I trapped a raccoon in my chimney. So... what now?
This raccoon has been destroying my roof and scaring my dogs at night for months and I finally had enough. I crawled out my window in my underwear with a flashlight and a Microtech Halo in my teeth (admittedly idk what my plan was here, just enjoy the imagery) and tried to scare it off the roof but it crawled down my chimney instead. I trapped it in there by stuffing some heavy blankets tightly inside but that's not exactly a long term solution. I've got the gas shut off so I don't kill myself and my dogs with carbon monoxide from the water heater -- so I did at least plan that far ahead, but not much further... I don't really want to hurt the little guy but I can't have him continuing to tear apart my soffit for shelter.
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That's probably the most sensible option once they open in the morning but I'm open to alternatives. I have a trap that I caught a possum in once but I'm not sure I can rig it vertically onto a chimney.
just block the chimney off at all possible known entrances and exits til morning,
I think it may be better to rig exit only door?
If trapped they will start to cause additional damage.
It's a 100 year old house with a 3/4" cast iron insert inside a 2' thick brick chimney that's sealed at the bottom so the 10lb raccoon is probably going to do more damage to itself than my property while it's in there. At this point I'm more concerned about the larger one I just chased away that might be its mother.