House in Progress Diary

Lou, we love you.

Lou from Critter Detectives was our new best friend there for awhile, so I wanted to pay tribute to him here. Every morning he would promptly pull up at our doorstep with his "dogcatcher-like" van and inspect the "Have a Heart" cages on the roof for raccoons. (Raccoons are captured alive in cages that are large enough to roam around in.)

He is very brave. Raccoons also bite. Hard. And their claws can slash through metal. Whoa. He didn't need to tell me this. I grew up near a stable with a raccoon problem. Yikes.

Here is the scoop on Lou's company:

CRITTER DETECTIVES
1294 S. Lloyd
Lombard, IL 60148
630-916-7678
888-CR-1-TTER
Pager: 630-695-8575

Critter Detectives is a nuisance control organization specializing in beaver trapping, muskrat removal, pigeon control, coyotes, bobcats and all other wildlife removal. The methods of trapping are humane and in accordance with the specifications set forth by law.

Critter Detectives are licensed by the State of Illinois and fully insured.

When I read that, I can only be thankful that we were dealing with raccoons and squirrels, not bobcats or beavers. Although, yes, I admit, the babies were pretty cute...the damage they did to the house was insane. They broke the big outtake fan at the top of the house in order to gain access. They used the rafters of the roof and the supports for "teething" (and chomped out quite a bit of pretty important support wood.) Mom had her new four babies in the attic and, for the first two months, they didn't leave. Trying to scare them, using rock music and all sorts of other solutions didn't work. These were very cosmopolitan raccoons!!

There are a lot of things they "left behind", so to speak, in the insulation and the wood of the attic. Things with viruses that humans and domestic pets can catch (i.e. rabies, distemper, parovirus, Aleutian's disease, roundworm, mange, etc. Lovely). They are meat and garbage eaters, so they dragged all that up there and what they didn't want, they left to rot. Inviting all sorts of bugs and gross things. So, yes, we have to have a specialist get in there and remove the insulation, spray it down with 2 percent hydrogen peroxide solution, and install new insulation...as well as fix the fan.

Lou helped us out by installing a new raccoon-proof "cage" for the fan on the roof, using roofing nails and tarring any nail holes to keep it waterproof. This isn't chicken wire. This stuff is like steel.

I like raccoons. In the woods. But not in my attic. Once the smell is gone from the second floor someday, I may like them even more again.

Posted by jeanne on July 7, 2003 at 11:22 AM