It’s no wonder that the raccoon is one of the most famous and popular animals in the world, not only thanks to the Rocket Raccoon character in Marvel comics but the raccoon itself is already very cute and interesting.
However, hiding behind the funny face and amusing gestures of raccoon is a mysterious wild creature, hiding many risks to humans and other animals without knowledge when approaching with them.
Your garden or house can be a favorite place for raccoons if it’s attractive enough. These lovely guests are pathogens and a threat to homeowners once they enter. That is why people should not be fooled by its appearance but be alert, find how to get rid of raccoons to avoid trouble later.
Table of Contents
How to get rid of raccoons?
Dealing with cunning and wicked animals like raccoon is not easy. So you should equip yourself with the most basic knowledge to be able to prepare for this war.
#1 Methods of containment:
Start this war by blocking the roads raccoon can pass through to your home.
First find and seal all openings in your home. Raccoons are sensitive to their sense of smell, so they can smell food even at long distances. By accessing the holes around your home, raccoons can easily gain entry into your new home without any effort. For any holes larger than 3 inches, seal them with wood or concrete to prevent pests from entering your home.
Next, check the fence. Raccoons are known to have excellent climbing abilities so regular wooden fences are not a difficult challenge for them. Metal-covered fences are also a great raccoon aid when climbing into your home. The only way to prevent raccoon from coming into your house through the fence is to use a security fence, which is sturdy and high enough to prevent raccoon.
Then use screens for all vents, chimneys and other open spaces to block raccoon entry. Make sure the material you use is strong enough to withstand raccoon’s sharp teeth.
Finally, clean the trash around your home daily, replacing it with a sturdy lidded trash can to eliminate raccoon-rich food supplies.
Just simple actions are enough to reduce the risk of raccoon intrusion into your home.
#2 Method of intimidation:
If the containment method is not enough to eliminate raccoon, move on to the threat method. Raccoons are intelligent animals, but they are also quick to leave when feeling scared and threatened.
You can use motion sensors such as nozzles, lights or sounds to repel raccoons once they cross your fence. These sudden effects startle the raccoon and become frightened. Although it will cost you an investment, it is worth applying to this annoying animal.
Or you can create another sensor yourself. It sounds vague but it’s true. When you see a raccoon trying to invade your home, yell loudly or make a loud noise to scare them away. However, this method will only work if you witness the situation and it seems rare.
However, you can also use another “watchman” on your behalf, which is the pet. Raccoons can attack dogs and cats for food, but they can only attack those smaller than them. So bring a big and cruel dog outside to scare the raccoon. The dog is also a keen and loyal animal so it will replace you guarding the house at night from the raccoon.
#3 Traps:
This is the last method if all your efforts can not prevent raccoon success. Cage traps are the perfect choice to eliminate raccoon. However, you also need to combine this method with the above precautions to ensure that no raccoon can enter your home.
What should you keep in mind when setting a raccoon trap? All I can say is safe. Adhere to safety when setting raccoon traps, which is the most important thing.
Currently on the market there are many types of traps designed specifically for raccoon traps with a variety of designs and prices. Referring to the feedback of previous customers seems to be essential when you choose traps.
Use thick gloves when handling traps and minimize possible contact of pets and children with raccoon traps. Because raccoons are quite large animals and they are very strong, these traps are often devastating. And be sure not to place your face near the trap as there may be unforeseen circumstances.
When releasing raccoon in the wild, make sure that distance is far enough and raccoon can’t come back to your house. Otherwise every effort will become meaningless. Be extremely cautious when opening traps because raccoon may attack you after a period of panic attacks.
#4 Repellents:
The very last remedy that we don’t recommend is using repellents to get rid of raccoon. These chemicals can affect pets and garden plants and more dangerously can threaten human health for a long time.
You can also create repellents by combining aromatic spices like castor oil, chili, etc. to ward off raccoons, but they are not very effective because raccoons have a high ability to tolerate odors. That discomfort to bravely seek food.
Now you can seek the help of raccoon removal experts using the ‘raccoon removal near me’ tool’ on the Intenet. The help of an expert will help you feel more secure about eliminating this animal without affecting other members.
Do raccoons eat cats?
Scary that the answer is yes. Raccoon loves cats’ seed food, they often break in and approach residential areas to steal cat food. This situation often leads to fierce disputes. Raccoon is one of the 10 wild animals that tend to attack cats when encountered and will definitely eat cats if they can not find other food.
Not only that they also attack other animals in your family and farm. Don’t ask do raccoons eat chickens, instead look for how to keep raccoons away because they can kill chickens and eat them in one night.
Do racoons hibernate?
Although they are less active in the winter, they do not hibernate, simply do not want to be active in the cold weather.
They have skillful feet, can easily climb, can run up to 15 miles per hour and can also swim easily. Raccoon, in particular, is a very intelligent animal, able to memorize information and how it works within 3 years.
How dangerous are raccoons?
What do you know about raccoons and the dangers they can bring? It is difficult to deal with an animal that you do not know. How dangerous raccoon and why we should not disregard them is what you should know first.
#1 Raccoon can kill your pets:
More precisely, raccoon is a dangerous omnivore so it can kill and eat any animal the size of it or less, including dogs, cats and other pets like birds, rabbits , mice and reptiles.
If in proper conditions, treated with affection, being fed or raised in a home as a dog or a cat, raccoons will be docile so they can also get along well with other pets.
However, like other wild animals, raccoons in the wild can be very unpredictable. If agitated for any reason, they will attack violently and may attack the opponent.
