Suburban Raccoons

The deterrent of raccoons entering your attic can save you a lot of repair costs as well as frustration. This site is dedicated to dealing with raccoons that invade our homes. Apparently, a lot of people search for the term” raccoon deterrent”. The word raccoon is spelled incorrectly, so we are doing a post just for them.

Many of us, myself included, when we are confronted with raccoons invading our space is one of anger and frustration. We want to kill them and we want them gone as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the reality is actually much different and it sometimes takes a while for this to sink in. Here is a list of the simple facts and misconceptions, along with Racoon Deterrent solutions which are depicted in the picture above, but we will get to that a little bit later in the post.

More Details

Here is our list of things that you should be aware of in dealing with raccoons:

• They have babies and they will tear your roof apart to get at them if you block the entrance
• If you are lucky enough to get rid of one family of raccoons, another will move in.
• There are hundreds of raccoons in every square mile
• Some municipalities make it illegal to trap raccoons and move them more than two blocks away from your home
• They are very smart and trapping them is almost impossible
• Raccoons will always come back once they establish a den unless you block them
• The feces turn to powder when dry and there are bacteria in the feces which can infect humans making us very sick, be careful
• Some raccoons will have rabies as well
• They are not friendly to humans but can survive very well in urban areas
• If you poison them, you may end up with a dead raccoon in your attic smelling the place up, and/or you may have a neighbor mad at you because their pet just died from poison.

So now you have read all of this and are wondering what to do. Well, the answer is pretty simple when it comes to raccoon deterrents.

Racoon Deterrent

First of all, you have to wait until the young babies are old enough to travel on their own. If you do not, the parents will try to get back into the den any way they can and this includes tearing your roof apart or creating another entrance somewhere. They will not abandon their young. Admirable in some ways compared to many humans.

Once they are old enough, the solution is pretty simple. Either do this yourself or hire a professional to do it for you. Using heavy gauge chicken wire, install it over the opening and create a one-way trap door so that the raccoons can get out but they cannot get back in. This is the best and only way to really deal with them.

Install a Permanent Repair

Once you are sure that all raccoons have left the den, it is time to complete repairs and install a permanent covering of chicken wire over the opening and any other potential openings. Make sure it is a heavy gauge so that they cannot break it. Also, make sure that the screw nails you use to hold it in place are sealed with long-lasting waterproof silicon to avoid any leaks into your home. The picture above shows a typical installation.

The raccoons would climb up the brick onto the roof. Then they pushed the soffit away to get into the attic of our home. In this case, it was above the garage, which was not too bad, but still, you never want them anywhere in your home. The wire mesh installed by a professional animal control technician was completed in about 30 minutes and really did the job. While he was there, he covered several other areas that were potential trouble spots for raccoons as well as birds and squirrels.

Humane Racoon Deterrent

Many of us talk a lot and make claims that we will just shoot them, but the reality is that if you live in suburbia, shooting them in just not an option. Poison does not work either since others will just move in and many animal rights people will complain as well if they were to find out. This solution that we have described makes everyone happy and it is also a great long-term solution. Shooting and poisoning are only temporary since another family of raccoons will just come along and move in in a few weeks or months and then you have the same problem all over again.

Installing the one-way trap door gets them all out of your attic so they do not die a horrible death inside your home and also do more damage. Installing the wire mesh over the opening will ensure that raccoons can never again invade your space inside your home.

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