Raccoons are wild animals that can cause major damage to homes and property. They can also carry diseases and pose a health hazard to children and pets.

Preventing raccoons from entering your property is the best way to minimize their impact. This includes ensuring garbage cans are securely locked, and pet food is kept away from raccoon-friendly areas.

Trapping

With nimble hands and remarkable agility, raccoons can break into your trash can, dig through garbage bags, and even rip apart birdhouses. They are also very intelligent animals and possess excellent memory. This makes them destructive pests, tipping over trash cans, raiding a dumpster, or breaking into a screened-in porch to steal pet food.

Trapping can be an effective raccoon removal method when other preventative measures fail. However, it is important to consider the safety of your family and pets before attempting to trap a wild animal.

It is always best to let a mother raccoon relocate her young before trying to catch her in an attic or house. Hiring a professional who can reunite mothers with their babies is a good idea. This will save you a lot of trouble and money in the long run. Besides, you will not have to clean up feces and other mess yourself.

Exclusion

Raccoons can cause significant damage by chewing through roofs, attics, and walls. They can also spread diseases such as ringworm, leptospirosis, and Giardiasis. Depending on the severity of the infestation, homeowners may be able to find insurance coverage for wildlife-related damage.

The best raccoon removal method involves making your property as unappetizing as possible to these creatures. This means securing trash cans, keeping bird feeders indoors, and installing electric fences around areas like compost piles, gardens, and fish ponds.

It’s important to note that these measures will continue raccoons from returning, but they will be less likely to do so. It’s also vital to check your yard regularly for raccoon signs, such as tracks and knocked-over garbage cans. If these signs persist, contact a wildlife removal professional to help with exclusion and habitat management. They’ll also be able to repair any damage caused by these pests. Lastly, you can try repellents, such as ammonia or motion-activated sprinklers.

Repellents

Raccoons are notorious for causing damage and carrying diseases such as rabies, leptospirosis and Giardia. They can also contaminate areas with their urine and droppings.

There are several ways to deter raccoons from your home, yard and garden. First, find out if they have babies – leaving them alone is important so they can grow (they won’t survive without their mother). Then, try using a combination of repellents. These include light, noise and unpleasant odors.

A common household product that raccoons cannot stand is vinegar. Soak rags in the pungent liquid and place them around areas where you see raccoons.

Another option is to install electric fencing around your home and garden. This is a great way to keep raccoons away from parks and your vegetable or fruit patch. Other options include:

• Trimming trees and bushes away from your house.
• Securing garbage receptacles outside and removing bird feeders.
• Keeping pet food inside at all times and sealing access points into the house or shed.

Humane Removal

Raccoons can carry diseases that can be dangerous to people, pets and livestock. They also leave behind pathogens in their feces and urine. They can devastate gardens, devour bird feeders and eat through garbage cans.

They can enter houses through the chimney, crawl spaces and attics. They can cause damage and chew electrical wires. They can also spread disease by contaminating water supplies and spreading fleas, ticks and mites on dogs and cats.

The best way to prevent a raccoon problem is to keep the animal out of your home in the first place. Use motion-activated sprinklers to deter them from entering your yard, use deterrent sprays like pepper or mothballs in places where they tend to hang out or make a den and put up exclusion fences around especially attractive areas such as chicken coops, compost piles and trash cans. You can also use repellents like predator urine to scare the raccoon away.