But, I heard hissing too. Which quickly negates the chance of them being birds and figured they were a family of squirrels. Again, I've had a family of squirrels in the house before, so I'm experienced in catching and releasing them into the wild. Again, no biggie. Just have to find the hole where they entered in.
Upon arriving to the hole, i rattled a stick in the hole. The hissing became louder and more frighteningly, a deep growl. Almost fell off the ladder! Grabbed the camera and started to take pics.. from a safer distance.
With a bit of photoshop and cranked up the contrast, a face appeared out of the darkness! A quick google, and it confirms the face belongs to a raccoon!
Not one... but, a mother and her cubs! I can distinctly hear 4 separate growls, hissing, cries from different areas of the roof.
Made a big mess! Thank goodness it was all insulation that was messed up. Could be worse if she tore up wood and plaster instead!
During the daytime, while the critters are asleep as they are nocturnal creatures, the TV is played loudly. Hope they get annoyed and leave. Effectiveness = 0
Rocky = 1
Tonee = 0
Every day, I'd go up to the hole and rattle the hole with my wooden dowel. I know it pisses her off. Biting and grabbing each time. Morning and night. Effectiveness = 0
Rocky = 2
Tonee = 0
See that stick? She stole that from me. Grabbed it right out of my hand.
The technique of annoying them out of the premise with a wooden stick was proved to be a failure. Mocking me by biting my stick shorter and shorter each day.
Rocky = 3
Tonee = 0
Time to amp up the offensive. A recipe of the interwebs suggest I "smoke" them out with a smelly concoction. Made of chopped up onion and jalapeno peppers with cayenne pepper sprinkled in. Boiled with water. Reduce to concentrate. And soak the soup up with a towel.
As a double feature, I strapped the stink bomb with a battery operated strobe light! Blind them and hope they're epileptic.
Effectiveness = 0
Rocky = 5
Tonee = 0
I had been paying close attention to their sleeping habits and when they leave the coop to scavenge. When they finally were old enough to leave on their own, I took the opportunity to close the 2 entrances/exits. Scary as hell. My roof is quite steep.
Patching the waterproof membrane with new membrane. Using waterproof tape of course.
And "gluing" the tile back on with expanding foam. Stuff is SUPER sticky and closes the gaps that would normally allow the paws of a furry animal to get behind.
Good as new! Hope they didn't leave anything behind!
Rocky = 5
Tonee = 1??
UPDATE: Woke up to check the tile. And it held up! Tile is still in place. With evidence that Rocky had come back to visit! Bits of foam are littered all over the roof. Guess she tried to scratch her way back in. I win? Point for me??
Nope. Upon further investigation, Rocky had opened up ANOTHER tile on another section of the roof!! And scratched her way into another hole!!!
Rocky = 6
Tonee = 1
first and foremost, "Rocky" is a male name!
ReplyDeletesecond, you had to google the animal to know it's a racoon??????
third, we have a roof? i thought it's flat up there!?
fourth, that pot looks like kim chi...yum!
fifth, strobe light? IF they were epileptic, AND they actually got seizures, they would then be too neuropathic to move!
sixth, you sealed the hole? while they were all out, right?......please tell me there weren't any in there when you sealed the hole!
First: Rocky the Raccoon's name has a history with me. A ReBoot episode that was significant in my career.
ReplyDeleteSecond: Googling was to confirm.
Third: Yes. Not the entire roof is flat.
Fourth: I agree!
Fifth: The strobe light would be a good deterent if it was a stronger light. It sort of worked. She was annoyed so much with it that she relocated it for me. (read: moved it outside!)
Sixth: Yes, they were all out. I checked. I took more photos to confirm. I would NOT have gone out to the roof if I had known they were nearby.
sooooo they're back INSIDE the roof!?!?!? wtf!!!!
ReplyDeletehey can't you just shoot them w/ a bb gun from that window?
ReplyDeleteBad angle. No worky.
ReplyDelete