last friday evening a flash of light alerted us to a problem.
I thought maybe it was lightning or fireworks outside, but then I noticed a circuit breaker had tripped.

In the morning we heard some critter scurrying about in the walls
(there is a small mini roof on the front of the house as well as space
under the roof - beside the bedroom walls)

We have seen squirrels on that area of the roof - so figured a squirrel may have chewed through the wiring in the walls.

Later that day we found a hole in the roof at the foot of the valley
that had obviously been fixed before. Well I patched it up with some galvanized wire mesh, aluminum plates, wood and asphalt shingles so that it was nice and secure... ANd then we set about to cut some holes in the walls to get at the wiring, and luckily we found the right place where there was a lot of chewed up wiring..

It was while checking the wiring I tugged at it a little bit and suddenly saw a familiar shadow moving about in the roof. The raccoon was still in the house and was trying to get out through the hole I had patched up. (I know, I should have made sure whatever was in got out first but I did buy a squirrel trap - originally thinking it was a squirrel. )

So the raccoon came out of the hole in our bedroom and tried to escape out of our room eventually going out the open window. And it spent a lot of time going around the roof and didnt want to leave, which made me wonder whether there are any kits around.

So last night before going to sleep we listened for any noises in the walls, but didnt notice anything.

Of course now the plan is to try to prevent it. I suspect they are attracted to our house since we have a
garden, grapevines, fig tree etc. I used to put fish in a little pond but after I realized I was just feeding raccoons I stopped.

Ive heard putting a strobe light in the attic or the space they live
makes it unattractive for them and they move on. Ive also heard fox or coyote urine? Cant imagine where Id get that. Mothballs, pepper spray?

any suggestions would be welcome,
(and youre not allowed to poison or shoot them within city limits - not that I was planning either)
what is the season that Raccons have babies? spring early summer?