Not wanting skunks or other creatures to live underneath my house, I was concerned to see that the grates that allow ventilation throughout the basement were in disarray. Some were torn as if an animal had sought refuge in the basement. My gardener Francisco replaced the torn grates.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that no animals get trapped underneath the house. One, I don't want them to starve to death. Two, I don't want to smell animal corpses under the house.
The prospect of crawling underneath the house to gather dead creatures sounds rather ghastly.
I don't know if this will help but
I used to live in Pacifica on the coast just south of San Francisco. We were besieged with racoons, skunks and possums. Like you my screens would get torn up and I never knew what might get trapped under my house if I blocked them up.
Then it occurred to me that all of these critters are nocturnal. They only come out at night.
So late one night my son and I blocked all the screens with cinder blocks while the the critters were out foraging the neighborhood.
After a while I could see where some varmint had torn at the screens to try and get back under the house but they couldn't move the cinder blocks.
Posted by: Michael Brent | November 19, 2014 at 12:52 PM
You could also purchase a wired or wireless security camera/monitor with infrared light. Some come with a recording device that will tell you the time of the events. Place it underneath the house. The above would be useful 24/7.
Posted by: Dave | November 19, 2014 at 04:05 PM
I have a problem with a ground hog (isn't this also known as a wood chuck? Why the two names?) at my weekend house in the mountains. He digs into the crawl space under my house. It's been going on for years. I've tried moth balls----I even tried an electronic pest repeller that is solar---charges in the day and is supposed to emit a noise that repels small animals. This thing walks right past it and digs, digs, digs. My mountain man neighbor up there said he'd shoot it if he sees it! I only saw it once, at dusk.
Posted by: Angelo | November 20, 2014 at 04:03 AM
If you're not able to gou beer your house then call an exterminator. Much cheaper and it's done, especially with bait to keep them away from the house.
Posted by: J Maff | November 20, 2014 at 08:40 AM
Oops, that should have said "go under", doggone swype keyboard!
Posted by: J Maff | November 21, 2014 at 08:01 AM