Sooooooo....the King was home this weekend from working at the beach. He went back about 6:00 last night. Called me when he got there. The guy he's sharing a trailer with had gotten there several hours before the King. When the roommate opened the door he saw a flash of something and heard a ruckus. Apparently they had a squatter there for the weekend who did NOT pay his share of the rent. It was a friggin raccoon! It dismantled the exterior cover to the dryer vent, dislodged the venting (that plastic/wire stuff that's sort of like a Slinky) and made himself at home. He carefully opened a pack of Saltines left on the table and ate them, leaving the wrapper behind. Then he made a "to go" order. Took the King's bag of cereal back to the wife and kiddies, apparently, cause the cereal was GONE, bag and all. The roommate chased him back out and put the dryer vent back together. When the King got there he discovered the little asshole (just so we're clear, the raccoon, not the roommate) had taken a dump in the middle of his bed. (Cue roommate laughter, cause as disgusting as it is, it's still pretty funny.) He said it didn't get past the comforter I sent him down there with, but he still washed all the rest of his bedding anyway. Called to tell me we no longer own that comforter. Dammit. I really liked that comforter. It was one of only a few queen-sized we own.

At least the little bastard hasn't learned how to use the remote. Yet.

(October 15, 2018 at 10:09 pm)outtathereligioncloset Wrote: Sooooooo....the King was home this weekend from working at the beach.  He went back about 6:00 last night.  Called me when he got there.  The guy he's sharing a trailer with had gotten there several hours before the King.  When the roommate opened the door he saw a flash of something and heard a ruckus.  Apparently they had a squatter there for the weekend who did NOT pay his share of the rent.   It was a friggin raccoon!  It dismantled the exterior cover to the dryer vent, dislodged the venting (that plastic/wire stuff that's sort of like a Slinky) and made himself at home.  He carefully opened a pack of Saltines left on the table and ate them, leaving the wrapper behind.  Then he made a "to go" order.  Took the King's bag of cereal back to the wife and kiddies, apparently, cause the cereal was GONE, bag and all.  The roommate chased him back out and put the dryer vent back together.  When the King got there he discovered the little asshole (just so we're clear, the raccoon, not the roommate) had taken a dump in the middle of his bed.  (Cue roommate laughter, cause as disgusting as it is, it's still pretty funny.)  He said it didn't get past the comforter I sent him down there with, but he still washed all the rest of his bedding anyway.  Called to tell me we no longer own that comforter.  Dammit.  I really liked that comforter.  It was one of only a few queen-sized we own.

At least the little bastard hasn't learned how to use the remote.  Yet.

Make sure that he destroys any evidence of the raccoon's scent in the trailer. Once they start to nest, they will return, and likely tear up more of the trailer to get in. Is the trailer a rental? If so, the King should get with the rental agency to address the problem, because it could escalate. NB- raccoons are known carriers of a type of heart worm that can be transmitted to people. Raccoons tend to defecate in the same place, (a latrine, in the vernacular), and once they do it in a particular place, tend to return. One of my friends had a family of raccoons make a nest in his attic. It was quite the mess to get rid of them. It is unlawful in California to move a raccoon off one's property (i.e., tossing it over the fence). But where he is it is probably different. My friend was allowed to kill the intruders, but it had to be a humane kill for the vector control people to take the animals. He was talking to me about it, and I gave him several methods of humane killing.

Yeah, I knew a guy I called Hurricane Michael.

After days of preparation and anticipation he came quickly then hung around as if owed something.

Thanks Fireball, none of us even thought about that. Or had any idea they carry anything other than rabies that could transmit to people. What do you suggest for destroying the scent? I assume masking it with something like Febreeze won't do it. Hmmm. I wonder if he has any of the stuff he uses when he's hunting (to mask the scent of human)in his truck.

And yeah it's a rental. Inherited/owned by a friend of theirs who lives near us in Tinytown. He'll definitely be informed for his own sake. He uses the trailer during the summer and his grandkids visit him there. I doubt he'll have anything more to say about it than to secure the dryer vent.