How to Get Rid of Raccoons Fast at Home – Raccoons are medium-sized animals which are native to North America. They are mostly known to be highly intelligent and curious animals. Raccoons are omnivorous animals and they easily adapt to an environment.
These animals are also very destructive in nature and unhealthy to live with, therefore it is important to look for ways to get rid of raccoons.
However, before we list out these natural remedies to get rid of raccoons at home, it is imperative we also mention the different causes of raccoons in homes.
CAUSES OF RACCOONS AT HOME
Here are the causes below:
- Leaving leftover food around your home.
- Dirty home or yard
- Piling of trash up
- Lack of adequate defensive measures against raccoons in your home
- Open entrance to farmlands
- Unclean home or yard
- Overhanging branches around your home
- Poor light in your home
7 NATURAL REMEDIES TO GET RID OF RACCOONS AT HOME
That being said, here are the 7 natural remedies to get rid of raccoons at home.
Let’s go straight into them below.
1. GET RID OF THE GARBAGE
This is one of the old but trusted ways to get rid of raccoons.
This is because raccoons easily get attracted to unkempt garbage within your environment.
Therefore, getting rid of your garbage is a natural way you can utilize to get rid of raccoons.
Apart from regular disposing of garbage, you can also keep your garbage tidy to prevent raccoon by doing the following below:
- Go for a trash can that has a metal lock
You should go for a metal trash can that has a metal lock to prevent the raccoon from gaining access into a trash can.
Also, raccoons cannot eat up a metal can with a metal lock, unlike a plastic one which they can easily gain access to.
- Wash your Trash Garbage
Ensure you keep your trash cabbage clean by washing it weekly.
You can make use of baking soda to clean out the offensive odor which might attract raccoons.
Ensure you tip them upside down to drain out the water which can attract mosquitoes and raccoons.
- Secure your Garbage with Stakes
In a few cases, raccoons gain access to trash cans by tipping them and spilling their contents.
Therefore, we advise that you tie the handles of your trash can to a wooden stake which makes it secured in a place and it also prevents raccoons from tipping them over.
- Get a Raccoon Repellent and Sprinkle it around your Trash Cans
There are specifically made raccoon repellent which you can sprinkle around your trash cans to get rid of raccoons.
In addition, to save cost you can get some homemade raccoon repellent.
Raccoon Repellent
Here are some of the homemade or natural raccoon repellent;
- Spices
This is just the scent that will keep raccoons away.
You can sprinkle potent spices around your environment.
You can make use of spices like cinnamon, ground dried hot pepper and ground black pepper.
These spices irritate the raccoons’ sense of smell which enables them to move to a more hospitable location.
Ammonia
Soak your rags in a bowl of ammonia and place them where raccoons are.
You can re-soak your rags when necessary.
You can also put a bowl of ammonia in your fireplace to keep raccoons out of the chimney
Alternate your trash cans locations
Sometimes, regularly changing the location of your trash can is just the magic you need to get rid of raccoons.
You should give this idea a try also.
2. GET A PET DOG
Dogs are human-friendly animals. They are also faithful animals, all you need to do is to train Dogs to keep raccoons away from your environment.
Also, Dogs can sniff out raccoons in attics that can be hidden from human eyes to see.
However, it is important you put measures in place to ensure that the dog is not bitten by a stray raccoon because this can lead to fatal injuries for the dog.
In addition, Raccoons are always scared of big animals; so a big dog is just what you need to get rid of the raccoon.
3. SEAL EVERY OPEN POINT IN YOUR HOME
One of the major causes of raccoons in the home is open access points for them to go through.
Hence, it is only logical to block those access points.
Therefore, we advise you carefully search around your home for any open place which raccoons can come in through.
Block these access points by placing enough padding to keep all these holes well sealed.
You can also make use of old newspapers to add more layers to the padding.
This will ensure a more protective approach to sealing the place.
You should also note that some of these raccoons are agile enough to crawl even through the narrowest of space, therefore ensure you set an extra protective measure to block any tiny holes.
4. GET RID OF THE DARKNESS IN YOUR HOME
You can get rid of raccoons in your home by lighting up the whole place.
This is because Raccoons are nocturnal by nature.
They dislike a place that is fully lighted and as such, they hide away or avoid such places.
So, ensure your home is well illuminated.
Read Also – How to Get Rid of Termites Naturally: 9 Best DIY Home Remedy
5. SET UP ELECTRIC FENCES AROUND YOUR HOME
These animals are known to be great climbers.
Raccoons can easily climb any kind of fences and easily get into your yard.
Therefore, it is only logical or wise that a normal fence will not be sufficient enough to prevent the raccoons’ entry.
To prevent raccoons from climbing your fence, you should either make your fence too high for the raccoons to climb or you should build an electrically powered fence.
Another important factor you should note is that raccoons are good at digging.
They can easily sneak below the fence in your yard.
So, an electric fence can be just the needed remedy to get rid of raccoons.
An electric wire which you should install in six inches above the ground and second wire a bit higher should be just perfect for getting rid of the raccoon.
When raccoon touches the wires, they get a slight shock and give up trying to get into your compound.
Raccoons can stay at your premises, without you even noticing it.
So, you should clear away covers like wood piles, wood stock, old woods, brushes, etc.
6. TEMPORARILY GET RID OF VEGETATION
When dealing with a lot of raccoons in your house, you should temporarily get rid of vegetation crops.
This is because raccoons like to feed on crops like watermelon and corn.
Cultivating these crops can invite more raccoons in your yard.
After getting rid of these raccoons, you can re-plant your crops.
7. USE GARLIC SPRAY FOR RACCOON
Garlic spray is an effective home remedy to get rid of a raccoon.
It is also a perfect raccoon trap.
This is because raccoons get irritated by the smell of garlic and just the smell of garlic drives them away.
Do This
- So, we advise that you get a clove of garlic and crushed this fresh garlic with red chili powder.
- Now, sprinkle it around the house and in your garden.
- As soon as the animal comes in contact with the garlic smell, it runs away.
On a final note, we will like to explain some few things about raccoons and why they visit your home.
Firstly, raccoons come visiting for mainly two purposes. They visit for food and the other is for shelter.
Raccoons are always in search of food in dark places.
They love pet foods especially because it makes good meals for them.
Therefore, it is imperative you clear your home of any food that is being left unattended.
Raccoons can dwell in your home even without you noticing.
They can stay in your wood stock, attic, ceiling, and even in the garage.
Kindly note that Raccoons are very protecting of their baby raccoons, so, if you are trying to clear the yard of raccoons, you should carefully deal with the baby raccoons.
OTHER METHODS TO GET RID OF RACCOONS
Apart from the above-listed methods of getting rid of raccoons at home, there are some other effective ways of getting rid of raccoons which are:
Play loud music because it can scare them away.
You can also make or buy a raccoon trap. All you need to do is to place them in areas where you can always find them. This method also saves you a whole lot of stress.
Another way to get rid of raccoons is by installing sprinklers. Sprinklers are a sure way to get rid of raccoons because they hate getting wet and as such they avoid it.
Also, make use of Epsom salt. It is a known fact that Epsom salt helps to get rid of pests and raccoons dislikes this smile and as such, they avoid places where it has been sprinkled.
Cucumber is also a good home remedy that you can utilize to get rid of raccoons.
You can plant them around the border of your yard to keep them away.
You may also place cucumber slices in the roof space and in the entrances to prevent raccoons.
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Conclusion
It is important to also note that Raccoons are “wild animals” and as such, there is a great possibility that your pets and raccoons may get into a conflict, especially when the raccoons feel trapped.
These cases have been reported in different countries especially in America.
Most cases, cats and dogs have the tendency to chasing raccoons at sight.
Most especially, out of curiosity dogs chase raccoons to protect their environment and due to this in most cases, raccoons try to flee away.
However, in some few instances, these raccoons may feel trapped and as such, they may attack cats and dogs.
Raccoons possess sharp teeth and claws. This makes them capable of severely getting your pet injured.
Therefore, once you find raccoons in your neighborhood, it is advised to take special care of your pets to avoid any injury.
A good reason why you should protect your home from raccoons is that these
Raccoons can spread rabies by biting or through a scratch. If you or your pet has been attacked by a raccoon, it is highly advised to take proper medical treatment as soon as possible.
Apart from spreading rabies, Raccoon feces in your area can also pose a major problem,
This is because raccoon’s feces contains a whole lot of bacteria and worms in it, which can cause serious health damage.
Therefore, much care should be taken to remove it and dispose of it at the earliest.
Raccoons’ feces is the main host for a harmful roundworm called Baylisascaris procyonis.
So, people who are exposed to raccoon’s feces are possibly at risk.
It may also have leptospirosis and salmonella which can be hazardous to humans and pets.
If Raccoon feces is found, the area needs to be appropriately sanitized.
Jennifer germain
I have a very clean back yard and 8′ fence around it. They started coming after my dog passed away and have been having fun in my pond. They killed my fish and water plants a month ago, still coming for a dip every night.I have read that they don’t actually go in the water, this is false, they could not reach my plants without going in.
remediesnews
Hello Jennifer. You are right, raccoons are very stubborn and destructive. Try home remedies in this post to get rid of them, and give us feedback. Thanks!