Are Raccoons creeping around your property eating trash and damaging your lawn or roof ?
How to get rid of Raccoons
Table of contents :
Do you know the steps to identifying a raccoon problem ?
There are several signs that may indicate a raccoon problem:
Noise: Raccoons are active at night, so if you hear scratching, scurrying, or other noises coming from your attic or chimney, it could be raccoons.
Damage: Raccoons can cause damage to your attic or chimney as they move around and make a nest. Look for holes in the roof or chimney, torn insulation, or other damage.
Droppings: Raccoons leave droppings that are similar to dog feces and can be found in the attic or chimney.
Tracks or footprints: If you see raccoon tracks or footprints in or around your attic or chimney, it is a strong indication that raccoons are present.
Sighting: Seeing raccoons coming and going from your attic or chimney is another way to know if they are present.
Smell: Raccoons often leave behind a strong, musky odor that can be detected in the attic or chimney.
Damage in garden or lawn: Raccoons often dig through gardens and lawns in search of food, leaving behind damaged plants and holes in the ground.
Raccoon poop on your property or in the attic.
It's important to note that if you suspect raccoons in your attic or chimney, it's best to call a professional wildlife control company to safely and humanely perform raccoon removal them.
The Best thing that can be done to get rid of Raccoons is to make sure nothing is drawing them to your home. A few best practices are :
Remove Garbage, remove all garbage and food waste from the house and garden. Bring in your pet food as well!
Secure Garbage Bins, If necessary, you can even use a rope or bungee cord to seal it tight.
Secure Bird Feeders and Pet Food Dishes. Best advice is to remove the altogether
Restrict Access to Water.
Restrict Entry Points. Sealing and covering all entry points. Raccoons are excellent climbers, so make sure you seal the roof.
How to get rid of Raccoons in Yard & Attic
The best way to get rid of raccoons in your yard and attic is to hire a professional wildlife control company. These companies have the experience and equipment necessary to safely and humanely remove raccoons from your property. They will also take steps to prevent the raccoons from returning, such as by sealing off entry points to the attic and making sure there is no food source that raccoons can access.
Here are some steps that a professional wildlife control company will take to remove raccoons:
Inspection: A professional will inspect your property to identify raccoon activity and find entry points.
Exclusion: They will seal off any entry points to your attic and other areas of your home where raccoons may be living.
Trapping: They will use live traps to capture the raccoons and safely remove them from your property.
Cleanup: They will remove any feces, urine, and other debris left behind by the raccoons.
Prevention: They will recommend ways to prevent future raccoon invasions, such as keeping food and trash securely stored, and removing possible food sources from your yard
It's important to note that trapping and relocating raccoons is not always legal and can be inhumane, so it's best to consult with a professional for the best course of action. Also, it's not advisable to try to remove raccoons on your own as they can carry diseases and can become aggressive when cornered.
Raccoons are mostly nocturnal animals but may sometimes be heard during the daytime. Baby raccoons are extremely vocal – if you hear growls, a sort of chattering, whistles, screams, hissing, or snarls you probably have a family of raccoons living in your attic. You may also hear a heavy thumping sound. Raccoons are bigger and heavier than rats or squirrels so they will move slower and have a heavier sound.
Raccoons are not considered hibernators, however they become significantly less active beginning around October and only reemerge in early spring. A raccoon’s mating season is from January through March, with a female raccoon giving birth to between 4-6 young. They will begin to hunt for themselves between 9-12 weeks of age but may stay with their mother up to a year old. Be wary of a mother raccoon with her young as she will tend to be extremely aggressive to protect them.
How do you lure an Raccoons into a trap?
Here are some steps to effectively lure a raccoon into a trap:
Identify the raccoon's food source: Raccoons have a varied diet, but in urban and suburban areas, they may be attracted to pet food, birdseed, fallen fruits, and trash.
Choose the right bait: Raccoons are primarily attracted to fish, chicken, and sweet fruits like apples, grapes, and melons.
Place the bait in the trap: The trap should be baited with the raccoons' preferred food, and it should be placed in an area where raccoons are known to frequent.
Check the trap regularly: It's important to check the trap at least once a day to ensure that any animals caught are not suffering and to release any non-target animals.
Dispose of the raccoon: Once you have trapped a raccoon, it should be released at least five miles away from your property.
Place your live trap far away from human or pet activity, along the edge of your property. Physical boundaries like fence lines, dense foliage, and garden edging make great placement guides, so set your trap along these structures. If you are dealing with a Opossums indoors, you can set your trap near entry points in the garage, attic, or basement. Once you are satisfied with your trap placement, you can bait and arm it. Check your trap twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Once you have captured a Opossums in your live trap, place a towel over the cage to avoid frightening the animal. Be sure to contact local authorities like animal control to confirm laws in your area about animal trapping and make sure you are correctly relocating the animal. Travel to your release location, which should be more than 20 miles away. Place the trap on the ground facing away from you, and open the trap.
How to trap a Raccoon ?
