Suburban Raccoons

This topic probably brings shivers to all of the animal rights activists. As soon as you hear the word trap, you probably think of a poor animal struggling in a less than humane trap trying to get away from very sudden threatening situation.  Let me reassure you, this post is about the proper way to get rid of raccoons that may have found their way into your home in your attic. There are humane traps that you can use for raccoon trapping.

We have shown a picture of one on the left.  They do work on young raccoons who do not have a lot of experience around humans. However, the older adults know how to deal with these traps. They manage to steal the food out of the trap without setting it off. So our message to anyone reading this post is don’t waste your time with various raccoon trapping endeavors.

One Way Trap doors

There is actually another reason to not bother using traps for raccoons. Once raccoons have established a den, whether it is in your homes attic or elsewhere other raccoons can smell a den. They can also tell if it is occupied or not as well. So if you trap the raccoons and remove them to another location which is also illegal in some locales, another family of raccoons is just going to move right in.  The best way to avoid trapping raccoons is to install a one-way trap door at the entrance to the den so they can get out and not back in. Just make sure that the babies are old enough to travel, otherwise, the adults may do a lot of damage trying to rescue their young.

Does Raccoon Trapping Work

In other words, will the adults go in the trap? In my experience, the adults will avoid the trap altogether. They have had experience with traps and know that they are dangerous.  I have tried baiting the traps with meat, with peanut butter, with cheese and even jam which they like! As you can see from the picture above, the wire mesh of the trap is reasonably tight. In other words, it looks like they would have trouble getting through the mesh to get at the food without going inside the trap.

Somehow when I used a humane raccoon trap like this and baited it with one of the above treats, they somehow reach through the mesh with their paws and got most of the bait! Amazing dexterity and agility, as well as the smarts to stay out of the trap. We did manage to catch two of the young raccoons, but the adults were too smart for us and even if we did, we found out later that it would have been a waste of time. Another family of raccoons in the area would have just moved in.

One Way Trap Door

Instead of focusing on raccoon trapping, we ended up hiring a company to block all potential entries from any animal to any spot on our roof. As well as a one-way trap door at the main entrance. They were gone within a few days since once they exited the den in our attic, they could not get back in. Raccoons are nocturnal so they go out at night to hunt for food and water. They might have received a surprise when they could not get back into their home that first night even.

Before you feel sorry for the raccoons, know that they just found another unsuspecting home to move into. They are smart and they know were to look for dens in nice warm attics and I am sure they found another that night.

If you are planning on trapping raccoons to get rid of them don’t bother wasting your time. they will just come back or another family is going to move in. We have other posts that provide more detail about installing one-way trap doors, so if you have this problem you may want to read one of these. Readers who want to contribute a comment about their experience with raccoons and in particular trapping raccoons are welcome to leave a comment. We will even approve a link for good comments

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