They don't care about animals.  I did it right, and my total bill, including all repairs and cleanup, was $229.

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