Attic Invaders: How Raccoons Exploit Your Home

Podcast Transcript:

Michael: So Travis, when’s the last time you were in your attic?

Travis: Uh, a couple weeks ago actually. I was, uh, running some wiring for a new Wi-Fi internet system at my house.

Michael: Okay, well I can guarantee that most of humanity is not running Wi-Fi throughout their attic in their – on their spare time. Uh, is that what you did?

Travis: Oh, I’ll tell you, I will tell you that if most of humanity experienced Wi-Fi like I have at my house, they would.

Michael: I mean we got mics dropping, you know, internet going down, you know, I – we gotta have somebody that – that knows what he’s doing. Anyway, we’re getting way off topic. Uh, well for the people that are not in their attic right now, what is – uh, what are we seeing a lot of, you know, things that are crawling around in attics right now? Besides squirrels – I mean we just did a podcast on squirrels, but what’s the other – uh, bandit that – uh, is getting in the house?

Travis: I mean definitely the appropriate question should always be like, what’s living in your attic?

Michael: Or in your crawl space.

Travis: Or in your crawl space. That is – uh, definitely an area of concern with this particular – uh, nuisance wildlife, but – uh, you know, I’ll just go and say it, raccoons. I mean raccoons are something that you – I don’t know why that was funny.

Michael: ‘Cause we drew it out so long before talking about it.

Travis: Yeah, we did. It was like, kept everyone in suspense clearly.

Michael: I hope the suspense was suspenseful.

Travis: Uh, so they probably want to hear more about my Wi-Fi at my house, but anyway.

Michael: But no, the raccoons are definitely something that you don’t want living in your home.

Travis: Uh, it was funny, I was – this has been – uh, probably like two years ago or so, but I was sitting on the floor in the living room one evening, it was after 7:00, 7:30 in the evening, – uh, playing with my kids and my phone vibrated and there was a voicemail on our business line. And it was a lady in Montgomery who – uh, she – uh, had left a message saying that she needed desperate help because there was a raccoon in her living room at that very moment.

Michael: Did it fall through the floor?

Travis: Uh, I don’t really know the logistics of how the raccoon got into the living room. Uh, you ever see that commercial where the lady’s like calling to her cat in the yard but she doesn’t have her glasses on or whatever and she like lets the raccoon in? I don’t know if it was a situation like that.

Michael: Anyway, so I looked at my wife and I’m like, you know, it’s after dark but I’m gonna call this lady back. So I did call her back, she had somebody on the way – uh, and I followed up with her the next morning and they actually did in fact somehow catch the raccoon. Uh, I don’t know what exactly method, you know, what method they used or anything like that. But – uh, not something that you want to tangle with. Michael, why don’t you elaborate on why raccoons might not be as cute and cuddly as people think?

Michael: Uh, well they have – they’re just vicious. I mean they look so – they look like a little baby cat from really far away and they’re puffy and, you know, I – I kind of – I’m gonna refer back to that – uh, I believe it was in another country but the lady that went and took pictures of the – the wild cat that was in the mountains in the snow. She got mauled pretty bad. So something that looks cute and cuddly – uh, with fangs and – and claws and all that – uh, can do some major damage. So just stay away from ’em, especially if you’re seeing ’em in the daytime.

Travis: Yeah, you know, I have had one try to eat me through a cage before after trapping it.

Michael: I’ve had a lot try to eat me through the cage.

Travis: It did – it did not look cute and cuddly as it was like snarling at me trying to tear me up through the cage.

Michael: So – uh, I was sold right then on the belief that they’re not as cute and cuddly as everybody thinks they are.

Travis: But aside from their looks, you know, one of the biggest problems with them is rabies. Uh, I like what you said a second ago about, you know, not toying with ’em if you see ’em in the daytime. Uh, that’s a kind of – definitely a telltale sign, you know, raccoons coming around humans is a telltale sign.

Michael: Well there’s a couple situations in the daytime, you know, if – if you’ve got the neighbor feeding the raccoon constantly and it’s good food then that could bring ’em out in the daytime. Uh, we see some of that. And then the other one would be either, you know, just maybe some – some reason it got uprooted from wherever it was. But typically the daytime is not – is not the best time to see a nocturnal animal.

Travis: I very rarely ever see them in the daytime.

