Raccoon Family Sticks Together in Red Bank, NJ

Recently, we went on a service call to a home in Red Bank, NJ after the homeowner contacted us after hearing strange wildlife noises in his attic late at night. After the homeowner described what he was hearing, our instincts told us that this was a raccoon infestation. Why? He was hearing a wide variety of sounds, and raccoons are extremely vocal creatures. With raccoons, you may hear purring chittering, growling, snarling, hissing, and even screeching. Also, the timing of the noises is important. Although raccoons can be active during the day, they are primarily nocturnal. 

Of course,  a thorough inspection was still needed to confirm our suspicions. Based on the type of damage and the droppings, we had no doubt. Once we began our inspection in the attic, we immediately discovered a ripped hole in the floorboard that the raccoons were using for access. Due to the location of the access point, we needed a different approach to safely catch the critters. We set-up a nose cone, which is a one-way directional door that leads the raccoon to the trap, and then connected a Comstock trap to the cone. A Comstock trap is a heavy duty trap that has an opening on both ends of the trap. When placed over an access point, the raccoon,  thinking that it is a straight path, will walk through the device. However, once the raccoon passes through the trap, they’ll trigger a swing release that closes the trap. And for that raccoon, end of story!

In fact, a short twenty minutes after setting up the trap, we heard it go off. We found a baby raccoon inside. We also noticed that the mother raccoon was peeking out of the access point looking at its now helpless baby. We decided that if we left the room,  the mother would enter the trap to reunite with her baby. We were right. Within minutes, the mother raccoon was stuck in the trap right next to her baby. Now, we could safely and humanely relocate the entire raccoon family to a safe location.