Suburban Raccoons


What is that scratching noise under floorboards

December 21st, 2017 ernie Posted in Raccoon Baffle No Comments »

tsccoons under floorboardsIf you hear a scratching noise under floorboards in your home, it could be any number of animals. Skunks, mice, squirrels, rats or raccoons are just some of the animals that might be living under your home in the crawl space as shown in this picture. In this case a raccoon has entered the crawl space and is in the process of setting up residence. The scratching is probably the raccoon looking for a warmer spot to spend the days especially if it is in the winter time. They may also be getting ready to have their pups as well. Get rid of these raccoons as quickly as you can before they have young pups. They are very protective and will do a lot of damage if the entrance is blocked and they cannot get to their young.

Scratching noise under Floorboards

Contrary to popular opinion homeowners should not shoot them or poison them. These solutions work for the current tenants, however other families of raccoons will be able to smell that this area was once a den for raccoons and that it is now vacant. It is only a matter of time before others invade your home.

The best long term solution to dealing with raccoons is to install heavy gauge wire mesh over all possible entrances. This will prevent them and other small animals from entering the crawl space or any other area of your home.

If the raccoons are still in your home, you will need to install a one-way trap door where they have been entering the home. The one-way trap door will allow them to leave, but will not let them back in. They will just have to find a new home and not in your house.

As we mentioned earlier if they have babies in your homes crawl space, and the adults are out, you may have to go in and get the babies out yourself. Otherwise, you will just have to wait until they can travel on their own. Then use the one-way trap door to remove them.

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Raccoons in Suburbia

July 21st, 2017 ernie Posted in Raccoon Baffle No Comments »

raccoons in suburbiaBelieve it or not, Raccoons are everywhere in nature. They are in the wild and there are lots of raccoons in suburbia. In a few situations, you can even find them in downtown core areas where there is lots of food available for them.

We recently viewed a video showing a group of concerned citizens who were out on nightly patrol. They would visit all the local dumpsters in the area and bang on the sides of the dumpsters. It was amazing how many raccoons and sometimes rats as well would jump out of the dumpster.

They of course had dogs with them who trained to attack the raccoons and the rats. They would sometimes kill as many as 100 animals in a night. Now some people might think this is a terrible thing to do. Consider the disease possibilities. Also the damage they do to people’s homes and property before you take sides. These animals cannot continue growing in numbers.

Raccoons in Suburbia

There are as many raccoons in suburbia. They have more places to hide and live. Whether it is under a deck or in someone’s attic, they can be safe during the day and head out in search of food at night.

They do spread disease. Be careful around them especially if they have left poop in your attic or around the outside of your home. They can do a great deal of damage to your attic and roof. Tearing a hole in the side of your home or in your roof is bad enough. Leaving feces and urine all over your attic is gross.

Make arrangements to have them removed using a one-way trap door. This is the best way to get them out and keep them out forever. Block all other potential entrances to avoid the raccoons getting back in. Hire an expert if you are uncomfortable getting up on the roof. You can purchase humane animal traps on Amazon and have them shipped to you for a small fee or even for free. Click on this link – raccoon traps

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One Way Trap Door for Raccoons

March 7th, 2013 ernie Posted in Raccoon Baffle No Comments »

One Way Trap Door for RaccoonsOne way trap doors for getting rid of raccoons is really the only viable way to deal with these pests when they get into your home. This picture on the left is the perfect picture that shows how they typically can get into the house just under the eave and also shows the heavy gauge wire mesh with the one way trap door for removing raccoons. This door will allow the raccoons to leave, but they cannot get back in once they are out. This is exactly how they entered our home’s attic and also how we dealt with them! It really works!

This is the professional way to get rid of raccoons, it is the only practical way and it also satisfies all of the animal rights people who are against poisoning and trapping of these animals. We will explain these statements in the following paragraphs. We know that a lot of people will disagree with us, however, please read the remaining paragraphs and then reassess our position.

