Suburban Raccoons


Best Way to Poison Raccoons

March 21st, 2017 ernie Posted in Poison For Raccoons No Comments »

one way trap doors for raccoonsThe bottom line, you should not poison raccoons! The best way to poison raccoons is to install a one-way trap door like the one shown in this picture. They will be able to get out but not back in. Sure, you might poison the current family of raccoons. But what about the next family and the next one after that. Raccoons know when a den is vacant. They will come visiting unless you install a permanent solution. Once they are out, you can remove the trap door and cover the area with heavy gauge wire mesh!

Best Way to Poison Raccoons – Animal Rights

Frankly, we are not motivated by animal rights, although our solution helps to meet their goals. We are recommending a long term solution that works and keeps them out of your home or other buildings.

Even if you trap them, you still need to get rid of them. Take them several miles away and drop the off! Sure, they are another family of raccoons who will just come back.

By far, the best solution is to cover the entrance with wire mesh after you have them out of the building. While you’re at it cover all other potential entrances with wire mesh as well, make sure the babies are out, otherwise you’re going to have a very upset mother raccoon who will tear your roof apart to rescue them.

 

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Raccoon Poison

June 7th, 2012 ernie Posted in Poison For Raccoons 1 Comment »

Raccoon PoisonUsing raccoon poison to get rid of raccoons is absolutely the wrong way to go about it and not for the reasons you might suspect. The animal’s rights people will like this post. We are against the use of poison to get rid of raccoons. But not because we like raccoons or are concerned about being inhumane. Our rationale is quite different. You need to really understand how raccoons live and travel to understand the issue. There is just a much better way to deal with raccoons around your home. Especially if they are in your attic the way this one is shown in the picture.

First all they find a den in your home or some location where you do not want them to be. Usually, it is in the attic of your home. They climb the brick wall or they gain access via a tree that is close to your home to get onto the roof. Next, they push the soffit up at a point like the one shown in this picture and crawl inside in your attic. Now they have a nice safe place and a warm place to live, have their babies and make a mess of your place. They come and go every night as they go at night to forage for food. If the den is left vacant for any length of time another family of raccoons will just move into the vacant den.

Why Raccoon Poison Does Not Work

If you are unlucky enough to poison them, they may die inside your attic and create a really bad smell in the attic. Now you are facing thousands of dollars to get rid of the bodies of the adults and the babies that are smelling up your home. When it is all cleaned up, another family of raccoons is just going to move in. If you are lucky enough for them to die outside of your home or attic, then for sure another family will move in shortly. They can all tell when a den is vacant and unused!

In the worst case, you kill a family pet or the neighbor’s pet with the poison and the raccoons also die inside your attic. Now you have the neighbors mad at you and the bad smell inside your home.

Install a One Way Trap Door

We have written lots of posts about what you should be doing instead of using raccoon poison, so we will summarize here. We recommend you read a number of our posts about bylaws dealing with raccoons, trapping raccoons and also installing one-way trap doors to the entrance to the den inside of your home. Installing a one-way trap door across the entrance to the den is the only way and the best way to deal with raccoons compared to using raccoon poison. We tried loud music, mothballs and trapping raccoons. None of these work!

Once the baby raccoons are old enough to travel, install a one-way trap door across the opening into the den. Install strong wire mesh across all other potential entrances. The raccoons will be able to get out but they will not be able to get back in, which is very important. Once you are sure they are out, replace the one-way trap door with permanent wire mesh to block them and any other raccoon families from ever getting into your home again.

Make sure the Raccoon Pups are Old Enough to Travel

Making sure that the young are old enough to travel is VERY important. If they cannot get out and the parents cannot get in, it is very likely that the parents are going to destroy your roof trying to get to their young pups. They will do thousands of dollars in damage to your roof!

So forget about raccoon poison and try the tried and true method of dealing with raccoons.  Your comments are welcome. let us and the readers here about your solutions in dealing with raccoons! For more information about dealing with Raccoons around your home, click here.

