There’s a Raccoon in My Chimney!
Here in the Akron, Canton, Kent area a lot of mother raccoons are currently using chimneys as birthing dens. Some raccoons have yet to be born, but there are already baby raccoons in many of those chimneys.
A common ingredient in this raccoon-giving-birth-in-my-chimney problem is the lack of an adequate chimney cap to keep the raccoon out in the first place.
Ryan made the video below when he went to get a raccoon out of a chimney recently. As you’ll see, he discovered a chimney liner with no cap; only a loose screen resting over the opening.
Uncapped chimneys often start the problem. Read-on and see how the raccoon-in-the-chimney problem is solved.
Chimneys/Fireplaces Used by Mother Raccoons
Raccoons living in a chimney is usually a springtime problem; the result of a mother raccoon looking to give birth.
The mother climbs down the flue liner and makes a nest at the base of the chimney on the smoke shelf or any other flat part, like a clean-out.
Homeowners are often alerted to the problem by the strange sounds coming from the chimney once the babies are born.
Baby raccoons make a chittering sound, especially when mom is not around.
As they get older, they crawl over and around each other with little growls, scratches, and squeaks.
Needless to say, all of these sounds are disconcerting when coming from your chimney/fireplace and you are trying to sleep. (Remember, raccoons are mostly nocturnal)
The Plan for Raccoon Chimney Removal:
An ideal plan for removal of the raccoon family from the chimney is:
show up during the day when the whole family, mom and kits, are home- place a specialized chimney trap into the top of the chimney
- pester the mother raccoon from below to make her climb up into the chimney trap
- remove the kits from below by hand
- Clean the smoke shelf as necessary
- Place a chimney cap to prevent future problems
show up during the day when the whole family, mom and kits, are homeIf all goes according to plan, the removal of mother raccoon and baby raccoons is accomplished in an hour or two.
That what happened in the job above in the first video.
But…
Sometimes the standard plan cannot be followed. In these cases, other tactics need to be concocted and given an opportunity to work.
Here’s a great example of that.
In this video, you’ll see a standard chimney trap could not be used because of a large sandstone cap over all the chimney liners.
Ryan tried to lure the mother into a trap right by the chimney…didn’t work.
Then he tried to use some stinky stuff called Raccoon Eviction Paste…didn’t work this time.
So plan C was developed by our creative trapper. See what happens in this video.
Removal of Chimney Dwelling Raccoons | Stark, Portage, Summit Counties
Instant gratification is always the goal for customers with nuisance animal problems. Who doesn’t want their problem solved today?
But, haven’t we always been taught that patience is a virtue?
While we try be virtuous, the reality of nuisance animal trapping is that patience is often dictated to us by the animal’s behavior and the trapping environment.
If you think there are raccoons in your chimney and you want the problem solved, contact Frontline Animal Removal today; we have the tools, experience, and creativity (if need be) to accomplish the job.
For more on raccoon removal:
