How to rid of raccoons in the yard?

[goofygirl]

I have raccoons in my yard. They climb the trees and run on top of the roof. I hope they don't dig a hole into the house and get in!

I live in the freakin' burbs, not the country! Why are they here?


Any tips on getting rid of them (besides shooting them)? I don't want them here!
I saw them out there once last winter, I guess they are the same ones! I thought it was a fluke and that they went away, but I guess not!

 

[barkley]

is there any new construction near by that could be driving them to move?

call animal control and see if they offer any services (some have humane traps and will also come out and help you determine what may be attracting them).

 

[Amlee]

They won't get in the house unless a door is open or you have a hole some where. It is creepy to hear them run across the roof though. My parents have a cabin out in the woods. You lay there at night wonder what creature is running across the roof.

Most likely they are hungry and looking for food. Make sure all trash is put up good. Those little buggers are great at getting into trash cans. They can snap a top off a trash can with out blinking an eye. Once they see they can't find any food around your place. They will move on.

 

[PlutoPony]

They can also come down chimneys if there's an opening (my mom had a terrible time with that once). Trash cans, bird feeders and things like that attract them so get rid of anything like that you might have.... Animal control might have traps you can use if you want to go that way.
Good luck!

 

[floridafam]

My DH likes to throw shoes at them.

Seriously, we had a problem with them about a month ago. They would constantly try and tip over our trash can.

I would call animal control.

The ones we have here in Florida are tiny. We had ones in Michigan that were the size of dogs.

 

[goofygirl]

There's also stray cats in the neighborhood, I don't know if that has to do with it.

There's woods about 2 miles away, and there has been new housing built recently. That's probably why they picked my yard- it has a lot of trees so its the next best thing to the woods!

 

[alliecats]

Ok, that would seriously suck! (That said, I love raccoons as long as they are not rabid or in MY yard, LOL, maybe you could take a pic and post it some time!! Those bandit masks get to me.)
On an Animal Planet show, this lady called a Pest Control place and told them she had a raccoon problem. She said she had like 50. They showed the PC people talking about it, laughing and saying she was probably just seeing the same 5 over again.
They got to her house and she told them to wait, then put out food by her pool for her cats. Next thing, the whole yard was DRIPPING with raccoons. They were coming out of the trees, bushes, everything--easily as many as she said! They went up and took the plates away from the cats with their little raccoon paws (the cats were smart enough not to fight back--they looked totally creeped out).
PC set humane traps overnight, loaded up the raccoons and gave shots to them through the cage bars, then released them in a nature preserve (this was in FL, I believe).
So anyway, all this to say, maybe you can get someone to do the same thing. Good luck!

 

[Amlee]

They can also come down chimneys if there's an opening (my mom had a terrible time with that once). Trash cans, bird feeders and things like that attract them so get rid of anything like that you might have.... Animal control might have traps you can use if you want to go that way.
Good luck!

Oh yeah forgot about the bird feeders. Coons love bird seeds. I have seen many get on top of a feeder and bring it down.

Cheap aluminum pie pans tied together like a wind chime will some time scare them off. The reflection and they nose they make seems to bother many types of wild animals.

 

[floridafam]

It becomes a more serious problem if you have house animals that you let roam outside.

If the raccoon is rabid and it bites them, I would think that would be dangerous.

Usually, they are just bothersome, but I would be more concerned if I had pets.

 

[ChristmasElf]

It's amazing what you can do with a paint ball gun! I have become somewhat of a crack shot too.
And before anyone flames me, the shot just stings them and they run away.

Just picture a young _VERY YOUNG granny from the Beverly Hillbillies here.

They must be having regular weekly meetings too, warning each other about me as I haven't had any in the yard in a while now.

 

[PlutoPony]

It's amazing what you can do with a paint ball gun! I have become somewhat of a crack shot too.
And before anyone flames me, the shot just stings them and they run away.

I can just picture raccoons with paint splotches running around. Tie die coon...!
Even if they don't have rabies, I wouldn't want a dog of any size to tangle with a raccoon as the dog would certainly come out on the wrong end - have you seen the teeth and claws on these things?! We used to have one that came out at night and shoveled bird seed into its mouth as fast as its little paws could move - this was about 15 ft. from the house no less. Our big 90 lb lab would stand at the door barking to get out at it and the coon wouldn't bat an eye. The dog would get so irritated that we wouldn't let it out (doubt the lab would have caught it but why find out?) In the end we sprayed water at it several nites in a row and it moved on...

 

[Amlee]

When I'm at the cabin I have seen as many as 15 to 20 out at the feeders. My parents have set up a fountain for them to drink out of. Man those things LOVE peanut butter!!! I don't let my pup out either. He stands at the window and barks at them. Some of them are as big as he is and he's 23 lbs.

The last time I was down there. I looked out and there was about 5 coons. to many squirrels to count, 3 deer and about 30 wild turkeys down at the feeders eating.

 

[Sleepy]

I have no advice but had to comment. Did you know that in Italy it is considered bad luck if a raccoon chatters at you?

 

[CajunDixie]

Here in IN we borrowed a humane trap for free from our state Conservation Office. They advised me to use marshmallows and Milky Way candy bars to bait the trap. Supposedly after trapping the animal it must be moved more than 30 miles so it does not return to the same site. But we live close to some state owned property that has several ponds and is totally wooded so that is where we do our releases.

I live in the freakin' burbs, not the country! Why are they here?

Because the cities are getting larger and the burbs are moving outward and taking over the country. Not to mention that bird feeders and garbage are more plentiful.

 

[Talking Hands]

I have raccoons in my yard. They climb the trees and run on top of the roof. I hope they don't dig a hole into the house and get in!

I live in the freakin' burbs, not the country! Why are they here?


Any tips on getting rid of them (besides shooting them)? I don't want them here!
I saw them out there once last winter, I guess they are the same ones! I thought it was a fluke and that they went away, but I guess not!

You will probably have to trap them or hire someone to do it. Here we have a business called Pesky Critters and they are always trapping some type of critter or another. MAybe you have a similar business in your area

 

[lillygator]

Animal control should be able to help and Home Depot sells traps.

We had a couple in our neighborhood that were trying to get into the trash cans...a few dirty diapers and we never saw them again.


A funny story, when I had DD#2, my mom lived down the street to help out. The racoons were trying to get into her trash can. One night they were at it again and my mom picked up this yard decoration of a witch on a big hole that had drapey sleeves and cowbell type things on it....(Halloween decoration)...she ran outside shaking it making a huge racket and those darn racoons didn't budge....it was like they were laughing at her.

She finally told me to save a few diapers.