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Humane Raccoon Removal
If you have reason to believe you have raccoons in your home or around your property, there is no need to despair. While raccoons can cause health risks and much damage to your home, these critters can be removed with ease by professionals. Continue reading to learn more about raccoons and how you can get rid of them.
Why are raccoons attracted to my property?
It might seem odd that of all the places raccoons could go, they chose your home or property. There are some aspects of a particular property that appeal to raccoons, namely dealing with access to shelter and easy food sources. Since raccoons wander and scavenge for food, it is likely they have found easy food sources on your property. Items like pet food or any garbage left out can bring in raccoons like a beacon. If you have any chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, or other easy prey, raccoons will likely be attracted by the scent and sound of these animals.
Outside of food sources, raccoons are often in search of shelter. There are many reasons your property might offer great shelter. If you have any brush piles, rock piles, or other areas where debris accumulates, raccoons might decide to live in them. Easy access into a warm place, such as a garage or an attic would also be a huge attraction for raccoons. This is particularly true if there is a pregnant mother raccoon that is looking for a warm, safe place to raise her young.
Why should I remove the raccoons?
Raccoons are one of the worst nuisance animals you can get, as they cause two major kinds of damage, each being very serious. The most important bit of damage raccoons cause has to do with the many different diseases these animals carry. Raccoons carry many nasty diseases, including rabies, raccoon roundworms, salmonella, and a variety of other serious maladies. Rabies and salmonella are most commonly spread by coming into direct contact with a raccoon, either by being bitten, scratched, or exposed to saliva. Raccoon roundworms and other illnesses are commonly spread through raccoon feces and urine. All of these diseases can seriously harm you and your family, making it a priority to get rid of raccoons.
Raccoons are also very destructive to your home and property. They make some of the largest messes of any nuisance animal species. They can create holes in your attic, destroy your insulation, and have their offspring in your home. Raccoons are very harmful to any small pets you may have around your home and property, and can even get into fights with larger dogs. Similarly, if you have any chickens, ducks, geese, or other fowl, raccoons can kill an entire flock.
How can I prevent raccoons?
Raccoons can be a very simple animal to prevent coming into your home. In order to do this, limiting the appeal of your property is an excellent first step. The best way to do this is to get rid of any food sources that raccoons can easily access. The two simplest steps are to be sure that your garbage is secured and to keep any pet food locked up and out of the reach of raccoons. If you have any fruit trees on your property, picking up any fallen fruit can be a serious way to limit the attractiveness of your yard. Once you have done these, you can focus your attention on your house.
When examining your home for any problems, it is important to do it methodically. Begin by checking the exterior of your home. Pay special attention to the attic, the roofline, and the soffit and fascia of your home. Also, be sure to check out the chimney, as this can be a likely hideout for raccoons. Then, check the interior of your home. Look closely in the attic and around the foundation of your home. If you see any problem areas, most of these can be repaired by using sheet metal, all-weather sealant, or whatever other building materials you choose. Performing these steps should keep raccoons out of your house and yard.
How do I remove raccoons?
The removal of raccoons sounds relatively simple, but in reality, it is not. If there was one solitary raccoon, it would not be too big of a deal to set a baited cage trap and remove the critter. Another simple method would be installing a one-way door that lets raccoons leave but not enter again. The main issue with do-it-yourself raccoon removal is that the raccoon will often have its young in your attic. If you try to remove the mother and succeed, this means that the babies will be without food and will die by starvation. In addition, the odors caused by the dead raccoons can be very pungent. If their mother is trapped, the baby raccoons will suffer by dying slow deaths. Bad odors can occur from this, in addition to a variety of health issues related to dead animals. This is the main reason that it is recommended to hire a professional wildlife removal company to take care of the wildlife removal. Wildlife removal experts will examine your entire attic, locate the babies, and then remove the mother, keeping all of the involved raccoons safe and healthy.
Why hire Wildlife X Team Nashville?