Michael: Uh, I’ve had some strange encounters with raccoons now that I think about it. But – uh, there was one morning we had got up, it was still kind of dark outside, we were letting our dogs out, we were getting the kids up, getting them ready for school. And I just remember hearing the dogs outside just going completely nuts. I’m talking about like, you knew something was going on. It wasn’t like a barking at the neighbor or something like that. So – uh, I went outside to see what was going on and our dog at the time was, I’m talking about losing his mind about a raccoon walking through the yard. And that raccoon did not show me any regard, didn’t even act like it knew I was there, didn’t act like it knew the dog was there. Uh, you know my dog was just several, you know, a few inches, a foot away maybe barking and growling and just, you know, acting crazy. And the raccoon did not even attempt to defend itself or anything. So I – I honestly thought that something maybe like rabies or something was going on with that raccoon. He – he was not concerned about our existence.

Michael: Well and he probably would have won that fight against you or – uh, your dog.

Travis: Absolutely he would have.

Michael: My – that dog was very much all bark, no bite. So – uh, I don’t see him winning a – a scuffle with a raccoon.

Travis: But it was – it was very alarming that morning that the raccoon just did not try to get away, didn’t run, didn’t fight back, didn’t do anything, just kind of slowly just was, you know, meandering through there and – and – uh, you know that was kind of a – a weird encounter. So definitely could have been rabies.

Michael: They all have rabies Travis. Every single raccoon has rabies – I mean really that’s the way I just treat it. Like don’t let ’em scratch you, don’t let ’em bite you, no harm no foul and then – uh, you’re good to go. So – uh, let’s talk about just like squirrels, you know – uh, the main ways that they get into your attic, into your living space, – uh, you know all that kind of stuff. What – what are some ways they get in?

Travis: Well first of all access is very, very, very important. Uh, or should I say not giving them access. It brings up – uh, one of the customers that I trapped a raccoon for – uh, that was in Montgomery a couple of years ago. So – uh, we – we knew that there was noises in the attic, they weren’t sure what they were. So I went up in the attic. When I saw the droppings of a raccoon, I immediately got out of the attic. Uh, because I’m not going to be in an enclosed space with a raccoon. It’s very likely that he was probably there at the time – uh, during the day anyway. So – uh, you know, I – I did my inspection and they had a couple of trees here and there that were close to the house that I kind of suspected that the raccoon was going up and down the trunk of the tree and getting over on the roof line.

Michael: Uh, and so, you know, that’s – that’s a big one. Obviously raccoons – uh, are very smart.

Travis: Physically they’re very, you know for their size they’re strong. Uh, they’ve got great dexterity with their hands. Uh, basically almost human-like dexterity with their hands. And so, you know, they – they – they can sniff out if there’s a gap that they can exploit or something that they can tear into, they can sniff it out. And access, taking away that access is one huge – uh, advantage that you have as a homeowner in making sure that you don’t end up with one in your attic or your crawl space.

Michael: Well and I like how you said too, I mean with the – with the dexterity of the human-like appendages, you know, they can tear shingles right out. Uh, we’ve seen holes in roofs, we’ve seen – uh, you had one – I think you had a really good picture of one that tore off a – a vent on a roof and was getting in through the vent.

Travis: That was the house that I was just referencing. Uh, yeah there was – uh, you know some people refer to them like mushroom vents or whatever but there was a – an attic vent on top of the roof.

Michael: And – uh, I did not 100% know that that was the access point up until we actually trapped him inside of the attic. So we live trapped him in the attic and then I removed him and then really got to wondering okay, well where did he come in at?

Travis: And that was where I got back in the attic looking and found a stud that was helping support, you know, the structure of the roof and it had claw marks just tearing it up up and down.

Michael: And right above that stud was that vent with the – the screen torn out of it.

Travis: Mhm. Well and – uh, probably the bat screen?

Michael: Uh, yeah just general wildlife screen and – and there’s actually a good picture of that on our website if anybody wants to go – uh, and look at Pesky’s Pest Control dot com under our wildlife page for raccoon and you’ll see there’s a – a side-by-side photo showing the inside view and the outside view and from the outside you would have never known at all.

Travis: So it was pretty – pretty neat find there.

Michael: But yeah they’re man, if they find a – if they find a gap, crack, crevice they can exploit they’ll do it.

