Skip to Content

How to get rid of Raccoons? Explained with Tips & Tricks

“This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases”

How to Get Rid of Raccoons for Good: Raccoons, also nicknamed “coons”, are medium-sized round, fuzzy creatures with bushy tails and a black mask of fur. These animals may look like cute, cuddly pets, but they’re one of nature’s most sneaky and inquisitive bandits. When they target your house, you must know how to get rid of raccoons.  Though Raccoons are native to North and Central America, due to their adaptable nature, they live in a wide range of climates and habitats now.

They typically live in forests, marshes, prairies and make homes in trees or caves, but sometimes they also make homes in barns, abandoned vehicles, and other man-made locations. Raccoons attack most of the time go unnoticed because they are fairly sneaky and use their dexterous front paws and long fingers to flee away within seconds. So if you find knocked-over garbage can repeatedly and trash scattered all over the yard sounds familiar, then you may have a raccoon problem.

Throughout this article, you will provide you with all the information you need to know about raccoons, their behaviors, how they cause damage, and how to get rid of raccoons for good.

The Common Behavior of Raccoons: How to get rid of Raccoons?

Raccoons are not known to be very social creatures. They sleep during the day and go out at night to find food. Raccoons are not very picky when it comes to food. They will eat almost everything they find, including veggies like apples, acorns, persimmons, berries, peaches, cherries, plums, wild grapes, watermelons, beech nuts, corn, and walnuts. They also love to have all kinds of meats and fishes too. Some of the raccoon’s favorite foods are insects, frogs, fish, crayfish, rodents and bird eggs, and battered chickens.

So if you have doubts that raccoons might be the intruder in your property, before thinking about how you can get rid of raccoons, there are a few signs that you can look out for. Firstly, try to find the footprints in your yard, which are quite easy to identify as they will be long, skinny toes in print compared to other small mammals or rodents.

Other significant signs include scattered trash, trash cans that have been knocked over, broken bird feeders, missing fish from your fish pond, empty pet food bowls, and if you own poultry, missing or broken eggs, and battered chickens.

Raccoons will not just steal some foods or knock over the trash can; they will destroy your property and ransack your home-reared goods. But the question is why raccoons are targeting your property, how to get rid of raccoons in the backyard.

What Attracts Raccoons to your Property?     

Like people and almost every other animal, raccoons have three basic needs for survival: food, water, and shelter. Because of the opportunist nature of raccoons, they can be visiting your house for the need of any of these.  These quirky creatures are also attracted to safe places to live, such as an attic of a house that is easy to get into. Here are the most likely possibilities to give you some idea:

  • Food in garbage cans is easily accessible.
  • You have chicken coops outside your house.
  • You have a goldfish pond on your property.
  • You have gardens with sweet corn in your yard.
  • Your property is easily accessible by raccoons.
  • You have decorative fountains, leaky pipes, or small waterfalls in your backyard.
  • You have an unsecured attic.

So if your house is providing ample opportunities for these, then Raccoons will think your property is an all-you-can-eat buffet, and it will surely enter with any entry point there is.

The Damage Raccoons Can Cause:

Racoon is a pretty messy bandit. If it takes up residence inside an attic, they are capable of causing remarkable amounts of property damage. You must know how to get rid of raccoons in the attic even if they didn’t show up in your house yet. Firstly they will damage your attic insulation and reduce its effectiveness in very little time. A family of raccoons is capable enough of destroying your insulation and filling your attic with harmful and odorous urine and feces.

The amount of urine and feces produced by a single raccoon is sufficient to create some severe health concerns. That’s not just it; the baby raccoons will surely damage ventilation and electrical systems that run through attics. If you do not notice their presence timely, these damages can lead to fire, water damage, and even mold.

How to get rid of Raccoons in your Backyard?

How to get rid of Raccoons

 

Being a small mammal, the raccoon is incredibly intelligent and very much detrimental in nature. There are some defensive measures you can take to help prevent raccoons from getting comfortable on your property in the first place. Here’s how to get rid of raccoons in the yard.

1. Getting rid of Raccoons in the Outdoor:

Raccoons are naturally scroungers, and any food item or water left out in the open can lure them to your property. To eliminate a raccoon problem from your exterior house, there are few steps that you can follow:

  • Keep your yard neat and clean
  • Keep rotten or leftover foods away to the greatest extent possible.
  • Close the lid of your trash can tightly or put some weights over it.
  • Consider double-bagging your trash.
  • Remove any kind of pet feed after and clean the area properly.
  • Cover your fish ponds or put wiring over it
  • In the extreme case, place an electric fence around your property.
  • Remove any fallen fruits or seeds from the yard.
  • Trim bushes or remove any large bunches of vegetation from your property.

While cleaning, it is best to use a strong cleaner or the ones that contain bleach. Bleach is very effective in cleaning and goes a long way toward eliminating food odors. And finally, if it gets too much, you can pour some rodenticide on the trash bag, which will cause poisoning or scare the raccoons away.

Read more about How to get rid of coyotes

2. Getting Rid of Raccoons in the Indoor:

While raccoons can really mess up your outdoor by destroying your property, they can cause more harm indoors, endangering your family’s health and safety. To get rid of raccoons indoors, you may follow a few steps:

  • Determine any entry point from where raccoons can enter your house
  • Inspect your attic regularly and make sure there are no places from where raccoons can crawl into the attics.
  • Clean your house regularly with strong cleaners
  • Don’t leave food and water out in the open.
  • Never intentionally provide food for raccoons.
  • Seal off your chimney as it is the favorite nesting spot of raccoons
  • Try using commercial repellents to get rid of raccoons.
  • Place flashlights around the property
  • Get rid of raccoons lethally using a gun, a wire trap, or poison.

Now, if you are a man of ethics or just don’t like to kill pests, then you might want to know how to get rid of raccoons without killing them, then there are two effective options available. One is installing electric fences around your property, and the other one is to use motion-detecting water sprinklers. An electric fence will give the animals and other intruders electric shock, so they’ll prefer to run away from your property. Motion-detecting water sprinklers are also a good option because they sprit the raccoons with a harmless yet shocking stream of cold water. It’s also an affordable option compared to other non-lethal methods, scaring raccoons away.

Hopefully, the above-mentioned ideas give you an overall idea about how to get rid of raccoons. Whichever method you use, it works effectively for a raccoon removal and does not cause harm to your kids or pets. Once you’re certain the raccoon problem is eliminated, seal up the access points with professional help to prevent their return.