Up on the roof top and it ain’t St Nick…..

South San Francisco, CA    November 25, 2013

Our Westborough neighbor Tammy Mendenhall had a question on our FB page this afternoon,  “I have been hearing something big running on my roof between 2-3 am. Any ideas as to what it could be?It is scary…I live in Westborough,near Callan.”  And once again our community gave some insight.  It seems the overwhelming answer pointed to racoons we have added some info on how to get rid of them below. Does anyone else have other ideas or have you had similar experiences at night?

Brian Cassidy Sure it’s on the roof? Could be in the attic area? Rats/mice/critters. We’ve had bird nest in ours the past couple years. Can hear them scurrying around at night

Andrea ‘Andi’ Brusuelas Raccoons….

Ricco Thompson Sr. Raccoons, rats or big ass piegons

Wendy Kerbs-Keach could be raccoons. If you have pets make sure that you feed them indoors.

Mary Sullivan-Almada Live in this area as well..my noise is upstairs neighbors could it be racoons? hmmm scary I agree, there could be a nest of some sort, my sister had them in her roof walls..hope you find out, good luck, hang in there! If you rent? Landlord must check into this!!

Ramona Esquivel I use to hear that all the time…it ended up being a family of raccoon…they found their way into my attic space.

Owen Lowe The Predator.

Alan Lopez ITS THE LEGENDARY BEAVECOON. HALF BEAVER HALF RACCOON never approach it they are attracted to dark damp places and love to eat lint and dust 0-0

Tammy Mendenhall You are kidding,right?

Brian Cassidy lol

Karen Pera IN WESTBOUROUGH ,NEAR CALLAN ALSO, THEY ARE RACCOON’S DON’T GET NEAR OR TOUCH !

Oscar L Martin Santa clause

Jaime González Could be a Racoon’s nest in your attic. Don’t want to scare you….A neighbor of mine had that problem. There was a opening under the eave (Like a vent) , here were trees close by. They just made there home inside. Racoons are like a family. They sleep during the day, but invite all their friends in at night. Especially, if there are new borns.

Jorge Alegre Racoon, can anyone tell me? If I kill a racoon for trying to attack me, can I just throw it in the garbage, or what do I do?

Daniel Villa Coons? Whenever raccoons come on the back porch mama just sweep em’ off with a broom!

Margie Ramos De Renzi I also live in Westborough and the thumping on my roof are the Huge blackbirds pecking at the roof shingles. They sound like wrestlers in my attic

Tammy Mendenhall Yes!!!

Judy Gutierrez I have also had blackbirds doing the same on my roof.

Carlos TheDestroyer Solis Seagulls or pigeon.

Anita Porpoise Raccoons are nocturnal, so are opossums, it could be them. They are pretty heavy, so they will sound loud. But even rats and squirrels sound loud on the roof. Make sure that all your vents are securely covered so that they can’t get in. It is winter and they are cold too.

Carlos TheDestroyer Solis Sounds big ciz of the rocks on your roof

Jeff Ellsworth Practice Santa?

Mary Ellen Greenway My old neighbor told me of how South City had a huge infestation of rrof rats back i the 50’s I think fire dept handed out poison to all residents but I had raccoons destroy my little garden n ornaments this past summer.

Carlos TheDestroyer Solis Or a Chupacabra

Ellen Minucciani On the roof?!!

Anita Porpoise Carlos you have bats in the belfry.

Janel M Chrestenson Pearson There are an unusually high number of squirrels around lately. They do sound pretty big running on a roof. You’d never expect to hear such a loud noise from such a tiny animal.

Ellen Minucciani Maybe roof rats or raccoons. We used to get raccoons all the time on the roof.

Melina Mejia Stock Sounds like you might have roof rats!

JIll Hernandez Raccoons for sure

Justin Cresci racoons, i almost hit one on Meath next to the Public Storage last night

Alan Lopez If it’s a loud obvious thump it couldn’t be a BEAVECOON I think It could honestly be no other than MANBEARPIG!!! Half man half bear part pig.

Anthony Quiteno its a tweaker squatting in your attic… HES GONNA GET U!!

William Shon II Late at night it will be either raccoons (most likely) or possums. Skunks are also active at night but they aren’t likely to be the culprits. The other aforementioned animals, seagulls, squirrels, crows, etc. are not your problem. I’m outside often at this time in your area and I see raccoons almost every night, an occasional possum, and Skunks. Racoons are afraid of you and won’t be the ones to attack, they will become very fierce if cornered, most dogs will be whipped. They are fairly easy to scare off though and you can spray them with a hose.

Anita Porpoise what Kind of raccoons de you have? They are NOT afraid of us!.

Chauntel Gregor Oseguera Sounds like roof rats unless you have trees that lead right to your roof. We have a gang of raccoons but they stay on the ground or deck unless they are climbing a tree.

