How To Keep Raccoons Away
This site is primarily about raccoons that get into the attic or some other part of the home, like the eaves, chimney, etc. In that case, prevention is very simple, straightforward, and effective. Simply inspect your house and find all the possible openings that serve as entry holes, and perform home repairs to shut these holes! Voila, no more raccoon problem! That’s how you keep away raccoons permanently! If it’s a matter of raccoons in your yard or garden or simply on your roof, then it’s quite a bit harder. Raccoon repellent is a myth, and doesn’t work. Keeping them out of your yard is almost impossible. You can keep them out of specific trouble areas like a swimming pool, or garbage cans, or pet door with physical deterrents. For example, bungee cords will hold the trash can lids tight. Or you can install planks of wood with long nails sticking up to prevent them from walking on the pool steps. Best of all, you can elminiate whatever is attracting them to the property to begin with! For example, you can bring pet food indoors, if that’s what they’re coming around for. But if it’s your house they are interested in, then the best way to keep raccoons away is to make sure they can’t get into your attic. Other than that, raccoon trapping is a way to remove unwanted raccoons from the property.
How To Keep Raccoons Out Of My Garbage/trash
Raccoons are the ultimate trash thieves. Theyre fast and sneaky and rely on their burglary skills to make it through the winter every year. If youre not careful, they could end up becoming reliant on your trash. The results of a raccoon raiding a trash can are quite destructive: a mess of trash all over a lawn. There are several strategies you can use to keep raccoons from your garbage.
Be Patient With A Mother Raccoon In The Attic
Your first option is to do nothing at all. Raccoons typically live in attic dens for short periods. Raccoon babies are independent by the end of summer, when they leave the den and disperse from their family groups. Raccoon mothers commonly move their babies between den sites during the nesting season, so she may leave on her own. If you wait until the babies are grown and/or have left, then you can close off the access point to prevent other raccoons from using the attic as a den in the future.
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Raccoons Living In Attic
A raccoon living in an attic from January to September should ALWAYS be assumed to be a mother with babies. Be carefulyou dont want to orphan the baby raccoons. Raccoons are excellent mothers and will move their babies to a new den site if given the chance, but evicting a mother raccoon always runs the risk of her abandoning or getting separated from her babies.
Seal Off Your Home And Yard
Dealing with raccoons in your garden or attic can be a nightmare, so its wise to try preventing that situation from ever happening in the first place. Physical barriers around your entire property or specific areas can eliminate easy entry points.
You can also use barriers around your garden or individual plants that attract raccoons. This is a simple and inexpensive way to protect your vegetation. Simply purchase a mesh screen and use it to wrap a perimeter around your plants. Make sure to dig the screen deeply enough into the ground so that the raccoons cant dig it up.
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How Do Pest Management Experts Get Rid Of Raccoons
Sometimes, getting rid of raccoons is a job only a wildlife control professional can do. Heres how our team can help:
Look For All The Raccoons In Your Attic
The main reason a raccoon may have made your attic his new den is because the female is about to give birth. Raccoons need a safe, warm and dry place to raise the new pups, and your attic makes a perfect habitat. This commonly happens from February to May, when you are more likely to experience raccoon activity.
This is an important fact that leads to further considerations. If you only remove the mother, the pups will be left behind, and they will starve to death. This is no doubt a cruel way to get rid of raccoons. Plus, the dead bodies left in your attic will produce such an unbelievably foul smell in your house that you will wish the raccoons were still alive.
Your primary concern, therefore, is to discover if there are pups in the attic. Finding the litter is a daunting job. The mother usually stashes them in the eaves, down a wall or in other inaccessible places. To locate them requires patience, endurance and a measure of physical strength. You have to get into the attic, make your way through raccoon droppings and crawl around to inspect every hidden spot.
Youre not exactly looking forward to that, right? It may take hours. Even so, your hunt may be unsuccessful. In this case, remain still until the little pups finally start to chatter and lead you to the litter. How long it will take just depends on how lucky you are.
Once youve located the litter, you are now ready to move on to the next step.
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Make It Difficult For Them To Get What They Want
Close any access points
Use wooden boards, wired mesh, netting or newspaper to seal any access points to your home, under your deck or under & in your shed. Monitor these points to make sure the raccoons arent finding a way to break through.
Cover water Sources
Raccoons are always on the hunt for water sources, so make sure you arent leaving them any. Cover any ponds and pools, dump any bins that can collect rain water and dont leave water dishes out for them.
