Remove Trash And Debris
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.
How To Deal With Raccoon Poop In Your Yard
Raccoons are a terrible infestation to have and can be a dangerous threat to you, your family, and your pets. The feces contain many illnesses and diseases and parasites but none are worse than the Raccoon roundworm. A child could easily find themselves tasting this dangerous material and a pet would go straight for and probably try to eat the whole pile. Either way, both individuals will get very, very sick, and will likely need to go to their respective emergency rooms. And while your child has free healthcare your dog does not. This is why you need to inspect your property regularly for signs of raccoon feces. Even one dropping is enough to cause someone to die from a fatal disease. While the parasite is very dangerous the chances of an adult catching it are low to none. The only situation to be worried about is when the feces is very dry and desiccated. At this point the spores have become air born and breathing them in would cause you to catch the roundworm. So make sure to wear a mask and long vinyl gloves to protect yourself from the raccoon feces and roundworm.
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.
How To Get Rid Of Raccoons
There are plenty of humane ways for how to get rid of raccoons. Here are some easy ways to get rid of raccoons.
Its no secret that raccoons are a nuisance. On the hunt for food and a place to establish their den, they can show up in your yard, your attic, your chimney, rummaging through your garbage and more. While theyre not out to destroy your home sweet home, it is important to get them out and keep them out. Heres how to get rid of raccoons.
If you see a raccoon nosing around in your neighbors trash, they would probably appreciate a heads-up. However, heres a list of things your neighbor really wants you to STOP doing.
If you dont have a raccoon problem yet, but youve seen them in your area, youll want to start with prevention. Keep food sources out of sight, with garbage well-secured in outdoor trash cans, using a thick lid and a weight or pressure straps on top. Also, be sure your pets food is kept indoors. Install a tray on bird feeder polls roughly six inches below the feed to catch any dropped seed, and be sure the feeder isnt in a location near trees that the raccoon could use to jump from to get on the feeder. Also, be sure to cut trees back to six or eight feet from your home so raccoons cant get to your roof and make their way into the attic to form their den.
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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:
Are Raccoons Dangerous To Humans
Raccoons are not considered to be dangerous to humans, but they can cause some problems if they get into your home.
Such as,
One of the problems that they can cause is that they can be aggressive.
Raccoons have been known to attack people if they feel threatened.
So, if you see a raccoon in your home, you should try to stay away from it otherwise you could get hurt.
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Install Live Cage Traps
Another option that you can try is to install live cage traps in your backyard.
Live cage traps are an excellent way to catch raccoons without having to kill them. They are also very humane, as they only hold the raccoon until they find someone willing to take them into custody.
This means that they dont suffer at all, and they wont die either.
This is another good reason why you want to keep your backyard secure, as it is a humane way of preventing these kinds of situations from happening.
That being said, there are downsides to installing live cage traps in your backyard that you should be aware of. Namely, raccoons can be incredibly territorial if they feel threatened.
When trapped, they have the potential to attack people as well as pets upon being released.
As a result, you might find it a safer alternative to rely on a professional to get rid of a raccoon from your home.
What Do Raccoons Hate The Smell Of
Its worthwhile to note that, because raccoons have a heightened sense of smell, theyre averse to many foul and offensive scents.
One tried-and-true natural method is soaking cotton in ammonia and placing them around your property. Raccoons may appear extremely messy and hazardous, but they are clean animals and wont like the potent smell of urine permeating the areas where they eat and sleep.
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How To Get Rid Of Raccoons In The Yard
To be fair to raccoons, they don’t know they’re in your yard, ripping up your prize flowers, invading your lawn, making off with your chickens, laying waste to your bird food, overturning your garbage and nesting beneath your deck. But however much we want to indulge in that ‘live-and-let-live’ approach with wildlife, there comes a time when their visits feel like destructive invasions and they have to go.
