Advice to Prevent and Get Rid of Raccoons

Raccoons are crafty little creatures that can easily find their way into your yard, your garbage, or even your house. Dealing with them can be tricky; they are highly intelligent and they could be riddled with various diseases. Always use caution when you notice a raccoon has found their way to your property. Follow these to help prevent raccoons from setting up shop near or in your home.

Secure Your Garbage

When it’s garbage day, make sure you always secure your garbage in a sealable bin and try not to leave it out overnight if you can. Sometimes raccoons can open your garbage bins, especially when they smell old food coming from it, so keep the garbage off your curb until it’s time for it to be picked up. Compost is always a huge target for raccoons, always secure your green bins so they can’t get in them.

As a side note, if you keep your garbage bags in your garage or shed in between pick up days, ensure you close your garage when nobody is using it as raccoons could start to be unwanted guests.

Kill Their Food Source

Raccoons love eating bugs and grubs. Those insects sometimes live under your yard, but that won’t stop raccoons from finding them. They will dig up your lawn until they find their delicious meal. To ensure that your yard remains hole and raccoon free, pick up some earth-friendly insecticides to spray on your lawn. If you own pets, most insecticides are non-toxic so they will not harm your furry friends.

Clean Up Your Yard of Any Excess Food

If you have a fruit tree and/or a bird feeder in your yard, raccoons could use them as their next food source. Raccoons love rotting fruit, so if you notice any fruits that have fallen from your tree, clean them up before their scent becomes too strong for the raccoons to resist. If you have a bird feeder, make sure it’s empty at night, or bring it inside. You should also sweep up and fallen bird seed that may be on the ground.

Use Ultrasonic Devices

Most ultrasonic devices will emit a high-frequency sound that will detract raccoons and other unwanted critters like ticks or other yard pests. The risk of these devices is they sometimes raccoons can get used to the noise and ignore it. Switch up your devices every so often to keep the raccoons away for longer. Another trick is to use a radio and put it in your garage. Set it to a talk radio station and turn up the volume, human voices scare raccoons!

Call a Professional

It is illegal for people to trap raccoons and relocate them in Ontario, so you can’t do it yourself. If you have exhausted every possibility of getting rid of your raccoon problem, you should call a certified wildlife control specialist or the SPCA for further details.

All credit goes to Burlington Pest Control