Protect your garbage
The main goal of a raccoon entering your property is to find food. And their main source is going to be your garbage can. Discourage them by making your garbage can inaccessible. Lock it up or take it inside at night, and keep it sealed when it has to be out. Use a cinder block to weigh down the lid.
Dont leave pet food out
Pet food is the easiest way to invite raccoons to stick around. Having a steady food source gives them reason to call your yard home.
Install bird feeders on thin poles
You bird feeder provides the perfect food source for a raccoon! Installing it on top of a thin pole rather than a thick one prevents the raccoon from being able to climb it.
How Do Raccoons Get On Your Roof
October 6, 2016 by Bill Dowd
Raccoons can pretty much climb anything. Theyre strength and dexterous paws allow them scale trees and structures with ease. They also have the ability to descend head first by rotating their back feet 180 degrees.
Your roof is a vulnerable place for raccoons gaining entry to your attic. Theres many different ways wildlife can get access to your roof. Raccoons are opportunists so the best thing to do is make it as difficult as possible for them gain access.
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Hot Pepper Keeps Raccoons Away
When raccoons are out, looking for food, their most effective way to find a food source is through their olfactory receptors
Hot pepper is one of the most potent scents that you can use to drive them away because it irritates their sense of smell. So, its less likely for them to continue their search for food. If you use hot pepper regularly, it may teach these critters that your property is off-limits for them.
Its the first that we recommend because its almost always available in every household. If you only have small amounts of hot pepper, you can purchase something like this 5LB Bag of Cayenne Pepper.
Theres one caveat to it, though hot pepper only irritates their sense of smell, and its scent diminishes over time.
A persistent raccoon will find its way back to your house in a few days if you dont keep applying hot pepper in places where theyre most likely to find food. So, if youre going to use it as a raccoon deterrent, be sure to use it regularly and apply it in every location where theyll find food or pathways that they use to go to their food sources.
For application, sprinkle the pepper onto areas where you dont want the raccoons visiting.
Effective Removal: How To Remove Raccoons From Your Property
When it comes to effective raccoon removal, the first thing you are to do is to identify where your raccoons are frequenting. Only after that, you will be able to choose the best method for effective removal of them.
The more control methods you will use, the better your chances are at keeping raccoons off your property.
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What Will Scare Off Raccoons
Raccoons are among the very strong and intelligent animals.
With time they are becoming more and more urbanized and are losing the fear of people around them.
This also means that they perfectly know how to defend themselves at the time of danger.
With that said, raccoons are the type of animals that are not scared of much.
But there are still few things that they are afraid of.
And knowing about what are the things that scare raccoons away can help you in keeping them off your roof, attic, pets, and yourself.
So, what scares raccoons and what not? Lets check them
Raccoons are scared of:
- Lots of floodlights on the property
- Hot pepper spray such as a bear mace
- A water hose of a motion sensor sprinkler
- A loud noise like a gunshot or from firecrackers
- A person with a long stick, broom, or clanging pots/pans
- Smell of ammonia, smoke smell like of cigarettes, campfire and chimney
Remember, there are not many predators that raccoons fear of.
They are only frightened when they smell of bears and coyotes.
Since raccoons have an excellent sense of smelling they smell the urine of these animals from far and usually run away when terrified.
Raccoons are very smart creatures just like humans. Unlike other pests they are not frightened of:
- A small gentle dog or a cat
- Ultrasonic sound machines or repellents
- A small number of bright lights or flashing lights
- Odor repellents such as mothballs and wolf urine
- Traps and big steel cage they are very smart and they never go around them
How To Scare Raccoons Off Roof
Raccoons are a type of animal that many people dont like. They can make the home look messy, destroy property, and spread disease to humans. If you want to scare them off your roof, there are some tips listed below.
This is a blog post about how to scare raccoons off roofs in order to keep them from making their way into your home and causing damage/spreading diseases etc.