So how to get rid of raccoons in the yard or at least deter them from taking up residence and using it as a self-service buffet? Unlike when you try to get rid of squirrels, they are more easily put off. These are the best options:
- Remove their food sources: this means getting a pest controller to rid the lawn of the grubs that live there if there are fewer of these to snack on raccoons are less likely to come back it also means ensuring the chicken coop is impenetrable dog food is brought indoors bird food is hung high on narrow poles, and any on the ground is tidied up nightly and garbage cans are sealed and locked. The latter will also assist in getting rid of rats.
- Install raccoon-detecting security lighting: these nocturnal animals will be scared off by sudden, bright light.
- Sprinkle smells raccoons hate on the ground around the house and yard more on these below.
Seal Your Roof Attic And Holes In Your House
Its not just chimneys that raccoons like to hide out in. Any opening in your house to a dark and safe space is an ideal home for a raccoon family.
To prevent this from happening, seal all openings they might use to enter. If you happen to know that there are a couple of raccoon balls snoozing quietly in a certain part of your house, make sure to get them out first before sealing in the entrances.
You would not want to trap a raccoon inside your house! Call in the experts to do the job to maintain the safety of you and your family.
You may think that you should only focus on the large holes that raccoons can go through, but its best to cover all your bases and seal holes of all sizes.
These creatures can easily use their claws to widen the openings. Keep an eye out for loose flooring and roof tiles or cracks in the siding and foundations. Once youve located all the possible openings, fill them in with the material of your choice.
Depending on where the hole is and how big it is, you can board it up with wood or concrete, or fill it up with caulk or expandable foam. There are many options in the hardware and home improvement sections.
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What Will Scare Away Raccoons
Raccoons might be large animals, grown used to living amongst humans, but theyre also quite low on the food chain and are vulnerable to multiple predators. The trick is to emulate sudden sounds and movements to frighten off raccoons.
Search online, and youll see that there are several scare tactics mentioned on how to scare raccoons. To optimize their effects, these should be combined to create multi-sensory harassment thats perceived as a threat to their recipients.
People often use motion sensor devices that are activated when movement is detected, such as motion-activated sprinklers, lights, and ultrasonic devices that emit unpleasant sounds, undetectable to humans and pets.
Can Raccoons Be Carriers Of Disease
Raccoons may transmit a limited number of severe diseases to people, the most frequent of which is a deadly form of rabies that spreads rapidly. Affected fleas, ticks, and lice may spread from person to person through the body of an infected person.
The Baylisacaris procyonis roundworm egg found in raccoon droppings has been linked to the transmission of a deadly disease to humans in the past. If a kid comes into touch with raccoon feces that contain the egg, the larvae of the roundworm may enter the childs eyes or brain, causing blindness or even death.
Raccoons may carry a variety of diseases, including the following:
Raccoons, whether sick or healthy, have the potential to be violent against humans and pets. Despite their familiarity with people, these creatures are wild and will defend themselves by biting or scratching if threatened. They may be very dangerous when raccoons feel trapped, terrified, or frightened, or if they have young around to feed on.
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Prevent Raccoons From Returning
If you have had a raccoon infestation and have cleaned up the mess, as well as [aid for all damages and are finally raccoon-free, you dont want them coming back. Raccoons are intelligent animals who will sense where they have been and, after some time, will come back to places they remember.
Keep in mind to prevent raccoons from returning that you:
- Never leave food uncovered or unattended
- Ensure your driveway, sheds, porches, and other buildings are clean and tidy most of the time
- Bring trash cans in nightly
- Install lights around your property
- Consider fencing
- Use raccoon repellent scents in your garden and around your building
Regularly Clean Your Backyard
Additionally, you should make sure your yard is free of food waste and human rubbish by bringing your garbage cans inside . Remember to clean up after yourself after youve finished eating outside, and never leave any food out alone, whether it be human or pet food!
For those that have a compost tumbler, youll want to make certain that the compost is safe and cant be accessed by unauthorized individuals. You may also want to think about moving your compost inside to eliminate the issue completely. Check out this article for information about the finest indoor compost bins currently available on the market. Indoor composting is a viable option if youre having trouble with raccoons in your attic or basement.
