Suburban Raccoons

One of the main reasons that you should never feed wild animals, is that they become dependent on receiving that food. They will not be able to continue to survive on their own. In this kind of situation the wild animal may in fact starve if you are not available to feed them. We have heard of people who are Feeding Wild Raccoons while they are on vacation for a month or two at a location that is not their regular home and then leave. By this time the animal may have stopped scrounging for food and has become dependent on humans for food. It also breeds familiarity meaning that they will become increasingly aggressive around humans when looking for food.

Feeding Wild Raccoons – Getting into Your Garbage

In addition wild animals may try to take advantage of food that is left outside in garbage, or a camping sites for example that is left outside your car or some unprotected area. Wild raccoons that Live in suburban areas are already familiar with being around humans and are not scared off by humans at all. If there are dogs in the neighborhood or on your property these will be the biggest deterrent to scaring away wild animals.

Many people feed wild raccoons unknowingly. The first major area is their garbage, which the raccoons will get into night after night or on garbage day if available. Gardens, Apple trees, grubs in your lawn and any other food source will attract urban raccoons. With the food source nearby they naturally look for places to live in your area.

Building a Den in Your Home

Urban raccoons which are wild, will look for homes where they can crawl into the attic. They want to set up a den. Once urban raccoons or wild raccoons have made a den in your home it is very difficult to get them out. It is also difficult to keep other raccoons away. You may be able to catch the raccoons and take them several miles away. Other raccoons living in the area will just simply move in within a few months.

The best way to keep wild raccoons from getting into your home is to place heavy gauge chicken wire across all potential openings where raccoons can get into your home. If they already have babies, you’re going to need to wait until the babies are old enough to travel on their own.

Use a One Way Trap Door

The best way to get the raccoons out of their den and out of your home is to place a one-way trapdoor across the entrance. Which will allow them to get out but not back in. This is why it is very important that the babies can travel on their own. If they are stuck inside your attic, the parent raccoon will do their best to rescue them. Including tearing your roof apart.

Call a reputable company to assess the situation. They can install a one-way trapdoor at the appropriate time. Use heavy gauge chicken wire across all potential openings to keep all wild animals including raccoons from ever being able to get into your home. If they tell you that they will be trapping the raccoons or trying to poison them, find another company. This solution is just not effective. They will not solve the problem over the long term.

We also have a number of pictures on the site that show the damage that raccoons can do to your roof. Also pictures of one-way trap doors. There are a number of articles that discuss the damage and the feces that can be left in your attic. Take special care to prevent any spread of disease from the species to humans. Review some of our posts about this topic.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.