My Home Arcade: Attacked by Vandals.

[Flack]

When my son Mason was born, my house became the holiday hub so to speak. Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving have all migrated to my home. It works out better for us, as I don't have to tote my son to my dad's / my mom's / wife's sister / wife's mom's every holiday, but as you all know, if you're going to play host, you have to entertain as well.

For me, that's not a problem. As most of you know, like many of you I have a dozen consoles or more, all hooked up and ready to go. My neices, nephew, and son get to play games all day long, and when they get tired of my consoles we all head outside to my backyard arcade.

The day before Thanksgiving I headed out to the arcade just to make sure everything was in order.

It wasn't.

The first thing I noticed was that the curtains had been pulled down. From the inside. I swung open the door and found quite the mess inside. A section of the ceiling, which had been covered with styrophome sheets for insulation, had been pulled down. A couple of bags of microwave popcorn had been opened and littered around the floor. Several of my piles of "stuff" (records, games, magazines, etc) had been knocked off their shelves and were lying in the floor. The little bastards even popped the top off my candy machine and ate my Skittles.

On the way out of the arcade however, I found the SOB's calling card: a pile of raccoon shit on top of my poker table.

Apparently a couple of the little buggers trying to stay warm found their way in through the roof. Once in, they had a grand ol' time, knocking stuff over and eating everything edible and something that weren't. Apparently the grand finale of this little shin dig was the act of pooping and peeing all over the inside of the arcade.

Needless to say, the arcade is currently closed for the holidays. I need to determine whether or not the carpet can be salvaged and whether or not the brown stain will come out of the top of my poker table. Plus, apparently there's a hole that needs to be fixed, and some "snacks" (read: D-CON) that need to be dished up.

Round Two. Begin.

[RockyRaccoon]

-loosk left-

-looks right-

IT WAS'NT ME I SWEAR!

[Nez]

^ There he is GET HIM!

[Leo_A]

You'd poisen them just because you didn't do a good job securing the building you put your stuff in?

[RockyRaccoon]

You'd poisen them just because you didn't do a good job securing the building you put your stuff in?

I'm a worker for Animal Right as much as the next person. But sometimes pest control is, well...sadly needed in such a severe case. Now..if this was just over some Raccoon sneaking in and stealing your dogs kibble and sneaking off.. well..then I'd be upset. But this is severe property damage. :/.

~Rocky

[Flack]

You'd poisen them just because you didn't do a good job securing the building you put your stuff in?

Um, they tore a hole through the roof.

I'll be glad to give you my address if you'd like to try and capture them alive.

Otherwise, give me yours, and I'll let you give them a proper burial.

[atomicthumbs]

http://www.digitpress.com/images/ezphotos/raccoonlad.jpg
????????????

[charitycasegreg]

wheh. At first I was like oh shit, flack had his arcade attcked by teenage punks. I thought stuff would be smashed, broken, stolen. At least it was just racoons, though thats still bad. sorry to here this. :(

[Jasoco]

Ditto. I feared some kids decided to take advantage of your hospitality and made themselves at home without your permission.

Glad to hear it was just big furry striped animals. Better catch Sly Cooper before he strikes again.

[SlayerX]

If this is a recurring thing, you pretty much have to kill them off, or be darn lucky and catch them.

I've never seen a live racoon other than TV, but don't they sometimes fight cats/dogs? If so, isn't their a possibility they may have a scuffle with a small child? If so, it would definitly be a good idea to have them all killed off as fast as possible, assuming they keep coming back.

Hope everything gets back to normal for ya ;)

[SuperGunGuru]

That sucks, man. :( When I saw the title, I too thought some kids had broken in and trashed the place completely. It could have been worse, but it still sucks to see that happen.

[SoulBlazer]

Yup, I also thought that kids had damged some of the arcades. X_x

Sorry to hear that, Flak, but it could have been worse.

Just build firmer stuff to keep them out this time and poision the bastards.

They even broke open the CANDY machine? I've heard those SOB's can get into almost anything, but that's a new one for me. @_@

[SuperGunGuru]

Yup, I also thought that kids had damged some of the arcades. X_x

Sorry to hear that, Flak, but it could have been worse.

Just build firmer stuff to keep them out this time and poision the bastards.

They even broke open the CANDY machine? I've heard those SOB's can get into almost anything, but that's a new one for me. @_@

Indeed they can be sneaky little SOB's. My Tempest cabinet was likely the victim of one when it was in the Kalamazoo warehouse. He made a nest out of the manual in addition to chewing the shit out of some of the wood on the inside.

[Sylentwulf]

heh, I thought he was talking about local teenageers even AFTER he mentioned the raccoon shit. Thought they brought it with them for some reason to add insult to injury. (then I got the the littlge buggers go in througha hole in the roof and figured it out)

[Graham Mitchell]

They even broke open the CANDY machine? I've heard those SOB's can get into almost anything, but that's a new one for me.


They've got opposable thumbs, so they tend to get into a lot more trouble than other animals.

You're lucky you didn't have any water faucets in there that they could get ahold of. I've heard reports of them flooding houses, etc. Imagine finding your machines in a foot of water, Flack! Then again, don't imagine that, it's pretty fucked up.

[Lady Jaye]

Yikes, Flack! That sucks! But as the others have said, fortunately, these weren't human vandals. Still, it sucks.

[Aussie2B]

I've never seen a live racoon other than TV, but don't they sometimes fight cats/dogs? If so, isn't their a possibility they may have a scuffle with a small child? If so, it would definitly be a good idea to have them all killed off as fast as possible, assuming they keep coming back.

