Suburban Raccoons

If you have raccoons in the attic there is only one way to get rid of them. Do not trap or poisoning them. Both solutions do work temporarily. But then new families of raccoons are just going to move in, in a short time. There are many families of raccoons in a square mile around your area regardless of where you live. If there is a vacant den, they will just move into it. They are able to tell if a den is vacant or not and will take over from the previous tenants. Relocating Raccoons just does not work.

The other surprising thing is that they will have 4 or 5 dens in the neighborhood. Just like your rich relatives, they have a number of homes that they can move into close to food sources. They may take up residence for a little while in one. Then move to the next one once the local food source becomes thinned out. You want to make sure that there are no sources of food around your home that they can get into. This includes your outdoor garbage cans, grubs in the lawn and so on. Make it unattractive for them to live in your area. Otherwise, they will hang around and there is no telling what mischief they will get into.

Not Relocating Raccoons

The best way to get rid of raccoons is to build a one-way trap door so they can get out and not back in. The trap door is installed over the entrance of the den. All other areas that could be potential entrances should also be closed off.  Once they are gone you can change the one-way trap door and replace it with a permanent heavy gauge wire mesh across the opening.

If they have babies make sure they are old enough to move on their own and get out. If they cannot get out, you risk the parents trying to rescue them and that means they will literally tear your roof apart trying to get to them. In addition, most people do not want the smell of a rotting carcass in their attic. It does not smell good and then there is the fact that these babies had to die in your attic. This is not something you would be proud of. If they have young babies in the attic, chances are you are just going to have to wait until they are old enough to get around by themselves.

Permanent Solution to Relocating Raccoons

Once they are gone, replace the trap door with a permanent heavy gauge wire mesh to keep them out on a permanent basis! Not only your raccoons but other raccoon families will be kept out, in addition to squirrels and birds. We did this and we could see tracks in the snow for months afterwords on the roof leading to the spot where the entrance was. They could not get in and had to move to another location.

While you are covering the entrance, make sure that you also install this wire mesh at all other potential locations. This protection will also keep out squirrels and birds as well from getting in where they are not supposed to be. There are companies available who have the equipment and knowledge to install these trap doors properly. If you are uncomfortable doing this work yourself or do not want to get up on the roof, don’t hesitate to call them immediately to avoid further damage to your attic and your roof.

If you need to screw nail the mesh into the roof, make sure that you fill the hole and cover the screw head with waterproof caulking. This will prevent water from damaging your roof and causing other problems.

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