As can be seen, removing raccoons from your home and property is a very important matter. Since it is so important, it is highly recommended to have professionals take care of the removal process. When you realize that Wildlife X Team Nashville experts not only humanely get rid of your raccoons, but they also closely look over your property, home, and garage, as well as figure out how to keep raccoons out in the future, it seems like a no-brainer to leave it to the pros. Wildlife X Team Nashville provides services to Nashville and surrounding areas, resolving any nuisance wildlife-related issues we come across. Upon removal of all of the invading raccoons, our experts will assist you in figuring out various prevention methods that can be employed to prevent any future nuisance wildlife from getting in. Wildlife X Team Nashville is focused on the affordable and ethical removal of raccoons, all while keeping our customers and their families safe.
How to Remove Raccoons From Attic?
Raccoons in your attic aren’t only unpleasant, they can be an active threat to your general wellbeing. Like most wild animals, raccoons expose you (through their feces and urine) to a host of infectious diseases and bacteria. In some cases, these may prove lethal to you or your pets, so it’s important, when dealing with wild animals on your property, to remove them as swiftly as possible.
However, in some cases, that may be easier said than done. How do you remove raccoons from your attic? What are the right products to use, and should you call a wildlife removal professional? We aim to answer all of those questions in this article.
So first things first, should you call a wildlife removal service?
Most likely, yes. Many homeowners get fooled by the idea that by attempting DIY wildlife removal, they can save some money. However, while that might sometimes be the case, more often than not, DIY removal methods end up costing more than initially expected, and that’s not including the energy and effort expenditure.
Trying to remove wild animals from the home can be exhausting and stressful, which is why calling a professional wildlife removal company might be advisable. They will remove the problem quickly, and without adding any stress to your day, will often clean and repair the damaged attic, and aid you in preventing future invasions.
However, if calling a professional raccoon removal service is not for you, here are some things you can try to remove a raccoon from your property on your own.
Try live trapping.
Live trapping is the same as kill trapping, except without the killing. Killing raccoons (or any other intrusive wild animal) is unnecessarily cruel, and not overly efficient. So we urge that you choose live trapping instead.
Look for paw prints and droppings to determine the animal’s natural route through your attic, then place your live trap along that path. Check on the trap regularly, to ensure that the raccoon isn’t trapped any longer than strictly necessary. Next, use the trap to transport the raccoon into the wild, and set it free.
Make sure you look for raccoon babies, though (kits), and not just the mother raccoon. Remove them all in one place, so as not to separate the mother from her babies.
Scare them off.
Raccoons are nocturnal creatures, so one thing that we know about them is they aren’t fans of bright lights. This is why light deterrents can come in really handy, in dealing with bothersome raccoons. Alternatively, if a light deterrent machine isn’t right for you, you can just keep the lights on in your attic for a few nights, to determine the raccoons to leave. If you have any flashing light devices, these may work even better in scaring the raccoons off.
Raccoons are also discouraged by loud noises, so banging pots and pans, using a sound machine, or just cranking up the radio may also work in scaring off the raccoon(s).
If attempting to scare off raccoons, make sure you give the mother raccoon a few days to remove her kits from the attic, before starting to clean and seal the damaged area.
Next, prevent future invasions.
Understanding what attracted the raccoons to your home in the first place is as important as the removal process itself. Usually, raccoons (like most wild animals) are attracted by easily accessible water or food sources on your property. So look for those, and make sure you remove them. These can include food or water sources inside the attic, but also outside. Leaky pipes, exposed trash cans or food pet bowls may also be what’s attracting the raccoon to your home. So find a way to keep these things, without providing easy access for wild animals.
Next, make sure you seal the entry points into your attics, such as cracks or tears in the wall, or missing shingles in your roof. Also trim your trees, as they may be leading the raccoon up to your attic. If you fail to seal the animal’s entry points, it will only be a matter of time before you find yourself dealing with a new invasion.
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