Suburban Raccoons

Our neighbor just found that raccoons were in his attic and he acted immediately to get them out which probably saved him a great deal of money. Raccoon Removal Attic They got up on a small roof, pushed the soffit up and crawled into the attic crawl space over his living room. This was beside his son’s bedroom just like what is shown in the picture. The kids could hear these sounds coming from the attic. Some bumping and scratching sounds coming from the other side of the wall, as they made themselves a home and moved the insulation around.

It was loud enough to wake them up at night with all of their movements. This usually took place around 5 in the morning after they return from an all night session of foraging for food. Raccoons are primarily nocturnal animals and look for food at night. They will come out of their dens around dusk and return prior to sunrise.

How to Arrange for Raccoon Removal Attic

We have a problem with raccoons in the neighborhood and they have been into almost every house on the street. So when they got into his house, our neighbor had lots of advice on the best way to deal with them and keep them out of the house as well on a permanent basis. These urban raccoons climb up the brick onto the roof and then were a second roof comes down to meet the first they punch up the soffit and in they go. They seem to pass this information down from generation to generation, because they have been getting into houses on our street for years.

As soon as someone finds that they have this problem, they call the animal control people and they come out to install a one way trap door made of heavy gauge wire mesh over the opening so that they can get out of the attic but not back in. Raccoons are nocturnal, so they are usually in the attic when this trap door is installed. They come out at night and find that they cannot get back in the following morning. I guess at that point they have to scramble a bit to find some other place to stay for the day. I did read somewhere that they will have three or four dens that they move around to, so maybe they just go to one of the other dens when they cannot get into the first one.

Make Sure That there are No Baby Raccoons

Baby raccoons are usually born in the spring in the north, however in warmer climates; raccoons may have more than one family a year. Either way you must make sure that the babies are old enough to travel on their own and can get out through the one way trap door on their own. If they cannot, they will remain inside calling for their parents who will respond and try to find a way back into the den. Raccoon parents are extremely loyal and will do almost anything to get to their young. This can include literally tearing your roof apart to find an opening to rescue their babies.

If you think that there are babies inside you are just going to have to wait until they are old enough or install the trap door, get the parents out and then go into the attic and get the babies out by hand. We do not recommend this ever. First of all you are going to have one angry set of parent raccoons that can be quite vicious when they want to be. Secondly, by this time your attic is going to be pretty dirty and smelly and thirdly, raccoons can carry a number of diseases that can be dangerous to humans.

Replace the Insulation

You may have to arrange for a special team to come in and remove the insulation and the remnants of the raccoons living in the attic. These people will wear special protective clothing and air masks to prevent them from contacting any of these diseases.

This is by far the best way to remove raccoons from the attic and to also prevent other families of raccoons from entering your attic ever again. It is humane, the least intrusive and the least dangerous for you and your family. The cost can be around $400 to $700 depending on the home, however this is far less than the cost of replacing all of the insulation and cleaning your attic.

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