Friday nigth encounter with an entruder

[Turk]

Friday night my wife wakes me and says there's someone in the basement moving around.  My first thought is too bag they'll break their neck stumbling over something in the dark.  I dress and grab my Hi-Power and the move to my basement to arrest this intruder.  Once there I see items knocked to the floor and go into the work room and their he is I lower the Hi-Power there looking at me are three small coons.  To make a long story short they are dened up in one of our chimneys and now they are all back in there.  But the question is how do I get them out.  A lady said to play music all night and that would drive them out.  The chimney is 25-30 feet high.  I'm going to take a look down the chimney today but if they are still there any suggestions on how to get them out.

TurK

[mjbgalt]

i would put some tuna in a live trap and let them catch themselves at night and then you can take them somewhere and dump them out.

-Matt

[30-30man]

I'm not the one to play safety cop but be careful.  They more often than not, carry rabies.  I use to help a guy who trapped coons for research for the SREL. (Savannah River Ecology Lab) He told me that most coons are carriers of rabies.  He said all the ones he sent off to be tested came back positive every year.

[Dee]

Well, I don't think coons "more often than not" carry rabies. They CAN carry rabies but, so can an ostrich if it is exposed, or a horse for that matter.
I have over the last 57 years lived in "coon country" here in North Central Texas. I have raised them, trapped them, hunted them with dogs, shot them out of trees, and off telephone polls in my back yard. I have found that unless rabies is going around they are no worse than any other wild animal. Hogs on the other hand (the feral kind) tend to carry some forms of suedo rabies I am told by vets.
You might try mixing a moderate amount of amonia with some water and pouring it down the chimney, or as the other gentleman suggested, a live trap. If the trap doesn't get them however, it will educate them.
The amonia usually causes an immediate evacuation of the area.
In a squirt bottle mixed STRONG, it will turn a very determined dog into one that wants no part of you. MOST of the time, but maybe not always. Good luck, and by the way, when BBQed right they taste good. Get a young one though.

[beemanbeme]

I agree with Dee.  Coons CAN carry rabies but few do. The thing to remember however is a coon is one tough customer.  That's right, Virginia, Walt Disney lied to you. A coon will eat the hand that pets him.

If you live in a urban or suburan area, call the DNR, they can maybe bring you by a live trap and show you how to use it.  Or you should be able to pick one up at a feed store for @$50.  The trick to a live trap is to put the bait behind the treadle and put a box over the closed end of the trap so the coon has to work the open end of the trap.  When you take the coon to release it, throw a rug or towel over the trap and that'll keep him quiet while you're transporting him.  when you're ready to let him go, keep it covered except for the end with the gate AND STAND BEHIND THE TRAP AWAY FROM THE GATE.  If you have the trap pointed at some brush or trees, the coon should make a bee line for them. (if its a possum or a feral cat, just set the cage in a deep part of the creek until the bubbles stop coming up)

If you find out which chimney they're in, I don't think I'd be pouring any ammonia DOWN the chimney.  I think I'd stop up the bottem and put the ammonia down there. 

[Dee]

Good advise beemanbeme, either end on the chimney if the mixture isn't too strong. But, like you said, the coon is a "tough customer" (a member of the bear family), that's why a coon hunter doesn't catch all but one dog to fight the coon. The coon many times will whip ONE "BIG" DOG.

[GRIMJIM]

Yeah watch out for them, I put three arrows into one I saw out during the day while bow hunting whitetail. The last one took off half its head and it still wanted to come at me but it was stuck to the ground.

beemanbeme, now that's funny right there.

[30-30man]

Believe what you will guys just be careful with them buggers.  I can't stand them.  I got this off the CDC site.  I wish I knew how to paste pictures.  It has the number of cases on a map that compared skunks, racoons, and foxes.  The raccoon map was full compared to the others.

