Suburban Raccoons

Wow, what a mess these raccoons have made to this person’s home. They placed a board initially against the side of the home to stop them from going into their attic and then the raccoons just dug a hole in the roof so that they could get into their den! These people sure could use some raccoon repellant, however, does raccoon repellant really work, or is it a waste of time?

Once you have a problem with raccoons getting into your home, there is no raccoon repellant that is going to work. The problem these people had is that the raccoons probably had their babies inside the attic of this home. They usually have babies in the late winter and if you block the entrance to the den, they will go crazy until they can rescue their baby raccoons. This usually involves doing a lot more damage to your roof and then water gets in and it can go into thousands of dollars in damages. There are better ways to get rid of these raccoons that will keep them out on a permanent basis.

Racoon Repellant – What Should a Home Owner do About this Situation

The first thing is not to block the entrance until the raccoon pups are old enough to travel on their own. While no one wants raccoons in the attic, you will actually minimize the damage the parents will do by not blocking the entrance.

Once the pups are old enough to travel on their own, have a professional install a one-way trap door so that they all can get out but not back in. Once they are out, then you can install a more permanent solution after repairing your roof. The permanent solution is heavy gauge wire mesh over the opening or area where they were getting into your attic.

Raccoon Repellants that Do Not Work

We had raccoons in our attic and we tried a number of things that were suggested to us by searching on the internet. basically, none of them worked, so do not waste your time. We tried:

• Loud music
• Mothballs
• Trapping
• etc

None of this stuff worked for us! We eventually called a professional animal removal company. They first told us to do nothing until the babies raccoons were old enough to travel. They then showed up at our door in May when the babies were coming out every day. The technician installed a one-way trap door over the opening. They all could get out and none of them could get back in. Sounds so simple, doesn’t it?

Once they were all out, this company came back, checked the attic for us to make sure they were really out and then removed the one-way trap door, repaired the damage for us, and then installed a permanent heavy gauge wire mesh over the opening to prevent raccoons from getting in ever again. They also looked our house over and installed wire mesh everywhere else that were potential entry spots. They completed this work for us in a very professional manner.

Why Install a Wire Mesh vs. Using Racoon Repellant?

There are actually very good reasons for this permanent approach vs. using various other types of repellents.  First, this is a permanent solution. The current family of raccoons is not coming back and no other families of raccoons are not going to be able to get into your home either. Even the young will come back once they mature unless you deal with them in this way.

Noise, mothballs and all of the other stuff just does not work. Unless you install a permanent solution, you will always have to use some form of repellant if by chance it does work. They can smell a den from the street and will come back to your home whenever you remove the deterrent.

But again, it is our belief that these repellents just do not work so do not waste your time.

Five Years Later

It has been five years since we had a problem with raccoons in the attic. After installing the wire mesh over the opening, we have not had any problems. In the wintertime, we have seen tracks in the snow on our roofs. Raccoons are checking the entry location out to see if they can get back in, but they are foiled by the wire mesh.

In five years’ time, almost every year we have had tracks on our roof. This really means that other families of raccoons have decided to try our place. Perhaps they are descendants of the original family and are trying to get back into one of their old dens. This just shows you how long you would have to use some kind of raccoon repellent. Installing a permanent solution such as heavy gauge wire mesh over the opening is far better.

 

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