Trapping raccoons:
One of the best ways to get rid of raccoons is to trap them. This is a big part of what professional wildlife removal companies will do in a raccoon removal program.
However, DIY trapping can result in a lot of headaches. On its own, trapping is only half the battle, and in a lot of locales, you may need special permits to properly trap and extract nuisance raccoons from a building. Here are some reasons DIY trapping may be a bad idea for you:
Raccoons are smart animals – if they have been trapped once already, it’s likely they will become trap averse.
You may catch more than just raccoons. Any kind of bait that will attract a raccoon will also attract anything else (like squirrels, rats, cats, skunks, and more)
If the raccoon is in your home, trapping and releasing is not enough. You need to properly seal up your home so that your raccoons cannot enter again.
If there are young raccoons in the equation, you need to remove them by hand. If you trap the mother but ignore the babies, you effectively orphan them. If they are in your attic or shed without a mother, they will starve and die up there. That is needlessly cruel and will stink to high heaven after about a week.
Mothballs along with Ammonia:
People have touted mothballs and ammonia for a long time as a proper raccoon deterrent.
Unfortunately, the simple truth is that mothballs DO NOT work. Your raccoons aren’t terribly affected by this tactic.
What’s worse is, filling your attic with mothballs and ammonia can be potentially poisonous to your family. We have to give this method a big thumbs down.
Loud Noises and Lights:
Some people try to put radios and bright lights up in their attic to push raccoons back outdoors. The thing is, Raccoons are already quite familiar with the sounds of living around humans that a radio won’t do much to intimidate them.
Once they realize that the sound of the radio doesn’t indicate any real danger they are likely to just ignore it. Likewise, if you have a big enough attic, there will be plenty of spots for raccoons to hide from bright lights and bed down comfortably.
It’s also likely that your raccoons are hiding out in your soffit box and are likely shielded from the light already.
Your safest bet is to have a professional wildlife removal service come by and take a look at your problem. The pros at AAAC Wildlife Removal are more than qualified to help you handle any and all raccoons you need to get rid of!