What You Need to Know About Raccoons

There are many families of raccoons in urban areas. They are remarkably adaptable and have learned to live in urban areas, living off the discard of their human neighbors. A family of raccoons will have one or more sets of pups every year, usually in the spring. They are extremely protective of their children and they have 2 to 4 dens in a neighborhood, moving from one vacant home to another.

As soon as one den becomes vacant another family of raccoons will be ready to move in to the den. This is the primary reason why we feel that it is really a waste of time to poison or trap raccoons. Once you remove one family of raccoons another will move in within a few months.

If you use poison, there is a chance that you could poison the family’s pets or the neighbors. You might also poison them and then they crawl back into the den inside your attic and that is where they die. You might not realize this until the bodies begin to decay and then you have a horrible problem with the smell in your home. There is just too much risk with poison and too many potential problems. Poison also does not stop other raccoons from coming around a few months later.

Use One Way Trap Door for Raccoons Only After the Pups are Old Enough to Travel

This point is extremely important. If the parents are outside and the pups are inside, you have a big problem. The parents cannot get back into the attic. They will literally try to tear apart your roof anyway they can rescue their pups. Shingles have been removed, roofs were torn up, and holes made in a roof just to get back to their pups.

Once the babies are old enough, install the one-way trap door for raccoons to go out. Once they are all out replace the trap door with a permanent wire mesh. Make sure it is securely attached to the roof and sidewalls of your home in the manner shown in the picture.

Cover any other potential areas that could be entrances to your attic with this same wire mesh. Use heavy gauge wire mesh that cannot be broken by the raccoons. Screw nail the wire mesh to the roof and the sidewall. Fill each hole made with each screw nail with waterproof caulking to protect your home from future water leaks.

This is by far the best way to deal with raccoons in your attic. It protects your home on a permanent basis, the raccoons are inconvenienced, but not hurt in any way and you avoid disposing of dead raccoons and raccoons wrecking your roof as well. No more raccoons families are going to get into your attic with this solution.

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Dealing with Baby Raccoons in your Attic

August 21st, 2011 ernie Posted in Raccoon Baffle 1 Comment »

Baby Raccoons in your AtticAnyone who has had raccoons in the attic of their home,  already knows what a problem they have and the damage they and the parents are doing to their attic.  They have messed up your insulation, torn a hole somewhere to get in and even leave feces in the attic and also on the roof. It is a mess that no one ever wants to have. What many people may not know is that adult raccoons raising baby raccoons are very protective of their young. Baby Raccoons in your Attic can be a bigger problem than most people realize.

Blocking the entrance point with chicken wire or boards may have disastrous consequences. If you try to block the adults from getting into the den inside your attic, they will literally tear your roof apart. This damage then allows the rain in, birds, insects, etc. and you have many more problems.

Wait Until Baby Raccoons in your Attic are Mobile

Unfortunately, the practical thing to do is to wait until the adults are finished raising the young baby raccoons. They will then be able to get out of the den on their own. Once they are out of the den or can at least travel on their own, it is recommended that you install a one-way door at the entrance to the den. This will prevent them from re-entering. This allows them to leave and the young babies can just follow their parents.

This is the safest way to deal with raising baby raccoons and also protect your home from further damage. Raising baby raccoons can also be rewarding if you forget about the potential damage.  They are cute as a button and they have their place in nature.

It is also important to deal with the problem as soon as they leave for the following reason.

Raccoons in the Area

There are about 20 families of raccoons per square mile in cities and towns. They each have about 4 to 5 dens that they frequent. Once your raccoon family leaves, another group will move right in and begin raising baby raccoons all over again. They can smell when a den is vacant and will be able to move in if you have not securely plugged the entrance to the den.

Once they are gone, use strong heavy gauge wire mesh and cover all possible entrances, screw nailing all of the wire mesh down. Take care to properly seal any holes you need to put into your roof to avoid water leakage. Even if there are areas where they have not entered, cover these with wire mesh as well. Next, you will have to deal with any damage they have caused inside and arrange for these repairs caused by the raccoons to be completed.

