Living with Raccoons

Raccoons are found in all types of habitats. We usually associate them with riparian or wetland regions. But over the years, we have changed their habitat into our living spaces and they have had no problem adapting to our lifestyles and do not fear people like many other wild animals. At one time they found housing in piles of stone, fallen trees, or holes in the banks of creeks. Now those nesting places have been replaced with attics, crawl spaces under our homes, hot tubs, decks, tool sheds, and storm drains. Water sources, such as the numerous creeks and springs in our area have been replaced by water dishes for pets, swimming pools, and ponds. Thus, we have problems with them claiming back “our” space for their own. Consequently, raccoons topple garbage cans, nest in attics, roll back lawns for food, prey upon pond life, and are even intrepid enough to come into our homes. Remember, prevention is the key to avoiding problems with raccoons.

Being nocturnal animals, raccoons roam properties at night, looking for insects, fruits, vegetables, acorns, seeds, fish, and small mammals. They are seasonal eaters and prefer fish, crayfish, and small mammals in the spring. During the other seasons, they feed upon acorns, seeds, fruits, vegetables, insects, and other invertebrates. Raccoons breeding season is January to March. Gestation is typically 63 days and litters average from three to six young.

Prevention

It is important that you check your property regularly to insure that screens, barring entrance into your home or basement, are intact. Make sure there are no holes in your eaves for access into the attic. Close the areas around decks, hot tubs, and sheds. Raccoons are great rodent predators and often follow mice and rats into these kinds of areas.

*** Place ammonia stations around your yard wherever the raccoons frequent. To do this, take a shallow dish or bowl, place a rag in it and pour ammonia over the rag until completely saturated. Place enough ammonia in the dish so the rag will continue to wick it up throughout the night. Avoid lawn areas, as the ammonia will burn the lawn.

*** Pick up all of your outdoor pet’s food dished before it gets dark. Replace them with an ammonia station. Lock dog and cat doors to keep raccoons from entering your garage or home, and place an ammonia station in front of the locked door.

*** Raccoons will push garbage cans over to pop the lids off, especially the plastic trash cans. Use a metal can and secure the top with a thick rubber strap with hooks on the end, available at most hardware stores. You can also secure the can to a fence.

*** Raccoons often dig for grubs and worms. A gardener or nursery can advise you about a treatment to prevent grubs from living beneath your lawns. Placing piles of cayenne pepper in the place the raccoons dig may discourage them. Using a wild animal repellent such as Ropel, available at most hardware stores, may also be effective.

*** For a pond, horizontally submerge wire mesh around the circumference of the pond. Attach the outside circumference of the mesh to the edge of the pond, leaving the inside free. This way the fish have the center of the pond open and the raccoon cannot reach over the wire because it is unstable and they tend not the stand on it. Placing a “hot” or electric wire around the perimeter of the pond will discourage not only raccoons, but neighborhood cats. It can be made removable so family members can enjoy the pond during the daylight hours.

*** Metal guards, 18 inches or wider, wrapped around trees five or six feet above the ground, will deprive raccoons of access to nearby rooftops and other buildings.

*** If you have a raccoon who has established itself under your home, first find all the entrances and exits. Block all of them off except one. Place a radio near where the animal is nesting and keep it on loud during the day. Place ammonia stations near the same spot. If the nesting area is not accessible, try placing the ammonia stations at each of the air vents in the foundation.

Remember to leave an escape route for the animal. To know if the raccoon has left, sprinkle flour at the exit and watch for footprints that lead away from the exit. When you are sure the animal is gone, seal it up securely.

IMPORTANT: If you have a female with babies, be sure to give her extra time to relocate her entire family before you seal up the entrance. Do not lock the mother out. The young may die, leaving you with a smelly mess or, more likely, the mother will return to retrieve her young causing damage to your home.

Raccoons prefer to live the easy life and don’t like to be in a hostile environment. Very often once you start using the deterrents they move away.

Pet Doors

If a raccoon enters a house through a pet door, they might have trouble finding their way back out. Skunks, opossums, stray cats and other unwelcome animals may also get in. You can easily prevent this by locking your pet door at night with your pet inside or installing a pet door that will open only upon receiving a signal from an electronic collar that your own pet will wear.

The art of persuasion

If it’s too late for prevention and you find a masked marauder in your house, follow these steps:

• Stay calm. A panicked raccoon may run further inside your house and may cause damage, so you’ll help the situation by keeping cool yourself.
• Contain pets before dealing with the raccoon. If you have a dog, close them in a room away from the raccoon. Try to move cats away from the raccoon as well. The raccoon is going to be mainly concerned about getting back outside, which is helpful—you just need to show them the way!
• If you can do so safely, close doors to other parts of the house.
• Make a trail of marshmallows, cheese bits or fig bars leading out an open door. Move quietly and slowly and try to nudge them back out the way they came in, by getting behind them then turning on a vacuum cleaner—they’ll run from the noise. Or walk behind them, banging a broom.
• Open doors that lead outside. You can also open windows, but put a chair under them so the raccoon has something to jump up on.
• Leave the room, if possible, and wait quietly for the raccoon to escape. To tell if they're gone, sprinkle a band of flour in front of open doors so that you can see exiting footprints when they leaves.
• If the raccoon doesn’t leave after you’ve tried for several hours, call your local animal control officer for assistance. Never try to catch or directly handle a raccoon. A panicked and scared raccoon may be inclined to bite. 

Bird Feeders and Raccoons

One quick and easy solution to keep raccoons from eating seed intended for your backyard birds is to put out only as much seed as the birds will eat by nightfall. Raccoons forage at night, so they’ll miss the free lunch you’re providing.

Another equally simple solution is to bring your bird feeders in at night and put them back out the next morning. Either way, your birds won’t miss out and you’ll likely save on seed costs.

Some other options:

Crash Diet—Remove your bird feeders for a week or slowly reduce the amount of food in the feeders. When the banquet disappears or dwindles in size, raccoons may seek other places to dine.

Hang 'em high—Hang your bird feeders on poles a half inch or less in diameter, securing the pole firmly so it cannot be knocked over. Raccoons cannot climb such a thin pole and they won’t be able to tip it over to access the seed.

High-wire act—Suspend your bird feeders from a wire extending between two trees. String soda bottles lengthwise along each side of the feeder if you also want to prevent squirrels from walking the wire to get to the feeder—if a squirrel approaches, the bottles will spin, returning them to the ground.

Waste not, want not—Reduce the seed that falls to the ground (an attractant for raccoons) by using only one type of seed per feeder and using feeders that catch fallen seed.

I can do that—If you are a DIY-er, you can make a raccoon guard for your pole-mounted feeders. Or if you are not so handy, you can purchase a raccoon guard at most places that sell bird feeding supplies.

The old clothesline trick—Set up a clothesline for hanging the bird feeder, isolated from tree branches or other structures that might provide access for raccoons.

Skip the grease—Don't grease up feeder poles or wires. If it gets on a bird’s feathers, they cannot preen it out and when feathers cannot be preened, they don’t work well for flight or insulation. That leaves the bird vulnerable to predators, bad weather and disease.

Keep a lid on it—Finally, store your birdseed supplies in galvanized metal cans with tight-fitting lids. Such containers do not rust and they keep the seed safe from water, insects and animals who might chew through a plastic container. To keep the lid extra secure, add a bungee cord or place a brick or large stone on top.

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