Our New Roommate

About a month ago Koa started whining and barking at the chimney one morning. I kept yelling at her to get away and eventually I walked over to the chimney and could hear some fluttery noises inside. I figured it was birds. For the next week or so I could still hear the noises and Koa was still chomping at the bit to get to whatever was inside there.

Finally a couple of weeks ago I told Peter that we were going to have to find out what was in the chimney and get it out because Koa was on the verge of losing her mind--which in turn was putting me over the edge as well!

I refused to go anywhere near the open chimney so Peter grabbed a flashlight and stuck his head into the fireplace. At first glance he thought it was a bird. But then the furry critter turned and looked at him!

He closed the flue (after cursing!) and said, "Uh, that's a raccoon!."

I photographed the culprit a few nights ago:

She crawls up that drainpipe to get to the chimney. I can hear her come and go. She leaves around nine o'clock every night and usually comes back around four or five in the morning. The other night I heard her start to make her descent so I scrambled outside and turned on the porch light. She started back up the drainpipe. I yelled for Peter so he could come see her and then I grabbed the camera and snapped a few shots.
She is much bigger than we anticipated! And she was kind of hissing at us. It was really creepy.
We are pretty sure she has babies in there and some mornings (around the time that momma returns, the babies go crazy!) Peter and I have laid in bed and just listened some nights. It's so loud sometimes that I think they are actually IN our living room!

Why havn't we had her removed yet? Well, animal control will not come get her. You have to call a private company. It turns out that it would be no less than $300 to have her removed. That does not include removing the babies and capping the chimney.
Peter and I both hit the internet in search of tips to get rid of them and we have tried a couple of them. We have placed a radio in the fireplace and turned it up really loud during the day so that it would be uncomfortable for them while they are trying to sleep. (Peter almost died laughing because the website suggested tuning it to talk radio or hard rock! He was curious what would happen if we got the punker raccoon who actually liked hard rock. Wouldn't we then be encouraging her to stay!? hehe We also thought to just play some Rush Limbaugh for a few hours--that ought to get her out in a hurry, eh?) Along with the radio we also poured ammonia in a bowl and placed that inside the fireplace so that the fumes would also make it an uncomfortable living space. Neither of these worked.
I spoke with a woman at one of the companies and she was also fairly certain that this raccoon just nested here to have her babies and that she will soon leave on her own--and take her babies with her. She told us to give it a little bit more time and then have them come out and cap the chimney once they are gone.

While I am tired of Koa barking and whining at the fireplace, and tired of the chittering coming from the chimney at various times during the day and night, I do feel better just giving Mrs. Raccoon her own space and enough time for the babies to get bigger so that they can all leave on their own.
Hopefully this happens soon!!!