Travis: Well and they have all night too because I mean they’re sitting there while we’re sleeping and they’re – they’re up and spright and ready to go.

Michael: So they have all night to work on that, you know, corner of your roof line or the gable vent or – or – you know – uh, a gap between where the – uh, soffit and the fascia meet. You know, what – whatever it could be they have all night and multiple nights to work on it.

Travis: Right. Uh, yeah they – they’ve got nothing but time. I mean their – their existence is one of, you know, food, water, shelter just like most anything, any insect, any wildlife that we deal with those are their three priorities.

Michael: Uh, and they would prefer to live in your attic. Uh, it was actually kind of crazy on that one. So there was one corner of the attic close to the eaves of the house where – uh, I don’t know if that was its, you know, latrine bathroom area, whatever it was that the raccoon had going on.

Travis: But directly below that area in the attic in the living space of the house, the customer’s dog had started to – if it had access to that bedroom it would go into that towards that wall which was right below that and start to scratch and destroy the sheetrock. Like the – the dog was scratching and gnawing and trying to get at the sheetrock because it could smell it above it in the attic.

Michael: Wow was it a chimney void that it was getting into or how was it getting in the house?

Travis: No that was – that was the one that was just getting on the vent – uh, in – you know, getting on the roof using the tree and limbs to get over and going in but there was something that raccoon was using that corner of the attic for and the dog could smell it – uh, and did not like it clearly.

Michael: Well the other great thing about getting raccoons and I mean this in a sarcastic way is it’s a two-for-one ’cause a lot of times when you get raccoons in an attic you also get what? Fleas.

Travis: Oh and not just – I mean there’s so many other wildlife – uh, issues that you can have that they – you know, that bring fleas – I mean rats, – uh, possums carry fleas – I mean there’s – there’s so many. Uh, but yeah I mean that’s like a buy one get one free kind of deal that you didn’t ask for, you know.

Michael: Oh that happened last year, a raccoon died in someone’s attic and – and it – it brought they had a flea infestation throughout their whole house we had to take care of as well as get the raccoon out of the – out of the attic space. Let’s talk about the damage that they do inside, you know, with the – the – the pooping and the peeing. They’re just nasty creatures.

Travis: I mean they’re – they’re going through – uh, I – you know, before we were talking about this podcast I think you said trash panda which is, you know, a great – great – uh, term for a – a raccoon because that’s what they do.

Michael: It’s purely affectionate. It’s a purely affectionate term because I love ’em so much.

Travis: Well that’s what they do, they get in the trash cans and so let’s talk about that for a minute, you know, make sure that you’re cleaning up around the house. If you’re having a barbecue that weekend make sure you’re not leaving it out, over especially this time of year because they are itching to get into inside your home. So make sure that you’re kind of picking up around not leaving anything that’s going to be a good food source for them to get around that property. But again the – the droppings, you know, they – they poop a lot and it can be – it can be pretty nasty.

Michael: Well the droppings themselves – uh, can have a parasite. Uh, if you look it up it’s, you know, raccoon roundworm. Uh, they – they have a parasite and, you know, if – if you were to inhale it – uh, the eggs or inhale the parasite you can get severe neurological damage. So – uh, if you’re going to have to deal with those droppings you might want to wear a respirator. Just my two cents.

Travis: Look if you’re going into a – an enclosed area, crawl space, attic, – uh, an – an old barn, put a respirator on. I mean you only got one set of lungs and that’s what I tell everyone that starts at Pesky’s Pest Control, you got one set of lungs so let’s – let’s keep ’em the way that they’re supposed to be.

Michael: Well and you know, one last thing about raccoons, I mean, you know, they’re – like you said they’re nasty. They do damage property but think about the other damage that they’re doing in your attic despite their – their waste.

Travis: I mean there is – there is certainly risk of chewing electrical wiring, – uh, you know doing that sort of thing, damaging your HVAC ductwork, – uh, messing up your insulation. Uh, I mean there’s just there’s a whole plethora of – of problems they can cause up there.

Michael: Yeah. Hey actually really cool while we’re doing this podcast, I am actually just got a text, we’re heading to a customer’s house to set a raccoon trap to catch a raccoon getting in someone’s chimney.

Travis: Very good. Well – uh, we’ll – we’ll take it – uh, we’ll take it from there and – uh, we hope you catch him.

Michael: Oh we will catch him.