Wierd mystery out in my shop !!

[RIDETOEAT]

We just bought a new place out in the country with 5.5 acres and a nice pole barn garage shop and an older double wide trailer for a building site for a new home in the next year or two. Have owned it for 2 months and so far we have only cleaned the double wide for now and stored a few things in the shop. I have a car trailer gun vault and a john deere zero turn in there and a few tools out there.

Here is what is odd, we inherited a friendly little black cat with the place and she has a cat door into and sleeps in the shop. We go out ever or every other day to feed and visit with her and two days ago while there we realized 8 of the 10 tie down chain pots that are anchored into the concrete floor for doing auto body frame straightening had popped up and out of their flush recesses, some had pulled 2-3 links of chain with them and the 2 with loose lids had the lids laying 8" or so from their origins or holes they were covering. The cats water dish was very dirty and is always clean before but the floors were all still swept and clean as we left them, not a thing looked touched or missing with several easy targets and all the doors were locked still. I am baffled as to what could have happened ?? Anyone want to venture a guess. Is there any non human scenarios that could explain ?? maybe a little natural gas poof ?? no freezing took place ?? If it was a person they would have dome something else. ??

 

[cerlawson]

Blame the cat. The only "toys" around.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Raccoon would be my guess! You need one of those trail cams...

 

[Tooljunkie]

Raccoon. For sure. What else would fit through the kitty door. Trail cams are cheap.

 

[Daren Todd]

3x on the raccoon and installing a game camera.
You would actually be suprised what will fit through a small doggy or cat door. I installed one on the sun porch. Doors 6"x8". We have two small dogs. We've had a 60lb lab come through it when we were dog sitting for our son. Bout a year later we had a larger then normal run on dog food during the day. Our dogs graze, so we just put out a full bowl when we leave for work and let them out for the day. Come to find out the neighbors very well fed siberian husky which weighed at least 120, was some how squeezing through the door Figured that out when she got in one day but couldn't get back out

 

[sheepfarmer]

If possible, put the little cat inside with a litter box someplace else for a few days, since good chance the raccoon is getting much of the catfood, and bait a livetrap with apple slices with peanut butter. Or catfood. Then the raccoon can be relocated far far away if you get my drift. They are a real nuisance.

Of course a positive id with trail cam to rule out skunk might be good...

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Oh yes you do not want to trap a skunk!

If you do trap a raccoon handle the cage with welders gloves to avoid getting scratched or bitten up!

 

[Diydave]

If you do catch a skunk, in the proper sized trap, they can't spray, cause their tail can't go up. Just throw a blanket over the trap so they can't see you, and tie a rope to the trap, and drop in the river, for a coupla minutes...

More likely a coon looking for bugs or mice to eat.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Well if a skunk goes in a livetrap set for raccoons or woodchucks it can still spray at least some...been there done that . Used a wheelbarrow as a shield while tossing a tarp over the live trap. And a coathanger on a stick to open the door to let him out.

 

[RIDETOEAT]

Would a coon of washed up in the cats water dish to dirty up the water ??

 

[skeets]

OH YEAH the water was all dirty ,, coons wash everything they eat,,,, not because they are clean but because they do not have salivary glands like other critters so they wash/wet food so it will go down

 

[CaveCreekRay]

If water is available, they wash everything they eat! You can give them a saltine cracker and they'll dip it in water before eating it.

 

[Tomcat]

Yep, 'coons!

 

[olekid]

Greetings, I don't know about Yankee coons but Canadian coons when they are relocated will come back. A friend caught one that was living in his attic, he has vinyl siding and it climbed up the corner, pulled down the soffit and got in that way. So, he painted it yellow and took it about 20 miles away and let it go, about a month and a half later sure enough it was back and right back in his attic. This time it took a while to trap it, but he finally got it. He called the Dept. of Natural Resources and told them what happened and they told him they will return. They told him in a round about way that the only way to keep them from returning is to do them in, and so it was.

 

[Daren Todd]

I use this stuff to keep a skunk out from under the sun porch. It's granulated wolf and fox urine. Stinks like hell for a few days, but skunk doesn't come back till it wears off. Lasts about a year outside. I recommend using a knife and cutting the seal. Don't do the rip and tear method on the seal while looking down at it I found it a tractor supply. Works really good for gardens also


http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProduct.asp?SKU=BOP-2362&src=froogle&kw=BOP-2362

 

[skeets]

Anything I trap NEVER comes back,, and the beans grow so good in that same spot too where they got caught

 

[Diydave]

Iff'n you want to kill the coon, try this recipe: Take some golden malrin flybait, and put it in a plastic pan or dish, pour some pepsi over the top. Coons will consume it, never seen a cat or dog, or skunk touch it. coon won't make it much more than 20-30 feet from the pan...

 

[Corney]

Anything I trap NEVER comes back,, and the beans grow so good in that same spot too where they got caught

Ah a permanent relocation! We had one hanging around here and I warned it that it could be exposed to lead poising and it never came back?

 

[D2Cat]

"Iff'n you want to kill the coon, try this recipe: Take some golden malrin flybait, and put it in a plastic pan or dish, pour some pepsi over the top. Coons will consume it, never seen a cat or dog, or skunk touch it. coon won't make it much more than 20-30 feet from the pan..."

That stuff will kill what ever eats it. Has a friend put some on the window sills in the barn to get rid of flies. A few days later noticed several dead cats. It was determined the cats ate the dead flies in sufficient quantity to kill them.

 

[RIDETOEAT]

I have it in stock in the garage and I know it works but never tried it. not that big of a deal so far. I re-key'ed the place today just incase but I have convinced myself it was not a person but since I did not know the key history I thought it best. I am getting ready to change some insurance around to cover my shop tools in this new location away from home and start moving all my fabrication equipment in there in the next couple of weeks.