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How to Poison a Raccoon

November 21st, 2011 ernie Posted in Poison For Raccoons 1 Comment »

Poison a RaccoonLet’s just say right at the outset of this post that “how to poison a raccoon?” is the wrong question for a whole bunch of reasons! Before the animal rights groups start applauding, the reason I am taking this position is that it is just not practical. You risk poisoning too many other animals including pets from around the neighborhood. The right questions is, “how do I keep raccoons from coming back to their den, which happens to be in my attic”!

This post is really aimed at suburban dwellers who cannot fire a gun in their neighborhood. There are too many pets running around. There are also actually lots of raccoons running around looking for a new den to set up home in after the old dwellers leave. That is exactly what will happen if you kill the current set of raccoons using poison or any other method. Trapping is no good either. For example, most municipalities have bylaw’s about raccoons. It is supposed to prevent you from taking a trapped animal more than a few blocks away. Which is really useless. Even if you do take it a long way away, other raccoons will just move in.

How Not to Poison a Raccoon

So instead of talking about how to poison a raccoon, we are going to give you the best way to get them out of your attic and keep them out for good.  To begin with, if you are not handy and nervous about getting up on the roof, hire a wildlife company that specializes in dealing with animals that get into people’s homes. You want them to install a strong wire mesh across all openings were they can get into your attic. While you’re at it get them to cover any that squirrels and birds can get into as well. Once the mesh is installed there is no way for them to get inside, short of tearing your roof apart unless their young pups are locked inside.

Tips to Get Rid of Raccoons, instead of How to poison a Raccoon

So here are a couple of tips that you need to be aware of. You have to wait until the pups are old enough to travel with their parents. If you don’t the parents will try to rescue the young ones and may damage your roof. Besides, you do not want the young pups dieing up in your attic and causing a big stink.

Next, install a one-way trap door so that all of the raccoons can get out of your attic. But cannot get back in. Chances are they will be gone the first night. They will get a big surprise when they come back and find their way blocked. They will have to find another spot that is not your home!

One Way Trap Door

Once you are sure they are out, remove the one-way trap door. Cover the opening with heavy gauge wire mesh so that the entrance is permanently blocked. You may see raccoons or their tracks for a few years as they come back to investigate, but they will not get back into your home! This is so much better than finding out how to poison raccoons and killing family pets or neighbors pets. You just do not want that problem, and they might get animal cruelty, people, after you as well, which has happened to a number of people.

If you have dealt with getting rid of raccoons and have the advice to leave our readers, please leave us a comment.

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Best Poison for Raccoons

November 7th, 2011 ernie Posted in Poison For Raccoons 1 Comment »

Best Poison for RaccoonsThis post is really for urban consumers who have a problem with raccoons getting into your garbage at night or worse getting into your attic and setting up home. When this happens they can really make a mess and they are dangerous as well due to the infections they can cause through their scat. We won’t go into that here, there are other posts on raccoon scat, instead, we are going to focus on why even the best poison for raccoons is not really the long term answer. There are good practical reasons for not poisoning raccoons and not because we are interested in protecting animal life. There is nothing more than we would like to be able to permanently get rid of these raccoons, but this really does not do the job.

Here is Why Even the Poison for Raccoons Does not Work

First of all, there are many families of raccoons in your immediate neighborhood, which may seem surprising to many people. They can smell a vacant den. They will move from den to den based on food sources and where they feel the safest. The Raccoons will and do move into a vacated den almost as soon as you get rid of one family of raccoons. Poisoning raccoons is not the answer. You cannot get them all and will be forever plagued with these pests unless you take another approach.

Secondly, if the raccoon were to be poisoned and die in your attic, you have an even worse problem. The raccoon’s body will rot in your attic and really smell the place up.

Thirdly, if you were to capture them in a cage and take them miles away, other families are still going to move in. Most cities have bylaws that say you cannot do this.

Fourth if you do kill them and someone sees you doing this they may report you to the animal control office of your city and you could be charged with animal cruelty.

Fifth, killing them in some manner is probably inhumane and although I would just as soon do away with them this way by poisoning these raccoons, you risk also poisoning local pets and now you are really in trouble.

So what is the answer if you agree with all of these reasons?

