Did you know that raccoons chatter? I didn‘t, that is until we found five in the attic at “D” Farm. Believe it or not we have heard “critters” moving about in the attic and in the walls at “D” Farm during most of our visits over the last several years. We have never been certain what they were but speculated that they might be anything from mice or rats to squirrels, raccoons, skunks or opossums.
We have tried locating various possible points of entry and sealed those off to no avail. We actually thought we had it handled when we had several trees near the house removed two years ago, guessing that whomever it was had been jumping from the trees onto the second story roof and entering somewhere above.
Although it was quiet when I first arrived on “D” Farm this spring, by June it had become quite obvious that Guillie, Tipsy and I were not alone. I finally spotted the culprits one afternoon, peeking out at me from a vent in the soffit beneath the eve, over the kitchen window. There appeared three of the cutest little faces, all in a row, looking down; unmistakably baby raccoons.
Before the day was over, one found himself on the ground below. He went for cover when he spotted me there on the patio watching him. He went right for the old dryer vent by the back door to the sealed off portion of the house. It was almost big enough for him to squeeze through….almost big enough. While his little behind dangled precariously out of the entry in plain view, his front end was equally exposed from inside the house where the hose had detached from the wall. Oh, what to do?
It was time to call neighbor Kelley who came right away toting her trusty cage. We managed to push the little guy back out of the vent, the same way he had tried to go in but he eluded capture. We set the trap with food and water and leaned a panel of wood against the hole in the soffit hoping to encourage the others to come down, too.
The next morning the trap had been sprung and there inside sat mama raccoon.
It was obvious that she wasn’t particularly happy about it but then neither would one expect her to be. For the most part she laid very quietly but with a watchful eye as I moved about. I knew when she thought I was too close because she would hiss at me like an angry cat.
On the other hand, the little one that we had tried to coral the night before was climbing on and around the cage purring and chattering to his mom, trying to get closer to her. Before the day was over a second baby was down from the attic, playing with the first one. They were as cute and playful as can be, like a couple of kittens. There was a tremendous temptation to touch one. I can see why people befriend them and try to keep them as pets.
In order to catch those two we set a second trap with a bowl of food and water, right next to mom’s. After two days, they hadn’t yet tripped the cage even though they were dancing in and out eating and drinking at will. They simply weren’t heavy enough to cause it to close. So Kelley and I braced the lid open ourselves and watched for the moment when they were both inside, quickly letting the door close.
In the meantime we learned that there were actually still two babies, one on the ground and one still up in the attic. Those last two were either not as adventurous or they were more frightened than the others and their behavior showed it. Catching them would be even more of a challenge.
At that point, having no additional cages, we had to deal with the raccoons we had already caught. Under the direction of Kelley’s folks, we loaded up the cages and took off . We drove a number of miles north to a quiet wooded area near a creek. Mama coon took off right away and we assume waited a safe distance away while we released the babies. They required a little more encouragement to leave the shelter of the cage. We wished them well and headed back to “D” Farm.
It took another two days to roundup numbers 3 and 4. Those two acted completely different than their siblings. Once trapped they were like little Tasmanian devils, fast and vicious, growling and attacking the side of the cage whenever I got close. But we managed to take them safely to the same release point as the others, hoping they would soon be reunited…. And that my attic would remain unoccupied.
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