Louie Zamboni COYOTES for sure

Janina Bright Pulido Either a possum or a raccoon. I used to live on Pomeroy and have seen BOTH of those nasties up there!!

William Shon II Coyotes running around on the roof?

Sergio Jauregui It’s a pack of raccoons.

William Shon II The kind of raccoons that know I have good spray nozzles, am not afraid of chasing them, have fire, etc. I don’t use anything which would hurt them. I same those for criminals and dangerous animals.Unless there’s a path leading to your roof Coyotes aren’t going to be trotting around up there.

Gigi Santinelli Santamaria Sounds like the running paws of Raccoons!!!

Don Hageman racoons they are everywhere now…

Maria Alston raccoons! There are more raccoons in South City than people

Mary Lavino I think all the raccoons come for a play date at my house every night

Jacqui Grant Raccoon, opossums. We have 2 raccoons over here on Commercial but being on the bottom floor don’t know about the 2nd floor.

Joe Villa roof rats .. very common up in westborough..!!!

Carlos TheDestroyer Solis Anita, what?

Carol A. Dowling Raccoon

Mike Featherstone It was one of those pigeons everyone was bitching about. Feed it. It will be your friend.

 

From the FARMERS ALMANAC on how to get rid of racoons:

How to Get Rid of Raccoons

  • If your home is near your garden, remove any possible food sources from the area, including pet food and bird seed. Buy garbage cans with locking lids and keep inside a garage if possible. Keep pet doors sealed shut between dusk and dawn. Cap your chimneys. Seal any holes or gaps in attics and roofs.
  • Spread newspapers around the perimeter of the garden and then spread mothballs on the newspapers.
  • Scatter blood meal around corn plants.
  • Tune a radio to a rock station and set it in the middle of your garden and/or corn patch. Leave it on all night. The noise will scare away the raccoons.
  • Put lights in the garden. A bright lantern will sometimes keep Sun-shy raccoons away.
  • Plant enough corn for man and beast alike.
  • Grow tall varieties such as ‘Silver Queen’, ‘Kandy Korn’, and ‘Lancelot’. Taller plants bear their ears higher, causing raccoons trouble getting leverage to topple stalks and ravage them. They prefer shorter plants.
  • Build a good fence around your garden. Beware though, raccoons are agile and intelligent; make sure your fence will keep them out. You may need to install an electric fence. This is a good measure. A two-wire fence, with one wire four to six inches above the ground and the other at 12 inches, should be effective.
  • Add some pinwheels and streamers to your garden to scare the creatures.
  • Grind up garlic, mix it with an equal portion of chili powder, and spread it around the garden. Frequent applications are needed.
  • You can try to repel raccoons by putting dog hair or human hair around the garden.
  • Try sprinkling wood ashes around your plants.
  • Hang shoes and clothes that smell of human perspiration around your garden or corn patch.
  • You can also plant squash around your corn or other plants to deter raccoons; they don’t like walking on the prickly squash vines.
  • If your raccoon problem is persistent, you can set humane, live traps in your garden and release the animal at least three miles away. Raccoons will eat virtually anything; try fish-flavored dry cat food, chicken necks, ears of corn, or whole peanuts for bait. (Note: Be aware that many species of wildlife do not survive when placed in a new territory so consider this decision carefully.)
  • Keep a dog in the yard—a good dog who doesn’t mind the night shift. This will save you a lot of corn, but, on the other hand, you may be too tired from lack of sleep to pick it.
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Shaune
Shaune
1 year ago

While sitting in the living room with my wife around 9:45pm we both hear one to two heavy foot steps above our head on our metal roof with no attic. I could feel the roof crack while I had my headphones on playing COD. I run outside with my pistol and flash light and at the same time the neighbor and his wife are barging out of the front door looking at their roof also. We both heard the same thing . Something very very large human weight . Went from his roof to my roof then the neighbor on the other side of my home called me and said he felt something shake his single wife trailer. He was laying in bed and heard what sound like a big animal then loud thump almost explosion sound come across his home. Where in Parkersburg WV. I hunt, fish etc and all 3 of our houses can not explain it.

Hope
Hope
2 years ago

I live in Myrtle Beach South Carolina and I hear loud, heavy running on my roof. This happens late at night, early morning. It is terrifying. I just moved here from west Texas and have never experienced this before. Ready to move back!

Shaune
Shaune
1 year ago
Reply to  Hope

Myself along with two of my neighbors both ran outside of our homes at almost 10pm last night at the exact same time with all of us looking at our roofs. All 3 of us are confused and can’t explain what we witnessed. It felt like something human size walked and jumped from roof to roof with about 20ft in between homes. Sure I know people will say it’s Bigfoot blah blah or the mothman since we are in WV lol. Who knows this is a mystery.