Suburban Raccoons

They are so cute, how could raccoons be considered rodents? Most urban consumers view then as cute looking cuddly-looking animals that coexist in urban areas. Occasionally these raccoon rodent cause the odd problem around the neighborhood getting into someone’s garbage. They might see them the odd time around their yards or even walking down the street. That is about it.

Many people consider them cute until they make a mess of their garbage at night. They have to go out and clean it up or the garbage man will not pick up their garbage. Until they dig up their lawns looking for grubs. They can make a huge mess of their lawn. Or perhaps until they get in their attics and have babies up there. They leave feces all over the place. And they ruin the ventilation in the attic causing mildew and mold to begin to form. They can cause thousands of dollars in damage. When this occurs, they are no longer considered cute.

Raccoon Rodent are Pests

Rodents are pests and raccoons are clearly pests. Therefore in our minds they are rodents that should be kept out of urban areas all together. Unfortunately there are laws and regulations that prevent suburban people doing what they really want to do about raccoons. However I am sounding pretty anti raccoon here in this post. There is a right way to deal with the problem and a wrong way to deal with the problem.

Deal with them properly by finding the right solution to keeping them out of your garbage. Or stop them from digging up your lawn and getting into your attic. Be humane at what you do, otherwise someone will report you. You could end up in jail literally. There was a report of a man being jailed just last week in the news for not treating a raccoon humanely. Avoid jail by employing the right solution.

Raccoon Rodent Solutions

The garbage issue is really quite simple. Either buy garbage cans that cannot be opened by animals or just wait until the morning of garbage day to put your garbage out. Raccoons do not like to be out during the day, preferring to range for food at night.

Grubs in your lawn is a little more difficult. Basically you want to remove all food sources from around your home so you need to get rid of the grubs. There are some great products that can be purchased at Home Depot and Lowes that deal with grubs. Buy it and apply according to the instructions at least three times over the late summer and fall to kill all of the grubs. You may have to do this over two years to really get them all.

Finally the best way to keep them out of your attic is to install heavy gauge chicken wire across all potential openings into your attic. If they are already in your attic, you need to install a one way trap door so they can get out and not back in. Home owners really need to pay attention to whether there are baby raccoons in their attics. If there are and they cannot travel on their own, the parents are going to rip your roof apart to rescue them. Unfortunately you just need to wait until they are old enough to travel or go into the attic yourself and get them. They may be stuck in a corner where they are impossible to get at and you do not want to have them die in there either. The smell will be very bad.

Health Issues

There is another reason not to go into the attic. In the feces of raccoons there are micro worms which can live for a long time and you can actually ingest them into your lungs which will cause very serious problems to your health. The best idea is to let them get old enough to travel on their own and then install the one way trap door.

This is the best way we know of dealing with raccoon rodents in suburbia!

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