Be very careful with repairing damage and entering attic space after baby raccoons have grown and left the den. Breathing the feces which turn to dust that floats in the air when disturbed, can cause organ damage and death. In the dry air of your attic, these feces break down, become dust-like and when disturbed will float in the air for you to breathe.

Hire Professionals

Hire professionals to clean up the attic if they have been there for some time. You may have to replace the insulation and the air vents over the soffits if there is a lot of damage. The old insulation needs to be removed and disposed of properly. This is an environmental hazard and should be dealt with properly. For more information on repair for raccoons and other associated topics visit other posts on this blog. If they have not been in the attic for very long, you might be able to get away with not removing the insulation. However, the professionals can advise regarding the best course of action.

If you have comments or have dealt with this problem yourself feel free to leave your comments on our blog! Our readers will appreciate hearing about any solutions you might have come up with.

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Install a Raccoon Baffle

May 7th, 2011 ernie Posted in Raccoon Baffle 1 Comment »

Install a Raccoon BaffleA Raccoon baffle or a one-way trap door is one of the best ways to get rid of raccoons that have set up home in your attic. The only caution is that if you plan to install a Raccoon Baffle, make sure that the pups or raccoon babies are old enough to leave the den on their own steam and follow their parents. If they cannot get out by themselves, the parents will try to rescue them and they could do a lot of damage to your roof or your home in the process. We have other pictures on this blog showing some of the damage that can be done by these pesky resourceful animals.

A Raccoon Baffle basically is a one-way trap door that allows the raccoons to leave the den but not get back in. If they have young babies in the den, they have been known to practically tear the roof apart to get back in.

Raccoons typically have young in the spring in Northern climates, although they have been known to have multiple sets of pups over a year. In some of the southern states, raccoons will have several sets of pups every year. If you live in the south, this is something you need to be aware of to avoid further damage to your home.

Damage by Raccoons

They can cause a lot of damage. Not only from the raccoons damaging the roof, but also leave a large hole for rain and snow to enter your attic. Mother Raccoons are very protective of their young. If she has babies you may as well wait until they are old enough to travel on their own. Otherwise, you risk the wrath of the mother raccoon.

Once you are sure they are old enough, arrange to install a one-way trap door or raccoon baffle. They need to be able to get out, but not back in. Make sure you cover all other potential entrances with strong chicken wire to prevent new entrances from being created. This is the humane way to deal with the raccoons. However, there is actually another reason that this is the most reasonable approach.

Multiple Dens

Raccoons have 4 or 5 dens in a neighborhood. In addition, there are anywhere from 20 to 100 raccoon families per square mile. That means you and your neighbors will have to deal with them for some time.

Almost 80% of the homes in our area have had problems with raccoons getting into their homes. They can smell a den. They know whether it is used or not and move in before you know what happened. So blocking the entrance is the best approach to avoid dealing with these problems over the long-term.

Install a Raccoon Baffle

Block the Entrances with Heavy Mesh Wire

Once they are gone, use strong heavy gauge wire mesh and cover all possible entrances. Screw nail all of the wire mesh down. Use exterior silicone over the nails to make sure that your roof does not leak. Remove the raccoon baffle and place the permanent wire mesh in its place. Take care to properly seal any holes you need to put into your roof to avoid water leakage.

Even if there are areas where they have not entered, cover these with wire mesh as well. Next, you will have to deal with any damage they have caused inside. Arrange for these repairs caused by the raccoons to be completed.

Cleaning and Repairs

If you are thinking of entering attic space to remove the raccoons or to clean up the mess, be very careful. Breathing the feces can cause organ damage and death. In the dry air of your attic, these feces break down and turn into dust particles. When they are disturbed they will float in the air for you to breathe.

Hire professionals to clean up the attic if they have been there for some time. You may have to replace the insulation and the air vents over the soffits if there is a lot of damage. For more information on raccoon baffles or repair for raccoons and other associated topics visit our site map.

For more details about dealing with raccoons and raccoon baffles or one-way trap doors, click here.

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