One Way Trap Doors instead of Poison for Raccoons

The permanent solution is to install heavy gauge wire mesh over all potential openings into your home. They will never get through this and this wire mesh will also keep birds and squirrels out of your home. Use strong wood screws to hold the mesh in place. Apply silicone to plug any holes you create so that water does not leak in.

If the raccoons are still in your attic, you need to install a trap door so they can get out. There are a couple of reasons for doing this. First of all, you do not want the young or the adults to die inside your attic. They will smell up the place. Secondly, they will try to get out and in the process could cause a lot of damage. Thirdly if the adults get out and the young are still inside, the adults will literally tear your roof apart to get to their babies.

Once you are sure they are out remove the one-way trap door. Install a permanent covering over the opening so they can never get in again.

This is by far the best solution. We had this problem 5 years ago and used the wire mesh approach. We have not had a problem with raccoons since. However, I have seen tracks in the snow on our roof where they are looking for a place to get inside. Fortunately for us, they cannot get in and are forced to move on somewhere else. Most of our neighbors have also employed this solution and are very happy.

Your comments about dealing with raccoons would be appreciated. We know our readers will also like to hear about your experience’s.

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Using Raccoon Poison to get Rid of Raccoons

October 21st, 2011 ernie Posted in Poison For Raccoons 1 Comment »

Raccoon PoisonUsing raccoon poison to get rid of raccoons is totally the wrong way to go about it. I used to think that getting a gun and shooting them was the best way to get rid of raccoons. However, this is totally the wrong approach for a number of reasons that are actually quite practical. If you are trying to get rid of raccoons, read on for the best solution.

Now before everyone gets excited, we do not condone guns and raccoon poison because it is inhumane. It probably is inhumane. However, when they are in your attic, all you want to do is to get rid of them. You really do not care how it is done.

Raccoon Poison – Getting rid of Raccoons the Wrong Way

Recently a person in Toronto had a problem with raccoons and took a hammer to them. Killing them and disposing of their bodies. Of course, an animal rights activist heard about it. The police were forced to take the person away in handcuffs. He was just trying to get rid of these pests and remove them from his home’s attic. Now he is in jail! How frustrating!

The above story is a deterrent for not killing them, but there is a good reason to deal with them in another manner. Basically, there are many families of raccoons in every square mile inside and outside of the cities across the country. They are everywhere and if you kill them more will just move in a month or two later. When a den is vacated, another family is just going to move right in. Apparently, they can tell if a den is occupied or not by smell alone, so unless you deal with the main problem of access you are just going to have more raccoons in your home’s attic or where ever they have set up residence.

The same thing goes for using raccoon poison to get rid of raccoons. You do not want a decaying raccoon in your attic and you certainly do not want to kill any of the local pets.  Also, you might poison the adult raccoons, leaving the babies to die in the attic and smelling up your attic. Can you imagine the smell and how bad it would be? no one really wants this problem.  Even if they all get out, more will just move in like squatters shortly.

How to Get Rid of Raccoons Safely

The answer is to use heavy gauge chicken wire and seal all possible entrances. You will have to wait until the young pups are old enough to travel before you do this. At the main entrance to the den into your attic, build a one-way trap door so that the raccoons can get out but not back in. Once you are sure they are out then permanently seal this entrance as well with this same heavy gauge chicken wire. This way, no more raccoon families will ever move into your attic ever again.

There are companies that provide these types of services and will do a professional job to keep the raccoons out of your home and attic. Using raccoon poison to get rid of raccoons is only a temporary solution and will only get the animal rights activists mad at you. You may not care about the activists, but you really want a permanent solution.  Besides within a month, a new raccoon family will have moved into the now vacated den unless you take these steps of placing heavy gauge chicken wire over the opening.

Babies Must be Able to Travel

Just make sure that the babies are old enough to get out by themselves. If they are not the parents will try to get back into the den any way they can and this means literally tearing your roof apart to do so. We have pictures on this website that show just what damage a raccoon can do to your roof when they are determined. You can actually have more damage from the rain and the weather after your roof has been wrecked than from the raccoon itself. Try the one-way trap door after the babies are old enough to travel on their own and get out the door and you should have no further problems.

Comments are welcome about your experience with using raccoon poison and building one-way trap doors to keep them out.

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