Strange catch and escape...

Wow... the learning curve with this trade!!! It's a long way from trapping canines in corn fields, I know that. I went from getting one call a month to three per day and I've been holding my own, but this week has presented some unique challenges.

I've never had this happen before. Client had unintentionally left their crawl space entry open for a few days back before Easter. And lo and behold a raccoon popped out of their floor vent! They chased it out of the house with a broom and closed the crawl space door, but began hearing noise in the attic last week and kind of freaked out and called me thinking they had a raccoon up there. I did a thorough inspection of the crawlspace and attic. I found no entry points and no signs of wildlife. But I set a trap in the crawlspace and attic just to be sure. There was no action for two nights, and then after the third night, I checked the attic trap and it is, as pictured below. It had held a critter long enough for them to struggle enough to pull insulation through the trap and defecate but the trap was empty. Simultaneously, the crawlspace trap held a feral cat. It is a very old house... two put together actually, built in the late 1800's. There are a lot of nooks and crannies in the crawlspace and attic, so I concocted a theory that there might be a wall chase that led from the crawl space to the attic and perhaps I had caught the cat in the attic and it miraculously escaped and I caught it again in the crawl space trap. But that feces does not look like cat to me. Even though it's squished a bit, it looks like young raccoon, but I could definitely be wrong.

Anyway, I reset the trap and nothing the first two nights but then last night the bait was stolen. So I'm still thinking young coons that did not trip the trap this time. So I've reset in the attic with Comstock 5x5 swing panel traps, which I've used multiple times for successfully catching adolescents.

I'm also not dismissing the idea there could be kittens, but I'm pretty confused. I've never had a critter defeat the trap pictured before.

Game camera in both areas?

The matted insulation in the trap says coon and the feces appears to be that of dog or cat food material. The other spot looks like a coon toilet station. What ever it is it is eating domestic animal pet food locally.

Possibly a coon and a litter or just a single animal. Could have some cats living in there also when considering your description of the access. That trap definitely held an animal for a considerable period of time.

I would examine the trap for defects to allow an escape. If it seems in good condition then I would consider someone released your animal. Then I would question the occupants of the house to see if this was the case.

That's a great suggestion. I have three but they're junk. I need to purchase a new one. Would definitely come in handy right now.

Trap tampering was my first notion as well, but the homeowners claimed to have no knowledge of anyone messing with it. I can't see any defects with the trap either. With raccoon being as sharp as they are, I've had them escape lesser quality traps once or twice, but never with these spring powered doors. Perhaps a baby was caught and Momma raccoon figured out how to let it out from the outside? I will try and get a trail cam in play, and will keep you all posted. Thanks for the help.

So I wanted to give an update as to the outcome of this job. I ended up finding an entry point in a non-functioning vent fan on the roof. I trapped her the first night, and she showed signs she'd been nursing, so I went through a long, seemingly endless search of the attic. There was one part that was sealed off from the rest of the attic, and after finding no litter anywhere else, I decided the babies had to be in there. So I cut a hole in the ceiling of the laundry room, and lucky for me they were right next to my opening. They never made a peep the whole time, or anything else to give away their presence. I'm just glad I didn't have to remove the entire ceiling to find them. An infrared camera would've been nice.

I would suggest putting a piece of luan/plywood under any trap set on a shingle roof in the future. They can tear up shingles for sure.

Yes sir, good tip.

In my experience, young coons will be very quiet when scared. It seems as though they know making noise will give them away to predators or something. When I first started out, I had a coon in the attic job. After trapping momma, I used a broom handle to tap around the wooden ceiling to see if there were any babies. No noise could be heard at all so I assumed there was nothing there. Got a call the next day saying they heard noises in the attic again. I showed up and stayed quiet listening and eventually heard them whining a little. Knock on the ceiling and all went quiet for at least 15 minutes. Infrared camera would have been great for that case also.

That burlap cover probably helped to save you on the roof damage. It gave the coon something to fiddle with all night instead of reaching for the shingles.

I'm sure it probably helped, as it was wrapped around the cage twice, even on the bottom. Also, the trap was propped up 3 inches on the front (secured to the two 2x4's laying flat) so that it would be at the right height for the opening I left in the vent, so there was actually very little of the trap laying directly on the roof. The roof was also already leaking in multiple locations and will be replaced. With all that said, it could have been a costly mistake, and I will use a layer of luan beneath the trap in the future. Thanks.