What ever happened to people people taking care of their pets and watching their kids rather than just killing off anything and everything that could potentially be a threat? o_O When I was a little kid, it was always known that I shouldn't wander around the backyard at night because there would be raccoons out there. We'd keep the cats in at night too. I kind of like raccoons; they're pretty cute. Not long ago there was a mom raccoon with some babies living around my dad's house, and they seemed fascinated by my dad. Once they were all on the car port roof and poked their heads down to stare at him.

It's a shame they caused so much damage and made a big mess. The problem is with animals like raccoons and squirrels and other "pests", even if you do kill them off, there will always be more. Once we had so many squirrels eating our nuts and fruits that my dad and grandpa starting catching them in a trap and dumping them off at a park a couple miles away. Never seemed to make a difference in the population.

[slip81]

Sorry to hear about the vandalism Flack. Like most already said though, at least it wasn't kids stealing/destroying your stuff. I hope the raccoons don't come back cause I'd hate to hear that you killed them all, I had one as a pet once so I have a little fondness for them.

But now after this you kinda have to get rid of them, or makes ure that there is no way for them to get in, cause once they know there is food somewhere they will most likely return.

[Raedon]

whew! I was so afread that post was going to be about some kids breaking in. Not that Racoons are better but it takes that lack of humanity spin off it and makes for a good whacky racoon story ten years from now.

[suppafly]

-loosk left-

-looks right-

IT WAS'NT ME I SWEAR!

LOL!! LOL

[mr_jiggles_13]

hey Flack. repairing the poker table shouldnt be much of a problem. casino felt(green normally, or whatever color you have) is fairly cheap. and tearing out the old and puttin in the new is a synch. i had problems like this on my bumper cool last christmas. some of my aunts best friends nieces and nephews were there. i generously let them play on the bumper pool table if they promised to keep it neat. i go downstairs to check on all the little kids(they had a little table set up to eat christmas dinner down their) and they were playing with pocket knives they got from their aunt. granted theese kids were like 10, and they shouldnt be allowed to have a pocket knive. THEY WERE RIPPONG OUT SHAPES FROM MY BUMPER POOL TABLE TOP!!!!!! i was gonna have a stroke. but then i got some outerspace casino felt(with little ships and stars and planets) which was super cool. then the worst thing happened and it was all stolen when i was moving.................its a shame because that was a nice table

i wish you best of luck cleaning out your arcade. i wish i could have a little room dedicaded to gaming and arcades............my room is all i got though

[Redlog]

Needless to say, the arcade is currently closed for the holidays. I need to determine whether or not the carpet can be salvaged and whether or not the brown stain will come out of the top of my poker table. Plus, apparently there's a hole that needs to be fixed, and some "snacks" (read: D-CON) that need to be dished up.

Round Two. Begin.

Why waste perfectly good racoon meat? Get a gun!

[Kid Ice]

Unless I'm missing something, I would think that taking the food out of there would solve the problem. I don't know if that's an acceptable solution or not, guess it depends on how much time you spend in there.

[Neil Koch]

Racoons might look cute and cuddly but they can be pretty vicious, especially if they fell threatened. There are quite a few by my parent's house... a racoon tore one of my mom's cats in half.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

That doesn't always do it - we have raccoons, including one really BIG FAT ONE, going through stuff on our side deck all the time. Nothing out there but the lawn mower and some car parts. Unless this particular raccoon is scavenging for parts to fix up his '88 Toyota Corolla, I don't see what business he has there. They're scavengers, pure and simple. They also often carry rabies, just like skunks. So as much of an animal lover as I am - no, wait, make that because I'm as much of an aninal lover as I am (I have outdoor animals that I wouldn't want to be endangered) - I'm all for setting the traps to skim the ringtailed rummager gene pool a bit.

[pixelsnpolygons]

Make sure that story finds its way in the next version of DP, Flack. Unfortunate, but well told and *gasp* amusing nonetheless. Sorry to hear it though.

[mr_jiggles_13]

in half? damn i had theese two old dogs. one was small and one was a big one(i was you at the time) and i remember going outside once to play with them and i found the neighbors dog laying on the ground. i went over by it and it didnt have a had. my two dogs ripped off it head and were nodding and kicking it around..............i never had a problem with them until then and then my dad had to shoot them.so animals CAN AND WILL be vicious

[Flack]

Unless I'm missing something, I would think that taking the food out of there would solve the problem. I don't know if that's an acceptable solution or not, guess it depends on how much time you spend in there.

They have built a big nest out of the insulation. Nicely asking them to leave is kind of out of the question at this point.

[Famidrive-16]

There were a load of raccoons here that used to dig through our garage and steal stuff. One day we saw a giant tailless one steal some kind of bag and we never figured out what it was he stole (i think it was a bag of coal)

now, ever since we remodeled the garage and they've built houses onto the raccoon's homelands they just obliterate our garbage now.

[Achika]

Every summer there's a period we have to take out raccoon live traps because they are getting into our garbage, ripping up things the yard, etc. For about a week straight we catch a raccoon, take it to a park about 1/2 hour away, release it and repeat. This won't happen more than once a summer usually.

While they are a nusience and smell god-awful, I'm all for using live traps and putting them in a nature park far, far away.

[adaml]

Jeez, and I thought the story was about Raccoon Lad breaking into your arcade, eating the skittles, crapping on the table, etc.

I didn't realize it was an actual raccoon(s) until reading the replies.