If you’re dealing with raccoons, keep in mind that females with babies will rip off facia boarding and vents to find a safe place for their young. Make sure that any trash cans and bird feeders outside are raccoon-proof, and that wood piles and crawl spaces cannot be accessed.
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Raccoons will eat just about anything they can find, including garbage, bird seed and vegetable scraps. They can also cause damage to gardens and tear up shingles, boards and other items on the roofs of homes. While you don’t want raccoons to live on your property, you can prevent them from causing a nuisance by eliminating their food sources.
Raccoon removal can be a long and difficult process, especially when they’ve become comfortable around your home or commercial property. These furry creatures can cause a lot of damage, and they can also carry ticks and fleas that may infect your pets or you.
The best way to remove raccoons from an area is to make them uncomfortable. They’ll stop coming around when they can’t find what they need, so it’s important to remove the sources of food that are attracting them. This includes making sure to bring pet food inside at night, covering trash cans that are unsecured, and removing wood piles where they can hide.
If raccoons have moved into your attic, it’s important to seal any entry holes. You can do this by installing a one-way door over the entrance hole, which can be purchased from most home improvement stores. You can also use a loud radio or battery-operated speaker in the attic to encourage them to leave.
You can also block off potential shelter spots like wood piles, decks and crawl spaces by using wire mesh or other materials to keep them out. In addition, you should clean up the areas where raccoons have been living, and trim back any branches that could be used to climb onto your home.
You can also prevent raccoons from getting into your garden by making sure that any vegetables or fruits you plant are harvested as soon as they ripen. You should also cover compost bins and ensure that they’re securely sealed, and you can use fences to block off garden areas from trees or shrubbery. If raccoons have gotten into a chimney, you can follow similar instructions to get them out safely.
Seal Entry Points
When raccoons invade attics or crawl spaces, they can cause a lot of damage. They destroy insulation and soffits, pull apart vents, and ruin shingles and fascia boards. They can also contaminate insulation with their feces and urine. This can affect your home’s heat efficiency and can lead to the growth of fungus and dangerous bacteria in your attic, walls, or basement.
In addition to repairing damage caused by the raccoons, it’s important to seal any entry points that they can use to re-enter your home. A wildlife specialist can identify these areas by conducting a thorough inspection of the attic or crawl space and looking for signs such as soffit damage, gnawed and ripped electrical wiring, raccoon tracks, and large openings near the chimney. A professional raccoon removal service will also consider special circumstances such as nests or babies, assessing the extent of the problem before creating a plan to trap and expel the animals.
The best way to prevent future raccoon invasions is to prevent access to the attic and crawl spaces. This can be done by installing a chimney cap and ensuring that there are no gaps or openings around your house’s roof line, dormer junctions, siding, or unpainted trim board. Raccoons are strong climbers and can often get into your home through these areas.
If you suspect that a mother raccoon has her kits inside your attic, a humane wildlife expert can safely expel the animals without disturbing the family. Mothers will not leave their young if they are exposed to the elements and may return to their den if smoked out, so this approach should only be used by experienced professionals who understand raccoon behavior.
A professional wildlife service can also install a one-way door in an attic or crawl space to help raccoons escape and block them from returning. This device works like a tunnel through which raccoons can exit but cannot enter, so you should only use this solution with the help of a professional to ensure that mothers and their kits are not separated.
Remove Shelter
Raccoons seek shelter in abandoned burrows, hollowed out trees or logs, rock crevices and in sheltered nooks in the foundation of houses. In populated areas, they may hide in attics, chimneys, woodpiles, porches or crawl spaces. Look for signs of raccoon activity around your home, such as mud or droppings on the roof or in the attic, and tracks or smudge marks on walls, doors, windows or gutters.
Hungry raccoons will raid garbage cans and dig up vegetable gardens to find food. They can also damage your landscaping by digging up soil for grubs and worms or for nesting materials. If you have noticed damage to your landscaping or property, take immediate steps to prevent further deterioration.
If you think there is a raccoon den in your house, call a nuisance wildlife control company licensed by New York State to humanely remove the animals and exclude them from the area using exclusion methods. A raccoon removal expert will identify all potential entry points and repair them, seal the area with wire mesh and other repellents, and replace your trash cans with pest-resistant models. They will also recommend other deterrents, such as covering any possible raccoon entry sites with 16-gauge wire mesh or metal flashing.
A raccoon nest in the chimney requires a professional chimney sweep to clean the chimney of debris and install a cap. This is a job that can easily cost in the hundreds of dollars, and the cost will go up if there are kits or a mom with babies living in the chimney.
When a mother is present, it is best to hire a humane wildlife specialist who will keep the family intact and release them within their home range using an eviction, exclusion and reunion strategy. Otherwise, smoke inhalation can kill the mother and her kits. Do not attempt to smoke them out, as you could trap them inside the chimney and cause their deaths. Instead, hire a nuisance wildlife control person to use a live-trapping and relocation approach. This will keep your family safe and save you a lot of money in the long run.
Clean Up
Raccoons can be destructive and costly, and they can leave behind unpleasant messes and pathogens. It’s best to call in a wildlife removal specialist to handle the clean-up after raccoons have been removed. This will ensure that raccoon feces and urine are not left behind, as these can contain dangerous parasites like the roundworm (scientifically named Baylisascaris Procyanis) that can cause serious health problems in humans and pets.
If you suspect a raccoon invasion, listen for scratching and rustling in walls or attics at night. Look for tracks around your home or yard and small, hand-shaped footprints, especially near garbage bins or other food sources. You may also see signs of damage to outdoor structures, like sheds and bird feeders.
The most significant challenge in preventing raccoon infestations is removing raccoon food and shelter sources. Storing trash cans inside or on a porch, eliminating wood piles and closing up access to crawl spaces are good steps to take. However, raccoons are clever and persistent, and they will continue to search out easy-to-access food and shelter wherever they can find it.
You can also humanely harass unwanted raccoons to encourage them to move on. Try throwing out twigs and branches to make it uncomfortable, or use an electronic repellent raccoon deterrent that emits loud noises, bright lights and strong smells. Once the raccoon is gone, you will need to thoroughly clean any affected areas and block off possible entry points to keep them out.
A professional raccoon removal service can help with this step, and can also help you block off entrance points once they are gone. These specialists can also provide wildlife cleanup and sanitation services to kill parasites and sterilize attic spaces that have been invaded by raccoons.
Cleaning up raccoon messes can be quite messy, and you will need specialized safety equipment to do so. This will include eye protection, a respirator mask and protective coveralls or body suits. Raccoon feces can carry many diseases, including the dangerous raccoon roundworm, which becomes airborne when it dries and turns dusty. You should also bury or burn raccoon poop to prevent disease spores from being spread to other living things.
