Guess what critter is in my garage?

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Drew99GT

Joined
Oct 11, 2002
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Colorado Springs
Yesterday afternoon when I got home, I noticed a bunch of stuff knocked around and that something had gotten into one of my trash cans. I also noticed all my mouse traps had the maggots and peanut butter licked off of them (had a BAD mouse problem last fall). mmmmmmm tasty. Also, the rubber seal on my garage door had a small hole chewed through it.

OK, I'm thinking some mice are back because of the really cool night time temps we've had lately. So I reset the mouse traps. I go out to the garage this morning to take the trash out and hear this banshee loud squeal. Wasn't a squirrel (I think). My dog went running to the garage and I yelled for her to come back. In the midst of all that, the sucker escaped and I didn't see it.

Now there's another big section of the seal chewed off the door, all the mouse traps were tripped and all the peanut butter licked off!

WTH! I must have a large rat in my garage!

I'm trapping it tonight.

Any guesses as to what it is?
 
I can already anticipate the gunfire.
lol.gif


Keep us updated!

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Originally Posted By: Johnny
A racoon.
It would have to be a newborn because it's getting through a small chewed hole in the rubber seal. Either that or it's a contortionist coon!

I must say, now that you mention it, the sound did sound like a coon in distress. Last winter I had a big fat one hanging off a birdfeeder and my dog grabbed it and shook her head (like trying to kill/injure it), and it made the same exact sound! LOUD.
 
If it is a full grown raccoon and you get it cornered in your garage, you better have on some thick heavy leather gloves and protective clothing. Those suckers are bad news.

And it does not take a very large opening for a raccoon to get in.
 
Opossum? I'll second Johnny's caution on the raccoon, you don't want your dog cornering it either.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny
And it does not take a very large opening for a raccoon to get in.

The hole it's getting through is about the size of a half dollar.

I think it might be this stupid cheek pouch ground squirrel I have in my yard. That darn thing is causing havoc around my yard - it sits at the bird feeders, fills it's pouch, and then runs into the engine compartment in my car where it's warm and eats it's the seeds.
 
I once had a raccoon in my garage. Tried to get it to go away by throwing rocks against the back wall near the raccoon, but that just made it back deeper into a cubbyhole. Later, after dusk, it just walked out, never to come back.

Also had a skunk in my garage once and it left of it's own accord also. Wasn't going to try to evict that one.

Twice had pine squirrels get into the basement compartment of my motorhome. Live trapped and released about 5 miles away.

Had a rat on back porch, live trapped and made the mistake of calling amimal contol to pick it up, instead they told me it is illegal to live trap in my town. Trap a rat, get a washtub and a brick and drown the sucker! Don't call the city, they are no help.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I think it might be this stupid cheek pouch ground squirrel I have in my yard. That darn thing is causing havoc around my yard - it sits at the bird feeders, fills it's pouch, and then runs into the engine compartment in my car where it's warm and eats it's the seeds.

Does your squirrel walk with a limp after stepping all over your mousetraps?
 
I live-trap animals in my garage also. They're released in the woods at work, 10 miles away.

For some reason I can't trap the red squirrels that live in my garage. I set the trap... next morning the bait is gone, trap is tripped, but empty inside! I don't know how they do it. I imagine Chip holds the trap open while Dale grabs the morsel.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny
Does your squirrel walk with a limp after stepping all over your mousetraps?

Last night was the first time he encountered the traps after they were set.

That same squirrel has been in my yard for several years - it got stuck in a downspout about 5 years ago - I had to take the downspout off the house and saw it in half to get that stupid [censored] thing out - in the process it got all cut up, so I know which one it is by the wounds.
 
Quote:
If it is a full grown raccoon and you get it cornered in your garage, you better have on some thick heavy leather gloves and protective clothing. Those suckers are bad news.

During shutdown at the plant a raccoon would wander in. We were the only one's there (2 of us). I followed one at a good distance..about 50 feet back. He'd look back every once and a while. At one point, he just turned and raised one paw with a look that said, "just leave me alone ..or HAVE AT IT SUCKAH!!". I left him be at that point.
 
When I was in College all the Morons in the apt. complex would set their trash out at night and take it to the dumpster in the morning.
I had the not so pleasant surprise of stepping around a white garbage bag one night that had a HUGE Opossum on the other side. I ran back down the stairs that I had just come up, and took another stair well up to my Apt.
I thought about getting my .22 cal pistol out and taking care of it, but it was nowhere that I could see it from the vantage point of my front door.

I would get some larger RAT TRAPS and cable them to an anchor of some kind. Some of those Rat Traps will break your hand if you are not careful.

Also, they make ultrasonic devices that scare off rodents. I have a few of those in my house and one in my garage. They sell them at Home Depot and Lowes if you have one nearby.
 
I had 4 of those ultrasonic things in my garage last fall - they did absolutely nothing. I researched that and the consensus among professionals is the ultrasonic devices of any kind and any marketing, are useless against rodents, especially mice.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Opossum? I'll second Johnny's caution on the raccoon, you don't want your dog cornering it either.

You just need a tougher dog. Our brings the odd dumb or maybe brave? racoon out of the woods a few times a year. How its possible for the dog to even corner one in the woods I don't know but somehow Enzo gets a hold of them. No marks so far and I think only the smart racoons are left so its been while since the last one.
 
Opossums won't do much to you if you just leave them be. Most of the ones I've encountered were slow and didn't really care about much. I used to trap them around my house and release them on a friend's property (5 acres). Most of them survived, but a few got it from owls or hawks. I felt worse about them than I felt about all the cats I trapped.
 
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