Raccoons are clever, resourceful creatures that often invade homes for food, water, and shelter. They can enter through small openings, rummage through garbage, and nest in attics or crawl spaces. Understanding what attracts them and how to remove them is crucial for keeping your home safe. Effective and top raccoon removal methods include sealing entry points, repellents, and professional wildlife control services . This guide covers top raccoon removal methods for quickly preventing and handling infestations.
Top Raccoon Removal Methods to Follow For Quick Control
For quick control, following preventive measures can play a key role. Hiring professional services goes for humane and top raccoon removal methods for long-term results. A few measures to follow are:
Sealing Entry Points
Sealing all entry points in a property plays a fundamental role in preventing the entrance of raccoons. Inspect the entire property and identify those entrance points drawing them in. Cover chimneys with mesh caps and reinforced vents.
Removing Food Sources
To avoid their infestation, eliminating the food sources is very important. Avoid leaving pet food outdoors. Remove bird seeds or fallen fruits regularly. They are fond of feeding on fruits, pet leftover food, vegetables, as well as nuts. Clean the food crumbs and spills every night before sleeping.
Make Your Yard Less Inviting
They are drawing on to your property because you have placed their food sources in yard areas. It is important to make the garden area less inviting for these pests by:
- Secure your trash cans: Seal the garage tins tightly in containers. Raccoons will draw towards the garbage food substances to feed on. Meanwhile, rinse the garbage area regularly to eliminate any food odour.
- Remove potential food sources: Avoid leaving the pet food open outside or overnight. Try to keep the bird feeders out of reach. Additionally, make sure your garden is cleaned of any fallen fruits.
- Install motion-activated sprinklers or lights: These lights can scare off the pests as soon as they try to venture towards your yard areas.
Posing Structural and Health Hazards for House Owners
These pests can cause massive structural and health risks to homeowners. They can chew electrical wiring, tear insulation, and damage the roof areas. All these damages can hence cause costly repairs.
Talking about health hazards, they carry dangerous parasites and contaminate food sources. Their presence can increase the risk of health problems like Rabies, Leptospirosis, Raccoon Roundworm (Baylisascaris), Salmonella, and Canine Distemper.
Common Food Sources Attracting Them into the House
Raccoons are opportunistic feeders, meaning they can eat anything that helps them to survive easily. Their diet is generally based on garbage scraps, fruits, pet leftover food, vegetables, nuts, or attacking small animals like birds. They also consume eggs, insects, or fish when accessible.
Urban raccoons heavily rely on compost piles and unsecured trash bins. But wild species always search for natural food sources. Keep food sources out of their reach to prevent these dangerous pests from invading your residential space.
How Do They Find Their Way Into A Home?
Knowing the entry points of raccoons is something that many property owners ignore. They commonly enter through attic openings, chimneys without caps, damaged vents, or loose roof shingles. Plus, they are extremely smart and resourceful. They use their sharp, pointed paws to open weak spots for a house entry.
These pests also exploit any weak structural spots like eaves as well as gaps in the siding to squeeze inside. Sealing the entry points and regularly inspecting the home can prevent their entrance.
Best Time of Year to Perform Removal Procedure
Fall is the ideal time of year for performing effective raccoon removal in Barrie. During fall, these pests look for warm shelter places to hide in during winter. Sealing entry points and inspecting the property before the winter season helps to avoid nesting them in crawl spaces, chimneys, and attics.
Similarly, installing deterrents and removing food sources holds equal importance. This reduces the chances of them settling on your property. As soon as you notice even a single of them in your yard, taking immediate raccoon control action should be your first step.
Understanding Lifespan: How Long Do They Live
These pests have a life span of around 2 to 5 years in the wild due to disease, environmental challenges, and predators. They can survive for almost 10 years in urban areas due to fewer natural threats and easy access to food sources. Some species can hence survive longer in a cavity if properly cared for. Their intelligence as well as great adaptability allow them to survive in wild and urban environments.
FAQs
- Do they hibernate in winter?
During cold winter months, they are less active and prefer to stay inside dens. They mostly rely on stored fat for energy.
- What do you do if a raccoon is acting aggressively?
Maintain a distance from them and immediately call the animal control service. This aggressive nature is a clear indication of illness, including rabies.
- Do raccoons attack humans?
They never attack until and unless you don’t provoke them to get aggressive. Generally, they avoid human contact.
- Why do they tip over bird feeders?
They always look for easy food sources and knock-over feeders to access seeds. You can prevent this situation by using raccoon-proof feeders.
- What is the most effective way to get rid of them?
Different top raccoon removal methods are available to prevent their presence. But, hiring professional services can help you better get long-term results.
Keep Raccoons Away with Expert Control Services!
Worried about the increasing number of raccoons in your house yard? Don’t panic, North Star Pest Control uses effective and humane methods to ensure your home stays secure and safe. We use proven solutions to easily relocate these nuisance pests and stop their infestation on an immediate basis. Contact us now for reliable and fast raccoon control services in NewMarket before they become a permanent member of your family.