Are they in your attic? Call your landlord?

Thank you for the responses. Things have evolved and it has been quite an eventful few days. We have an exterminator who is quite the character, I think he needs his own TV show. This whole thing is quite comical, I can post an update tomorrow in case anyone is interested. Let's hope they are quiet tonight.

For those interested in hearing the rest of the (still developing) story here is the 1 week in update. When I made the first post last Monday evening, we had just begun to hear the raccoons moving around and waking up. Not trying to be dramatic , I am an avid outdoorsmen and have plenty of experience with other critters, but I have truly never heard anything like this.

As the night progressed, the noise got to be progressively louder as it got later. Walking, running, hissing, chittering, crying, but by far the worst was the scraping. Until 4am the noise got to be unbelievably loud. This clearly was not one raccoon living in the attic. It got to the point where it sounded like the raccoons were literally going to burrow through the ceiling and enter the house. Intense shrieking and furious claws digging against what sounded like metal for hours. Investigated for a while and was not able to pinpoint exactly where they were getting in or trying to climb out of. Before you ask, I decided against climbing into the attic to confront a group of raccoons at 4am.

The next morning exterminator (we'll get to him in a second) shows up and we do some recon. The vents under the eaves had been covered by metal grates, and each vent had been torn up from the inside. We learned that 4-5 days before we moved in (house had just been vacated), the landlord noticed an access hole in the eaves vent and placed metal grates over each vent. The next morning we noticed that the raccoons clawed their way through one of the metal grate and were able to escape. This explained the horrible scratching noises and claws on metal digging for hours. We think that the raccoons had been trapped inside instead of out and were without food and water for days, desperate to escape.....

Part II

The exterminator, let's call him John. Shows up and this guy is totally barefoot, cargo shorts, and tattoos with a long gray pony tail. He has been an exterminator for over 20 years and is quite the talker and hilarious. While doing a perimeter check we spot one of the raccoons moving behind the broken metal grate. Sticks his bare hand in there as it is hissing at him and takes a closer look, and determines that it is a raccoon kitten and we likely have a mother living in there with a few babies. Unfortunately for us, he goes on at length about how a mother with kittens is much more difficult to evict than a solo boar raccoon male.

John investigates the roof, attics, and perimeter of the house all the while barefoot. Identifies their pathway and nest as well as likely access points. He determines the best course of action is to climb into the attic and spread boar raccoon musk into the attic. Rationale being that if a boar raccoon is in the area, it will kill the kittens and attempt to breed the female. Once the family vacates he can install a one-way trap door to ensure they vacate the house and then seal the house up. Strategy appears to work as they are very active during the afternoon a few hours after he spreads the scent.

John probably talked for 1.5 hours to us about horror stories he has encountered, raccoon behavior, and all sorts of random critter facts. I have a new respect for these animals at this point. Strategy appears to work well, but as of today we believe that the mother has re-entered the house. He is coming tomorrow to investigate further. John is available 24/7 and each evening that we give an update he promptly responds with a detailed text or call to discuss strategy and raccoon behavior. I am not doing him justice but this guy is a character and needs a TV show. That's all for tonight if anyone is still reading this.

Yordaddy said:

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Not trying to be dramatic , I am an avid outdoorsmen and have plenty of experience with other critters, but I have truly never heard anything like this.

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I believe it. The first time I heard them in my attic as a first-time homeowner, I was convinced there had to be a person up there instead of a rodent.

We're going to need an update, please.

Update:

Raccoons had us in the first half but it has been quiet for the last couple days, I think that we may have won.

Two days after John's initial visit, we heard scraping below the windows of the house like claws on brick/metal. It was during a pretty intense rainstorm but we definitely could hear the claws over the thunder and rain. We go out and check the next morning and find that one of the vents with fans that borders the crawlspace (pier and beam house) has been pried off its screws and it appears the raccoon has gained entry back into the house. This explains the additional noise we have been hearing since the initial visit.

John crawls down into the crawlspace under the house and searches for signs of life. Identifies their pathway back up into the attic. He went back up and spread more boar raccoon musk around. Apparently this stuff is really effective. We believe this caused them to leave once again and John came back in a few days and totally sealed the house. No more noises or signs of entry so we are hoping this saga has come to an end.

Fun fact: In John's experience, mother raccoons return to their nest about 60% of the time after he initially gets them to leave. "There is not a surface in your house that a mother raccoon cannot gain entry from if she really wants in."

Thanks for following along, if anyone needs exterminator recommendations this guy is the real deal and I guarantee you will be entertained along the way.

I need some pests installed so I can call this dude out