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Why Would I Want To Get Rid Of Them
People who have raccoons in the attic room usually initial object to the noise they hear, which maintains them awake during the night. That’s enough for most individuals. Some individuals merely do not like the concept of having wild animals in the attic. Nonetheless, the primary issues are that if the raccoon lives in the attic for adequate time, it generally starts to trigger damage – to the drywall, to the air ducts, to the vents, to various new areas outside the residence. Raccoons pry pets, they are really very unpleasant, and also they simply plain damage things by their nature. They are messy with food or debris they bring in, however much more so, with their waste. Some raccoons are in fact cool concerning it, and continuously make use of the very same location as a lavatory. More frequently, the waste is spread prolifically throughout the attic. The insulation is normally jeopardized, commonly badly. For these factors it’s good suggestion to get rid of raccoons in the attic room. As a matter of fact, raccoons are just one of minority animals for which house owner’s insurance coverage will certainly spend for attic repair and fixings. Your local pro may be able to give you complimentary advice concerning exactly how to manage and tidy raccoon droppings and also costs to insurance.
Damage Raccoons Can Cause In Your Attic
Raccoons will most likely cause extensive damage to crucial parts of your home. How do raccoons get in your attic? They typically enter through the soffit or roof. Roof damage creates an opening that can allow water in and cause mold. Their claws can easily tear through shingles, roof decking, fascia and soffit. Raccoons also ruin HVAC ducts and wooden structures. If they damage wiring, it can create a fire hazard.
In addition, a raccoon in the attic can expose your family to many health risks. Issues like fleas, ticks and parasites are common with wild animals. Raccoon droppings can carry roundworms, other parasites, and a myriad of diseases. Raccoons often have rabies, a contagious illness that can spread to humans. If you have an unwanted raccoon houseguest, be aware of all these potential threats.
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How Do We Get Raccoons Out Of The Attic
So, youve got guests. They are uninvited, unwelcome, and totally unpleasant. They are raccoons and, unfortunately, they will not leave by themselves. Youve got a problem. You need raccoon control.
Your evenings are disrupted by heavy thumping on the ceiling while growling and scratching noises wakes you up at night. The trash can is often tipped over, and your garden is spoiled by raids of your unwelcome guests. These are common annoyances when raccoons are around your property. But they have more surprises in store for you.
Having large critters roaming your house is no doubt a creepy feeling, but what goes on behind the scenes is even more disturbing. Your attic, pipes, ductwork, and insulation are relentlessly destroyed every passing day.
As cute as they may look, raccoons cause severe damage to your property and pose a threat to the health of you and your pets.
Once you get raccoons in your house, you have just one priority: You need to get those raccoons out of your attic immediately! There is no time to waste unless you want to see big money flying out of your pocket.
The good news is that you can get raccoons out of your attic, prevent them from coming back and find your peace of mind again.
The bad news, on the other hand, is that this is not an easy job. It requires time and expertise and is hardly ever a DIY task. Most likely, you will need professional help to take care of the matter, restore and repair your house and prevent them from coming back again.
Why Are Raccoons In Your Attic
Wild animals live in attics due to the fact that it’s excellent environment. Attics are usually cozy, dry, secure, and protected from the elements. Attics frequent close closeness to the food sources of urbanized pest – garbage cans, pet dog food, and also other human-influenced food sources. An attic room resembles a huge, hollow tree or cave – it’s a fantastic place to live! Additionally, female animals have a strong denning instinct when they are expectant, and naturally seek secure, enclosed areas. It’s extremely usual for a female animal about to bear young to locate its means into an attic. In fact, and I’m probably going to duplicate it multiple times right here, one of the most typical scenario with raccoons in an attic room is that of a female with a litter of young. The primary factor a raccoon gets in an attic to begin with is to ensure that she can bring to life as well as increase her young pups. Hence, a lot of occurrences of raccoons in attic are in spring, from February – May.
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How To Stop Raccoons From Pooping On My Roof
There are a million and one devices, sprays and traps on the market to catch and fend off raccoons. Not one of them works. There are wives tails and internet blogs that will tell you laying plastic down will get the raccoon to leave you alone, they will just start a new latrine a new location. One thing that does work is waiting all night for the raccoon to show up while holding a pressurized hose. Spray the raccoon and dont stop spraying till they are off your property. This may work but you will have to keep it up for a good week and that means no sleep. So if you have a raccoon on your property pooping on the roof you may have to call the professionals.
If you are dealing with raccoons, the likelihood that they leave behind feces is very high. They can transfer diseases and viruses that can be damaging to your health. Contact a professional raccoon feces cleaning and removal service.
There are many ways people claim to get rid of raccoons or to prevent them from defecating on the roof. Sadly most of them wont work and will be very hard to accomplish. Stapling plastic sheets to the roof is nearly impossible for someone who does not do it professionally and trying to go up there to spray wolf urine is ineffective as the urine will just be washed away and be destroyed by sunlight.