If there are any fruit or vegetable plots, check these for animal activity, such as chewed or eaten plants, droppings, or tracks. Opossums will also eat pet food if left out overnight, so check for missing food or disturbed bowls. After identifying your pest animal, select the best bait to increase your chances of a successful capture. Opossums will eat anything, but they are especially attracted to sweets. For this, marshmallows is a low cost and effective bait option.
Opossums SHOULD be released within a ten-mile radius or within ten miles of the city limits of where they were originally captured and the release is best within the county in which they were originally captured, if you want them to live.
Trapping raccoons can be a complex process that should be done by a professional wildlife control company. They have the experience and equipment necessary to trap raccoons safely and humanely. However, if you still want to know the steps, here they are:
Identify the raccoon: Look for signs of raccoons, such as droppings, tracks, or damage to your property, to determine where the raccoons are active.
Choose a trap: There are several types of traps that can be used to catch raccoons, including live traps and kill traps. Live traps are recommended because they allow for the raccoons to be captured and released elsewhere.
Bait the trap: Raccoons are attracted to various foods such as fruits, vegetables, fish, and meat.
Set the trap: Position the trap in an area where you have seen raccoons or where they are likely to travel.
Check the trap regularly: Check the trap at least once a day to ensure that any animals caught are not suffering and to release any non-target animals.
Dispose of the raccoon: Once you have trapped a raccoon, it should be released at least five miles away from your property.
It's important to note that trapping raccoons can be illegal in some states and municipalities and that it is not a humane long-term solution, raccoons are wild animals that are best left alone in their natural habitat. And also, for safety reasons, do not attempt to trap raccoons on your own, it is important to hire a professional wildlife control company.
Raccoons are omnivorous and opportunistic so they will eat anything they can get their hands on. It is not uncommon to see raccoons eating fruits, nuts, berries, insects, rodents, frogs, and eggs. In urban and suburban areas they are known for foraging in trash cans. Raccoons are also frequently caught eating pet food that is left outside or in garages.
Raccoons usually live in dens that they have made in trees or sewers. However, raccoons are more and more frequently choosing to make their dens in attics as it provides shelter, warmth, and safety for their young and themselves. They will burrow into your insulation, chew on wires, tear holes in the sides of your house, and even come down into your home if you have food that is not tightly stored. They have also been known to make their dens in and around chimneys, which causes several problems including people in the home inhaling urine and feces, or the raccoons getting stuck and dying.
How to Keep Raccoons Away
So, if raccoons are cramping your backyard ideas, don't despair. With a bit of perseverance and the right tactic, you can keep raccoons away, without harming them and without having to call pest control.
1. REMOVE FOOD SOURCES
2. MAKE YOUR HOME AND BACKYARD LESS FRIENDLY
3. USE LIVE CAGE TRAPS
4. INSTALL MOTION DETECTOR SPRINKLERS
5. TRY MOTION DETECTOR LIGHTS
6. INSTALL MESH BARRIERS AROUND YOUR VEGETABLE BEDS (if you have them)
7. KEEP YOUR BBQ AREA CLEAN (if you have one)
8. WATCH YOUR COMPOST HEAP
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT RACCOONS ?
IS THERE A SCENT THAT REPELS RACCOONS ?
In one word, no. While you may read advice online that recommends various essential oils to repel raccoons, they are all lies.
How do i know if raccoons are in my attic or chimney ?
There are several signs that may indicate the presence of raccoons in your attic or chimney:
Noise: Raccoons are active at night, so if you hear scratching, scurrying, or other noises coming from your attic or chimney, it could be raccoons.
Damage: Raccoons can cause damage to your attic or chimney as they move around and make a nest. Look for holes in the roof or chimney, torn insulation, or other damage.
Droppings: Raccoons leave droppings that are similar to dog feces and can be found in the attic or chimney.
Tracks or footprints: If you see raccoon tracks or footprints in or around your attic or chimney, it is a strong indication that raccoons are present.
Sighting: Seeing raccoons coming and going from your attic or chimney is another way to know if they are present.
It's important to note that if you suspect raccoons in your attic or chimney, it's best to call a professional wildlife control company to safely and humanely remove them.
Raccoons inside roof - inside the roof, you say ?
HOW TO GET RID OF RACCOONS : EXTRA METHODS TECHNIQUES AND INFO
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In addition to exclusion and raccoon trapping, the experts at wildlife management services go the extra mile to educate customers about habitat modification, like improving neighborhood sanitation, as the most humane, long-term solution to managing raccoons and other larger vertebrate pests.
Deter raccoons from visiting your property by using motion-activated sprinklers, securing trash cans, bagging all household trash and containing it securely, keeping pet food inside, and using exclusion fences to protect areas like compost piles and fish ponds.
If you have found a raccoon infestation in your attic, it may be because most attics have an accessible entrance, shelter the raccoons from weather, and are away from household noises but not too far from food.
In an attempt to remind customers that Rapid Rodent Removal are also roofers, we have also made a table of contents with all of our information about rats , mouse , squirrels and Roofing , Roof Repair , Roof Replacement (articles & blog) stemming from to all about Rat poop , Mouse poop , Squirrel poop or Raccoon poop in Your Home & or Rats in Attic, to Roofing Contractors to Rodent Control.