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How can you tell if it's squirrels or raccoons invading your attic?
My attic | 1/26/19 | Me, Myself, & I

Posted on 01/26/2019 7:07:07 PM PST by EinNYC

For the past few weeks, usually in the middle of the night, I have been hearing some kind of animal running around, scratching, etc. in my attic. I asked the maintenance guys to go up into the attic to have a look for damage, points of entry, etc. They went up there and reported no holes. They had put a small Havahart trap up there baited with peanut butter, but nothing was caught in there. I told them to remove that, as I didn't want anything getting trapped and then starving. I threw a bunch of bags of mothballs up there when they left.

This afternoon, at 5 p.m., I was sitting in my living room when my Maine Coon cat alerted. She jumped up onto the top shelf of her cat tower and then stood on her hind legs, allowing her to dab her paws against the ceiling. She heard something! A moment later, I heard a big THUNK! and then the sound of an animal dropping to the floor, in the attic. I banged around everywhere with the end of a broom handle, and then I didn't hear it any more.

Is this a raccoon or a squirrel? I have written emails to the management, urging them to get professional wildlife removal, but so far, they have not acted. I certainly don't want this thing having a litter of babies up there, as I know breeding season is just about here. A look around while standing on the ground has not revealed any holes, but there are solar panels all over the roof, and if the animal has chewed an entry hole under those, you wouldn't be able to see them just walking around outside.


TOPICS: Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: attic; raccoons; squirrels; vanityepidemic
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To: 21twelve

Here is the irony about that. In many states it is illegal to trap a nuisance racoon and release it. Instead you are supposed trap it yourself or have someone licensed to remove nuisance animals do so. And then he takes it away to have it euthanized. If you do it I think you call one of these licensed outfits and the end result is the same. Dead racoon.


181 posted on 01/27/2019 7:38:42 AM PST by lastchance (Credo.)
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Same source, 2nd edition......

46 comments at this time

182 posted on 01/27/2019 8:38:19 AM PST by deport
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To: EinNYC

The sound of their tv is too loud.


183 posted on 01/27/2019 11:06:32 AM PST by minnesota_bound
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To: lastchance

We had a zombie racoon in our suburban front yard. Just was wandering around in a 2’x 2’ area in the corner for several hours. After internet searches, and calls to exterminators (either all busy, or $150), and even my wife calling the police(!) - quiet suburbs, they were there in a few minutes!

The cop said “If it weren’t for your neighbors I would just shoot it.” So I asked him - “If I just kill it with a hammer - will that be okay? Even though the law says that I can’t?”

“Well, I can’t say anything about that. But I’m leaving, it’s dark, and nobody is around.”

I apologized for my wife calling and bothering him. He said he used to work in a big city with lots of crime. He didn’t mind at all getting called out about a raccoon!


184 posted on 01/27/2019 1:25:38 PM PST by 21twelve (!)
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To: EinNYC
I can’t get up there myself. There is no stair that folds down. There is just a square opening in the hall ceiling, with a piece of painted plywood resting in the opening. To get up there, you need a full sized ladder, which I don’t have.

Don't you have a pest-control service to at least ensure you don't get termites, etc? If not, given your situation you should hire someone. I had a similar problem and it was mice. I was surprised that a small mouse could make so much noise.

185 posted on 01/27/2019 3:56:32 PM PST by plain talk
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To: EinNYC
Look for their scat. Squirrels are small, and so their fewmets are small, about the size of rat droppings. Racoons are larger, and their feces is almost the same size as a dog's or a cat's.
186 posted on 01/27/2019 4:06:31 PM PST by VietVet
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To: Paladin2

They do get hit. I find that they’re not as dumb as deer though.
Maybe the only thing worse than hitting an elk (in North America)
is hitting a moose. Longer legs and heavier bodies. Oof!
And their population here is slowly but surely rising
since they were re-introduced a few decades ago.


187 posted on 01/27/2019 11:09:49 PM PST by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
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