How to Get Rid of Raccoons?

Kristen

After writing about how to get rid of rats?, how to get rid of squirrels?, and how to get rid of bats?, here is another interesting article on how to get rid of raccoons? In this article, we bring you best remedies to get rid of raccoons at home. Raccoons are the most immediately recognizable animal found in the America. They’re not too hard to find here. Raccoons are undoubtedly versatile and adaptable. They are the most commonly found in areas where there is water nearby. Although, they are often found in the middle of towns and cities too. This is due primarily to the fact that they are extremely skillful at a skip diving. Being omnivorous, they don’t care about what they eat. They like fruits, veggies, fish, meat, Jello, bugs, lo mein, Slim Jims and anything edible. No matter it is tossed in the garbage.

Getting rid of raccoons is a very difficult task; applying so many control methods at once will give you better success at eliminating raccoons and keeping them away. This article provides step-by-step instructions to help you get rid of raccoons, as well as some other useful trapping and repelling information.

Useful Tips to Get Rid of Raccoons

Contents

Useful Tips to Get Rid of Raccoons

1. Remove Food and Water

In search of food, raccoons can invade your home and yard. Make your place less attractive for raccoons. Try to eliminate any food source that might lure them.

Remove trash and secure garbage bins by any lid or locks.
Clean up fallen fruits like berries and birdseed etc.
Don’t forget to clean leftover food, drinks or pet food.

2. Identify Areas of Damage to Get Rid of Raccoons

Try to pinpoint the damaged area where a raccoon team is spending most of their time. Marking that targeted area will help you get rid of raccoons.

Popular Raccoon Activities Include:

Conquering attic
Eating crops
Stealing fish from the pond
Hiding underneath the porch
Destroying trash bins
Attacking bird feed

3. Choose the Right Control Method

Once you identify the place where raccoons come frequently, you will be able to select a raccoon control method. To get rid of raccoons, make sure you have strong layers of defense against them. With good control methods the better chances to keep them off your property.

Live Raccoon Trap
Use a live trap is the best solution to get rid of raccoons living in your area. These large sized traps are best for raccoons.

Directions:

Wear gloves and properly position the trap on the area where raccoons frequently visit.
Lure the trap in a manner so that the raccoon must enter the trap and walk on the trigger plate.
Set a trap and check it regularly.

4. Fencing to Get Rid of Raccoons

Using fences may not be a visually appealing idea to get rid of raccoons. However, using an electric fence can be a highly effective raccoon control method. Because of the ability of their paws, raccoons can climb over, delve under and even unlatch traditional fences.

5. Cayenne Powder to Get Rid of Raccoons

If you don’t want to kill raccoons, you can use repellent to get rid of raccoons. Then use a homemade repellent to repel them. These small annoying raccoons don’t like the smell of cayenne. So using cayenne as a repellent is a good solution.

Directions:

Add 1 canister of cayenne and 1 bottle of hot sauce to a spray bottle in the water.
Spray the solution on all your garden plants, shrubs and bushes.
Reapply after rainfall.

6. Ammonia to Get Rid of Raccoons

Ammonia is another easy raccoon control solution. Because of its unbearable smell, raccoons also don’t like its smell. Spray some ammonia around the places where these animals have been seen frequently. Sprinkle this solution inside the each trash bin. Spray ammonia on the ground as well. Ammonia should be applied frequently.

7. Black Pepper to Get Rid of Raccoons

Black pepper stops raccoons from munching from the yard. Sprinkle black pepper on the fruits or veggies still on the tree and on the fruits fallen from the ground. Set motion-sensing lights in the dark area where they can visit will give you best result to get rid of raccoons.

Directions:

Mix pepper with water, so that it can stick to the fruits.
Add this paste to spray bottle with little dish soap in that bottle. The more pepper you use, the better result you’ll get.

8. Garlic to Get Rid of Raccoons

Like pepper and cayenne, raccoon also doesn’t like garlic. Due to its pungent smell, they walk away from garlic. You can make a paste of garlic clove or you can sprinkle dried garlic powder around the areas, where raccoon visits without anyone’s permission.

