By Sam Wasson
Updated Oct 19, 2022
By Sam Wasson
Updated Oct 19, 2022
A raccoon, or by its scientific name Procyon lotor, is one of the trickiest animals you can run into as a homeowner. It’s clever, persistent, possesses five-fingered hands, and loves to rummage through your trash.
While cute and quirky, raccoons are a highly destructive nuisance that you should prevent and remove. They will knock over trash cans, spread garbage across your lawn, tear apart birdhouses, and even invade the upper portions of your home. Thankfully, there are specific steps you can take to discourage raccoons from becoming a nuisance in the first place.
One of the most challenging aspects of raccoons is their dogged determination and persistence. Once raccoons identify a location that provides consistent food or shelter, they will repeatedly return. If you encounter raccoons either inside your home or on your property, you will need to take active steps to remove them and discourage further incursion once they’re gone.
One of the most effective and humane ways to deal with raccoons is to trap and relocate them. Several kinds of traps are available: body grip traps, paw hold traps, and live cage traps. Trapping raccoons, in general, can be both difficult and dangerous. If you are having raccoon troubles and are considering trapping, you should contact a professional before attempting to capture them on your own.
Food is one of the main reasons raccoons come to your property. Raccoons are omnivorous and will eat just about anything they can get their hands on. They’re attracted to any food sources outside your home, so here are the most common attractants you can remove to keep these critters away.
The first significant step in keeping raccoons away is removing attractants that will draw them in. Your next step should be to place barriers separating the raccoons from your space. You should also practice regular maintenance on those barriers to ensure they’re adequately sealed and secure.
Even if you have secured your property correctly, you may still find raccoons skulking around your lawn and garden. Keeping raccoons off of your yard is similar to keeping them out of your property; you have to make it as unappealing a space to them as physically possible. This can be difficult because not all elements that attract raccoons are immediately apparent and can require additional upkeep.
While raccoons are known for their love of trash, they’re also proficient scavengers and hunters. Some of their favorite foods are insects, gubs, and larvae. If you have a raccoon digging through your lawn or vegetable garden, odds are they’re attempting to get to the insects inside the soil. Unfortunately, this can also imply the presence of a significant grub or pest infestation. Thankfully, the raccoon should move on once you clear these nuisances out. The exact pest control strategy needed will depend on the specific pest you’re dealing with. However, a curative pesticide is the quickest way to eliminate lawn grubs. You can also try mixing dish soap with water and spraying the infested portions of your lawn. If the infestation or grub problem is too much to deal with, calling a local pest control company will be your best bet. The company will be able to deal with the lawn grubs and humanely remove the raccoon.
An unclean yard filled with trash and debris attracts many different pests — everything from earwigs to termites, mice, and raccoons. Keeping a clean lawn is good housekeeping and an essential pest control practice. Raccoons will consume the foodstuff in the trash and nest inside large pieces of debris. You should place all trash securely inside bins and remove all debris from your yard.
A raccoon’s strong sense of smell is one of the reasons it’s so easily drawn to garbage. It can detect the subtle scents of food even through trash bins and sealed bags. You can use this strong sense of smell to your advantage and keep it at bay.
In most cases, raccoons are skittish and will avoid conflict. Anything that gives off the impression of a predator, or a movement in general, will startle them and send them running. Some of the best ways to achieve this are motion sensor lights or sprinkler systems.
Raccoons leave many telltale signs of their presence. If you identify any of the following, you might have a raccoon infestation.
Raccoons are smaller-sized, North American, nocturnal animals and a member of the Procyonidae family. Also known as ringtails, these clever critters are common across the United States and Canada. They prefer wooded areas but are highly adaptable and can easily live in mountainous, marshes, and urban environments.
Raccoons pose both a structural and health hazard for homeowners. These clever mischief-makers can get into just about anything. Combine this with their curious and destructive nature, and they will create costly messes everywhere. They can destroy trash cans, siding, roofing, attics, walls, gardens, lawns, outdoor structures like bird feeders, etc.
Even worse is the significant health risk they pose. Raccoon latrines create and spread diseases, most notably roundworm. A roundworm is a parasite that can cause severe neurological damage and death. Raccoons are also a known carrier of rabies, a lethal disease for which there is no cure. Rabid raccoons may act abnormally, such as making strange vocalizations, possessing impaired movement, and becoming more aggressive. However, rabies does not always show symptoms like these in raccoons as it does with other canids and small mammals. Raccoons may not show any outward signs at all and are even known to retreat to their burrows when afflicted.
If you see an animal acting strangely, do not approach it. Instead, keep your distance and immediately contact your local animal department.
Determining when to contact a pest control company for raccoons can be difficult. If you live near a forest or certain urban areas, raccoons may be common. In these situations, seeing one wander into your property from time to time is expected. Furthermore, raccoons damaging items around your home, such as trash cans or bird feeders, may not indicate an infestation or nearby nest. However, frequent sightings or recurring damage is not typical, and in these cases, you should take active steps to deter them.
You should consult a professional whenever you believe a raccoon specifically and consistently targets your home or property. Furthermore, since raccoons carry diseases and are known to be aggressive, we recommend contacting a professional whenever you believe a raccoon has infested your home or nearby property. Nests, droppings, latrines, or incursion points are the primary signs of an infestation, and you should consult a professional immediately.
Raccoons have become staples in popular culture. With their cute appearance, clever nature, and quirky personalities, it’s no surprise that people like them. But, like all wild animals, we should observe them from a distance and keep them in their own space. Like all pests and critters, raccoons are driven by their need for food and shelter. We should do what we can to minimize attractants from our property to keep them away. Simple steps like purchasing lockable bins, utilizing mint-scented trash bags, and installing a well-designed fence should be more than adequate to keep raccoons out.
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