#2 Raccoon is the host of many bacteria and parasites
Dogs and cats have also been host to many types of bacteria, although domestication gives them the opportunity to eat, drink, and receive daily health and hygiene, living away from the source of disease.
In contrast, a raccoon is a wild animal, unless it is raised in a home as a child and undergoes the necessary medical care, each raccoon is a mobile disease. Besides rabies virus, raccoon also contains other pathogens.
Raccoon urine containing Leptospirosis can cause kidney failure or meningitis if not treated promptly. More terrifying, in the raccoon feces there is a species of nematode especially Baylisascaris procyonis extremely dangerous.
Baylisascaris procyonis does not need to be spread through eating, contact, or open wounds because their eggs can float in the air, waiting for people to inhale. Once inside your body, Baylisascaris procyonis can attack the brain, eyes and spine leading to permanent damage and even death.
Because of the dangers of the Baylisascaris procyonis nematode, raccoon feces is considered to be the most pollutant. When an area becomes infected with worm eggs from raccoon feces, it can be dangerous to humans for the next few years.
Moreover, because raccoons or rummage through trash cans to find leftovers, their fur may contain a variety of bacteria that are harmful to the digestive tract. The advice of experts is to not touch wild raccoon, regardless of whether it is not aggressive.
#3 Raccoon is a species that has the ability to invade and destroy the environment
Not only agile and aggressive, raccoon is a species with high survival skills that is well adapted to new situations. When a natural environment is lacking of natural predators (such as mountain lions, or North American cougars), raccoons will quickly become the dominant species in that locality.
Because they are omnivores and can consume both plants and insects, they will devastate the ecological environment on a large scale. The only way to curb raccoon is to strictly control the quantity, if the hunting methods are not strictly implemented, the native creatures could be seriously harmed by raccoon encroachment. .
#4 Raccoon cannot be completely domesticated
In the US, some states allow raccoon to be kept as pets under certain conditions, some states prohibit it. Although raccoon is an intelligent species, it can learn a lot of fun if properly taught by humans, but raccoon is an animal that cannot be completely domesticated.
Even when raised for generations, born and raised under the care and instruction of humans, they cannot shake off their wild nature. This means the risk of them attacking people and pets because of psychological instability still exists.
In addition, raccoons are a nuisance animal, they have a terrible destructive power, can destroy homes, plants and flowers, rummage through refrigerators, steal canned food, sometimes they can drink beer or your wine.
In the US, there are many reports of raccoon biting the inside of cars, which is a behavior of their curious nature, you cannot tame and teach them that it is wrong. In short, if you are not an animal expert, raising a raccoon will only bring disaster.
What are the most basic informations about raccoon?
To deal with raccoon, the basic information about them like behavior, habits and a few other information is also something you should know.
#1 Physical characteristics:
Raccoon is a native North American mammal. This is the largest of the Procyonidae family. An adult raccoon can weigh up to 10-30 pounds and is two to three feet long (including the tail).
The Raccoon is easily recognizable through the distinctive black area around the eyes and the gray fur with a bushy tail with dark rings, of which nearly 90% is dense undercoat, isolated against cold weather.
They are omnivores and are mostly active at night and less active in the winter. So you will see them less during the day, but not at all.
#2 Habits:
Raccoons are easy-going animals, not fussy about diet or habitat. However, they will not hesitate in interesting places that suit their interests. Therefore, your home may be the next destination of raccoon if it is attractive enough for them. Learn about their interests in places, food, and shelters to give you a better view of the animal.
#3 Place:
Raccoon can adapt to the living environment very well and quickly. Whether in the jungle or downtown, raccoon does well with his life. When the food source in the forest was no longer plentiful, the raccoon started going to the residential areas to find food. They appear anywhere from the porch, chimney or even the roof.
For rural and suburban areas, raccoons often choose big stumps or rocky areas, dusty areas. Anywhere can become the next destination of this wildlife.
#4 Food:
As mentioned above, raccoons are omnivores so they can eat everything. They often rummage through the trash to find food for themselves and that seems to appeal to them.
Besides pet food such as dogs, cats or birds are all their favorite foods. That’s why raccoons often break into people’s homes to steal pet food, and even attack dogs and cats for food.
To satisfy its hunger, raccoons often eat frogs, frogs, eggs and some other animals in the wild. It can be said that they will do anything and eat anything to satisfy their hunger.
#5 Shelter:
Raccon can take refuge anywhere, even in open spaces crowded with people. Surely you will wonder where do raccoons sleep, the simple answer is anywhere. Only desert regions or high terrain are rare for the appearance of raccoon.
Places with abundant trees, abundant water and food, such as farms, are an ideal destination for this animal.
#6 Behavior:
Like many other animals you encounter, raccoons are mostly active at night and will sleep during the day. However, some will work during the day if they don’t satisfy their hunger.
Although they do not hibernate, their activity decreases with the temperature of the weather. The lower the temperature, the less they work. A raccoon will not be able to be active in cold weather but will find a way to keep the body warm by saving energy.
Late autumn and early winter is their breeding season, so they will spend time throughout the winter caring for their young. However, in the southern regions with a warmer climate and milder winters, it does not appear to affect raccoon.
A young raccoon will spend a third of its life with its mother, the life cycle of raccoon is about 3-5 years, but in fact their life cycle is shorter because of external factors.
Conclusion
Never get the cuteness of raccoon through the eyes because they are really dangerous animals not only to pets and plants but also to human health. Learning about raccoon information will help you eliminate them even though they are really a difficult challenge.
Hopefully the above information will help you prepare well for the war with raccoon. How to eliminate raccoon or how dangerous raccoon is really the necessary information that you should treat it as a valuable experience that everyone needs to know.