Directions:

Mix garlic powder with water.
Add a little amount of dish soap to it.
Spray this solution directly on the plant, leaves, fruits, and trash lids etc.
If you want more effective results then mix a little cayenne pepper and water to it and spray.

9. Grow Prickly plants to get rid of raccoons

Raccoons have very sensitive feet. So they avoid walking on the spiky plants. They can’t even walk on a crush newspaper because it can also hurt their sensitive feet. So grow prickly plants in your garden to repel raccoons from your property. They also ignore the walking on squashes. They also avoid oriental poppies, cucumbers, globe thistle and pole beans. Try to grow these plants as much as you can.

10. Grow Plants that Taste Bad to Get Rid of Raccoons

Raccoons avoid spicy food because they have delicate palates. They also don’t like acidic food. So planting tomatoes and chilies among garden plants will give raccoons a few steps away.

11. Grow Plants That Smell Bad to Get Rid of Raccoons

There are few plants that are disliked by raccoons due to the smell. The mint family, especially peppermint, falls in the category. The plant with stronger is a better repellent for raccoons. To get rid of raccoons, spray peppermint essential oil to the plant, which will make them smell stronger. Use can also plant garlic, so planting garlic around your garden is the best option. Also, spraying garlic juice on plants and fences or main gate etc. can be very useful.

12. Use Predator Urine to Get Rid of Raccoons

It is also one of the good methods to get rid of raccoons. Predator urine is very easily available at stores and online sites. Spray urine of coyotes, wolves, bobcat and mountain lions. It would misguide the raccoons and make them think that a predator is nearby, and they will run away as soon as possible.

13. Grow Cucumber Plant to Get Rid of Raccoons

Plant a cucumber in your garden is also a very good method to get rid of raccoons. They can not tolerate the smell of cucumber. So plant cucumber in your garden area and adjacent to the fencing to keep raccoons away from your home or property.

14. Dog to Get Rid of Raccoons

Raccoons are scared off big animals. So tame a dog and they will not enter your attic. Big dogs could scare them but a small dog might have a fight with them.

15. Vinegar to Get Rid of Raccoons

Raccoons hate the taste and smell of the vinegar. If you keep vinegar in their favorite places, they surely won’t come back after testing vinegar. So place a cloth dipped in vinegar with food or trees and they will run away on tasting the vinegar.

16. Epsom salt to Get Rid of Raccoons

It is also an excellent repellent. Spray Epsom salt in lawns and garden to stop raccoons from entering your yard.

17. Hot Sauce Spray to Deter Raccoons:

This is one of the most effective homemade solution especially for the garden area. All you need to do is mix a small bottle of hot sauce in a large spray bottle. Mix mild dishwashing soap in it and spray this solution on the plants and in your garden. The mild soap helps the pepper in the hot sauce stick to the vegetation in your garden.

18. Scare Out the Raccoons:

There are a variety of tactics to scare the raccoons away. You can use flashing lights, scarecrows, ultrasonic noise to scare these dexterous creatures. Though this is a short term solution but is highly effective. Playing loud music is another way to keep raccoons away. But make sure, you play music only if there are no neighbors around. Otherwise they could file a noise complaint against you.

DO’S

Don’t keep your yard and attic unclean.
Immediately clean the spilled food.
Wash trash bins on regular basis.
Cut overhanging branches from time to time.
Use a heavy duty fence to keep raccoons out of your garden.
Use a motion sensitive water sprayer to keep raccoons away.
Make sure all the available entry points and holes of your home are sealed.
To keep raccoons out of the chimney use heavy steel chimney cap.
Ponds and pools attract raccoons very much. Cover the pond with a large gauge steel mesh to keep raccoons out of the pond.
Make sure the lid of your garbage cans is secured and these dexterous creatures are unable to open it.
Keep Ammonia soaked rags in active areas to deter raccoons.