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Use Strategic Placement Of Ammonia
The moniker trash panda, would lead one to think that raccoons are messy animals, but that is far from the truth.
They make it a point to pee and poop far away from their den and food, so the stench does not disturb their sensitive sense of smell. And you can use this to your advantage.
So how do you keep raccoons away from your house using their pee and poop? Well, not the waste per se, but rather a component of that waste that is easily found in home improvement centers: ammonia. Ammonia is a chemical that gives urine that distinctive, pungent smell.
Raccoons take pains to pee elsewhere just so the scent doesnt interfere with their sleeping or eating. Ammonia and raccoons simply dont mix.
Note, however, that ammonia is not raccoon poison but a raccoon deterrent. They wont even go near the stuff, much less drink or nibble at it. Its a good way to get rid of them without hurting them.
You can make a raccoon deterrent by soaking rags in ammonia and leaving them where these animals come out to play. You can also leave a bowl of ammonia near the raccoons entry points to your home.
Its a strong smell that even humans dont like, but when you see how quickly it fixes your raccoon problem, youll know its worth it.
Three Ways To Get Rid Of Raccoons
Because they are fur-bearing animals, raccoons are protected in many states and you must have a license to trap or hunt them. Contact your states Department of Natural Resources and check your local regulations for more information. However, trapping and hunting is not recommended because raccoons can transmit rabies.
Though other pesky pests can be trapped and released elsewhere, raccoons shouldnt be. In some states, you must have a license to trap them, and in most states, its actually illegal to relocate raccoons beyond your property. It would probably be an ineffective method of removal, anyway, as adult male raccoons can establish a territory up to twenty square miles, and even if you took them 10 miles away, theyd probably find their way back. Also, relocated raccoons often perish outside their home range from starvation, predation, and other factors. If a raccoon is making unusual sounds or seems aggressive or lethargic, leave it alone and call a wildlife removal service. It could have rabies.
If you do use a trap, use only a humane trap designed for live animals and check on the raccoon often. Trapped animals become stressed and may hurt themselves or die while trying to get out.
There are other effective ways to control raccoons, such as these.
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How To Keep Raccoons Out From Backyard Chicken Farm
If you have a backyard chicken farm, then you may be dealing with raccoons. Raccoons can be a nuisance and a danger to your chickens.
To keep raccoons away from your backyard chicken farm, you will need to take some preventive measures to make your yard and chicken coop less appealing to them.
Here are a few tips:
What Time Of Night Are Raccoons Are Most Active
Knowing the answer to this question is essential as the scare tactic may only work when the species is out and above, foraging for food, and not nestled in your attic following its nighttime activities.
Around dusk is the best time of day to catch them unawares, although, due to their nocturnal nature, you may be able to scare them off throughout the night while they are rustling through your bins or obliterating your yard.
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How Can You Tell If A Raccoon Has It
There are a few ways that you can tell if a raccoon has rabies:
- The raccoon may be acting strangely.
- The raccoon may be acting aggressively.
- The raccoon may be foaming at the mouth.
If you see a raccoon that is acting strangely or aggressively, you should stay away from it and call your local animal control.
Seal All Entry Points
If you have any access points like gaps or openings under your doors or in your walls or loose shingles, raccoons will find a way to get inside. This is especially true during colder winter months when they hunt for shelter and warm places to make their nests. If you have a chimney, make sure the top has a wildlife guard to prevent raccoons from settling inside.
If you have spaces underneath your home or deck, you can use 10-gauge galvanized hardware mesh to seal off the area. This will keep wildlife from getting into crawl spaces and creating a nest while still allowing for drainage.
Store Firewood The Correct Way
Your firewood piles can encourage rodents like rats to hide. Also, they may provide the dark and warm shelter that snakes like. Where these animals are, so will your raccoons be.
It is also worth noting that your woodpile may be dark and comfortable enough for the critters to make their dens and nurse their young.
Stack your wood tightly to make it harder to move around, and do it far away from your deck. Also, you can restack the wood on pallets higher up, so raccoons find them much more difficult to reach.