How to Keep Raccoons Away

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If you have a problem with the intelligent and curious raccoon, then you’re in for a real challenge. The fact that they look curious with their black masked faces, hands that are slender like humans and a nice size broad body, only adds to their mystique. They can weigh up to 8 Kg while being 8 cm long and they have been known to live up to five years while in the wild. Yet the wild is not the only place that these creatures seem to find some comfort. They may find shelter in your home or somewhere in your yard where food is plentiful. As cute as they may be, they can cause real havoc in your home and yard and many people turn to repellants as a way to get rid of the animals. Though cute, can be very destructive to property. Here are some of the ways that you can prevent raccoons from making a habitat of your home.



Lighting
Raccoons are known to be nocturnal animals and hide under the cover of darkness when hunting for food. Introducing lighting in your property is a sure way of doing away with raccoons. One or two floodlights in your compound and you will prevent raccoons from lingering on your property. Motion-activated lights are the best way to deal with these stubborn animals as they will scare them the moment they try to step into your property.

Sound
Most nocturnal animals are so used to silence that sound often scares them. Raccoons being mostly nocturnal are also afraid of loud sound and as a result, introducing a source of sound in your property or compound is a sure way of doing it. It may be impossible to shout every time a raccoon appears, but a radio placed near the spots that raccoons frequent is a sure way of keeping them out of your property.

Using Repellants
For ages, human beings have been using common household materials to rid their homes of raccoons. Some of the common readily available repellants include: human hair, mothballs, ammonia and bleach. None of these repellants may be irritating enough for a determined raccoon or a mother on her nest, but they are still very useful. However, ammonia, with its nasty smell has been found to be very effective for keeping your property free of raccoons.

Getting rid of their food supply
Raccoons are omnivores. Their diet is largely compromised of nuts, insects, birds’ eggs and worms. It goes without saying that an easy source of food is one of the best factors that will attract raccoons to your property. Since they do not need to hunt the food already stored in your property, raccoons may storm your compound in large numbers if they remain unchecked. However, if you cut off their food supply, they will have no reason for attacking your property. A good start would be to keep your trash bins beyond their reach. Bird and pet feeders are also an easy pick for raccoons and so they should be kept clean.

Fencing
Fencing is an effective way of keeping your property free of raccoons. However, many people just erect the regular fences and hope that they will keep the raccoons away. However, raccoons are very canning and intelligent animals. As such, they will just dig below the fences or climb over them to get access to your compound. However, an electric fence does not allow entry of any unwanted animals into your property. If you want an effective way of keeping raccoons away from your property, you should try erecting an electric fence. It doesn’t have to stay armed all day since raccoons are most active at night and that is when you need to arm the fence.

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MORE KEEP AWAY RACCOON TACTICS:

Shake Away Coyote Urine
Shake away is supposed to be one of the strongest repellants against raccoons that is natural and safe to use. It uses the scent of the coyote’s urine to repel them. A coyote is one of the raccoon’s biggest predators making their urine a beneficial repellant against them. Coyote urine can be bought as a liquid, powder or in capsule form. The liquid can be placed inside of a plastic dispensing bottle that you can hang from a tree in your yard. The scent is supposed to stay potent for at least a month or two. It is recommended though that you spray it on your plants directly to keep them from being eaten by other animals as well. The powder form can be placed around the perimeter of your lawn, while the capsules can be planted in the ground for a repellant that last much longer. Capsules can keep the raccoons away for up to 2 months. The product is 100 % organic making it harmless to animals, plants and people. It’s mess free and it’s supposed to be guaranteed to work. However, repellants are only temporary and need to be refreshed after so many months.

Homemade Repellants
According to the humane society in Colorado, you can mix one bottle of Cheyenne pepper, one teaspoon of mild soap and a gallon of water, as a mixture to spray around the landscaping of your home, on your plants & vegetables, in gardens and even in your garbage cans. The problem with this repellant is that if it rains, you’ll have to reapply it. If you have children that regularly play outside or outside pets, they could get a hold of it and get burned or trigger allergies. Not to mention, it can burn other animals as well. You also have to continuously reapply this which only makes it effective for a certain period of time.

Mothballs
Your grandmother just keeps ranting and raving about how you should have used mothballs to keep the raccoons away. While it may actually work, using mothballs to repel raccoons is actually dangerous and in some states illegal. The reason being is that as mothballs sit out, they start to vaporize. The chemicals that they contain are released into the air and increase the chances of nasal cancer and liver damage in humans. Not to mention, it can cause other fatal health problems to humans and animal life when ingested. Even if you used them in your attic, it is still harmful considering it can seep through the cracks, floors and walls putting everyone in the household in danger. Mothballs by law are only registered to kill moths in small airtight spaces.

Fences
A hardworking gardener may get tired of the raccoon getting into his crops eating up all the sweet corn and decide to install an electric fence. These fences usually consist of at least two threads of wire that delivers a shocking or stinging feeling to the raccoon when he tries to get in. Chicken wire, newspaper, vinyl landscaping cloth or aluminum foil can also be set around a garden or yard as an acting fence or barrier to keep raccoons out. It is said that these items present an irritating feeling to the raccoon’s sensitive paws.

Is there really a repellant for raccoons that gets rid of them for good and not just temporarily, without you having to continuously spend money? No, the only way to get rid of a pesky raccoon and keep them away for good is to call an expert who can remove and relocate them for you.

More in-detail how-to raccoon removal articles:

Information about raccoon trapping - analysis and methods for how to trap.
Information about how to kill a raccoon - with poison or other methods.
Information about how to catch a raccoon - remove one stuck in the house.
Information about raccoon repellent - analysis of types and effectiveness.

Learn about raccoon roundworm and what to do about a raccoon under the porch. Find out if raccoons live or sleep in trees and what equipment is needed to trap raccoons. I can let you know if it is legal to trap a raccoon and how to identify raccoon tracks. Find out if raccoons can swim, why they tear up sod, how smart they are, and if raccoons hibernate. Learn if raccoons can jump onto houses or over fences, and some of the symptoms of a sick raccoon. I can let you know if the city or county animal services will help with a raccoon issue, and what wildlife rehabilitators do with raccoons. Learn where you should relocate a trapped raccoon and how to keep raccoons out from under your porch.

This site is intended to provide raccoon education and information about how to keep raccoons away from your house, yard, garbage cans, pool, so that you can make an informed decision if you need to deal with a raccoon problem. This site provides many raccoon control articles and strategies, if you wish to attempt to solve the problem yourself. If you are unable to do so, which is likely with many cases of raccoon removal, please go to the home page and click the USA map, where I have wildlife removal experts listed in over 500 cites and towns, who can properly help you with your nuisance raccoon.

Click here to read more about how to get rid of raccoons.