Editorial Note:
Raccoons have accounted for the largest percentage of animal rabies cases reported to CDC since 1990. In 2004, 64% of all rabies cases among animals in the United States occurred among raccoons. From 1998 to 2005, 38,264 cases of raccoon rabies were reported in the United States. Of those 37,033 (99.3%) occurred in eastern states where raccoon rabies is enzootic.

[beemanbeme]

You certainly can't dispute those figures.  And it does give me pause.  I would have thought that the skunk would have won hands down.
  Do you think that the coon's ready adaptation of an urban life style has anything to do with that?  By that I mean coons come in contact with humans more often than foxes and skunks and so would be more apt to be checked.  Or is the overall population of coons, wild and urban, much more rabid than foxes and skunks? 

[jhm]

Cant you just start a fire in the fireplace if in a fireplace chimney and if its a furnace chimney just turn the furnace up until it gets too HOT for them to be around??  But loose coons make me think of a fellow who taught me alot about hunting when I was a Kid, he had a pet coon that stayed in the shed he had that his dog runs were attached to, one morning b-4 daylight as always he went out to feed his dogs, and there was A coon sitting on a 55 gal barrel by the dog pens, harry thought that the coon was his and it just sat there until Harry picked it up, then things got exciting, I can tell it like Harry did, but the scratches and bites he had when he got to work was sad to see but I had to laugh my tail off as he explained trying to get rid of that coon, he said everytime he got loose it would jump back on him.   Good luck and and if you decide to keep one name it Harry for me in Memory of a good friend.  JIM

[SHOOTALL]

if ya want to see what its like to fight a coon get a weed whacker running at full speed and see if ya can grab the wheel and stop it , bare hand !
where i live we have so many we can trap year round and a few are rabid , along with other critters ! we have a problem , but most are safe !
the live trap is good , cat food , shelled corn , tuna , chocolate chip cookies , or anything else a cat will eat works great , dig a hole and put bait under trap , then stake or weight trap down , a coon can go in a trap get the bait and never trigger it !
make them work for it ! wear gloves when you pick the trap up they can reach out a long way !
use a good size trap , like one for small dogs , and ya might get 2 or 3 at a time if they are small and dumb !
as a side if opossum is going to be trapped use gumballs with a sugar coat , they love um ! hang them in the trap over the trigger with a wire !

[Grumulkin]

I've actually raised several raccoons.  They're quite interesting animals.  The caution about rabies is a valid one but once raccoons get rabies, they die just like other animals.  Another hazard of raccoons is a worm some can pass through the feces.  If the eggs are ingested by a human, cysts form in the body (can include the brain) with the worm inside (referred to as a bladder worm) that have a very negative effect on ones health.  You really don't want them living in your house.

I caught one in a trap a few days ago using apple for bait.  In my case, the raccoon wasn't doing any damage so I released it.  I draw the line, however, if they're living in any part of my house or molesting my garden.  In the later cases, they die since they can be very destructive and, once they decide to do something, are very persistent.

[Dee]

Grumulkin, I also used to raise one for a pet every few years. We would start watchin nests (or dens) and get one before it's eyes were open. I let a female saimese cat raise one once.
When you keep them wormed and on a good diet, they get huge. Over 30 lbs. And for entertainment give them a bowl of water and sugar cube, or a peice of light bread. They don't have many saliviar glands and when the start washing it in the water to get it wet and it disappears, it's a hoot to watch them look for it.

[Glanceblamm]

Dee,
That is an awful mean thing to do to em..

Turk,
I know they can come down the chimney as I have had it happen. Once you are sure that they are out of there you can get a screen enclosure for the top for all sizes at most hardware outlets.
Make sure to check other exterior areas of your home such as under the eves. Most of these areas are covered by metal or plastic soffit now a days but those coons are good about prying a piece loose to gain entry and will live up there by day.
I have had this happen twice within the last three years. The large havahart trap worked well as I managed to get all of them before doing repair work.

[SHOOTALL]

Dee thats a good one !

[Dee]

Dee thats a good one !

Better yet SHOOTALL, it's the truth. Try it some time.