Raccoon Eviction

[HarrysMom]

Has anyone here had any experience evicting a raccoon family? A very (cute) mom has decided to dig into our basement and start a family.
We are willing to live with the wildlife in our neighborhood, but not in our house. The mom has already dug a hole underneath our bathroom tub into the basement. We have no idea what other damage she is causing to our house. We do know that she has expanded her "home" now to include the space under our entire livingroom space (that is filled with pipes, insulation and wires).
My 20 yo cat came down with MRSA likely caused by a flea bite - we nearly lost her from the infection, and I can't risk another flea infestation.
The family is also driving my dogs nuts.
Any recommendation would be appreciated.
We already hired one "humane" remover, but the trap isn't working (she avoids it), and we also have not been able to get her separated from her babies (the goal here would be to separate her and then collect her babies and evict them).

[peggy0]

Re: Raccoon Eviction

My sister had a possum in her basement; same problem. She called the wildlife association in her city and they did use a trap. It took a week and some cat food, but they did catch it

[HarrysMom]

Re: Raccoon Eviction

The wildlife association (a rescue and rehab group) we called said that we should let them be. As much as I want these guys to do well, this is not an option with all the wires and pipes as well as all our geriatric pets.
We are calling around for more removers.

[Soaphie & Sydney's Mom]

Re: Raccoon Eviction

"said to let them be"....really? I burst out laughing when I read this. I cannot imagine just letting them live in the basement of the house.

You did the right thing by trying - now it's time to really evict them.

I'm still cracking up! I can't imagine anyone saying that and believing it's a good solution for anyone other than the raccoon family

Tami

[HarrysMom]

Re: Raccoon Eviction

This is the group that rescues and rehabs wildlife, and this is Marin County with a ton of aging hippy types (not meant as an insult to current / former hippies), I guess.

http://www.wildcarebayarea.org/site/...dCareSolutions

The exact words were "if we let them be, then they will move out by themselves in a few months, and other methods would be just too cruel." We have not slept too well over the last few days because these babies are really loud and chatter all night. We could also hear the mom digging and expanding her home beneath our living space. My non-diabetic dog with a strong hunting instinct is going bonkers, sniffing and pacing in our livingroom. My geriatric 20 yo female cat (weighing less than 7 lbs) also deluded herself into thinking that she could join in the hunt - yowling in from of the basement door to get at the critters. Thank goodness, my Harry is deaf and has not yet joined in on the commotion (he would certainly go hypo from the excitement). Not FUN and certainly cruel to all of us.

As per the trappers recommendation, we tried traps, bright lights, loud radio as well as paper towel soaked with our dogs' urine. So far, the mom is outsmarting all of us.

We do intend to release them in our backyard if we get them. I spent hours making my husband promise to do just this. The babies are too cute (so is the mom). I even offered to keep food out to help the family with this housing transition, but my husband said no.

[HarrysMom]

Re: Raccoon Eviction

I am out traveling work, so my husband has had to deal with the critters while I am away.
According to my husband, the mom is incredibly smart.
My husband was watching her last night.
Now that she knows that we are tracking her, she has become much more careful and stealthy. We put flour in front of her entry to track her comings and goings.
She now comes out of the gate (underneath our bath tub into the yard) very quietly, runs into the bush initially and surveys the backyard before she moves along. She no longer brings her babies outside.
When she goes back into the house, she goes underneath the same plants, surveys and then slinks over to the gate. My husband secured the gate after seeing her leave. She only works at the gate a few minutes at a time - very quietly. And then, she goes back under the bush, surveys the yard and her surroundings before patiently working on the gate again. She even managed to open the gate even though it would have required us humans some tools to get it open.
My husband says that she is also very very big - I would guess that we are faced with an experienced female that knows about traps and dogs.
We now think the best method of eviction is to get her separated from her babies. Get the trapper in our basement to catch the babies without the mom. Reunite the family in our backyard. Secure our house. We were told that she will likely go insane and destructive while separated from her babies.