How To Get Rid Of Raccoons In The Walls

How To Get Rid Of Raccoons In The Walls – I live in Seattle and found out the hard way that we have a raccoon in my backyard.

Ciscoe (as we named it, in honor of a famous Seattle legend) means! He tore up the lawn we had originally planted and I planted the first raised bed. So I tried everything to find out how to keep this raccoon out of my garden. Looks like I finally succeeded.

How To Get Rid Of Raccoons In The Walls

So I wanted to write this post to summarize my experiences. It provides tips on how to recognize if you have raccoons, explains what has worked and what hasn’t, and my final recommendations for avoiding raccoons.

Preparing For Raccoons

Raccoons are nocturnal animals, so they eat at night. This makes it difficult to separate them sometimes. There are five things I noticed when Cisco started running around in our yard:

Raccoons are persistent and creative animals when they decide they want to destroy your garden. They can climb wild places (one is a 20 foot fence post in my yard). They also jump and run (as I saw the other day when I saw a Ciscoe in my yard).

Raccoons are nocturnal and voracious – so they eat your plants, fish if you have a pond, and dig up other plants for grubs. They also have human hands, so they have to be careful (because they can “open” things)

Raccoons are dirty and have a lot of diseases. After bats, they are associated with many cases of rabies. They have worms, which are left in their feces. This is especially dangerous if your children are playing in your yard. They also contain parasites.

How To Get Rid Of Raccoons For Good

The best way to ensure minimal plant damage is to block or prevent raccoons from entering your garden. You can do this with wire (ordinary or electric) or other personal methods (for example, the urine of animals that eat animals, sound produced by ultrasonic vibrations, light or watering devices, cayenne pepper, ammonia and other strong perfumes, etc.).

First, you want to know where the raccoon is getting into your yard. We found a gap in our high wire fence (facing an empty construction site). This will help you focus on the solution (especially in the big yard).

I’ve tried several options and found that a combination of the following works best for me (rather than a particular method).

Many states have fence height regulations. So I can’t change the actual fence in my garden. Instead, I made a fake fence around my raised beds out of PVC pipe, sticks, grain and chicken wire.

Ways To Make Your Fence Raccoon Proof

But hey, it’s a simple, DIY process. Honestly, I’m proud to have done it. So these pictures are to inspire people who are not the most beautiful. If you have a do-it-yourselfer, ask for help, especially with straightening the chicken wire! And if looks are important to you: you can pick up some great ones at Gardener’s Supply (like these)

I looked at a number of wire options and found this to be the most expensive. So, I bought a heavy enough piece of chicken wire (to keep the raccoons from breaking through). First I made square frames out of PVC pipe and zip tied chicken wire to them. I made it 4′ tall to make sure my tall plants would have room to grow.

Then I built a “cage” around my raised beds with wooden sticks. I zip-tied each PVC frame to the wooden cage on three sides. On the fourth side (that’s the one I usually get my raised bed from) – I tied the PVC frame to one of the sticks (instead of two). In this way, the frame acts as a door that I can open!

Note: if you’re reading this and thinking, oh, that’s an easy door! Apparently, so is Ciscoe. So I had to use floor staples to make sure the “door” was secured to the floor. Don’t forget this step. Or you may find a raccoon rummaging through the crops INSIDE the cage after you open the door the same way you do. It’s beautiful.

Scents That Raccoons Hate (and How To Use Them)

There are many types of them (emitting sound, emitting light or spraying water). I heard the sound of someone coming out. I put it facing the raccoon entry into my garden. After that, I switched it to the correct frequency (although I could hear a weak sound). One day, I saw a raccoon standing up and tried to leave after hearing the sound. But honestly, it’s the weakest of all the options I’ve tried.

I’ve heard of some friends having success with activated lights, or water sprinklers, or leaving a light and radio in the yard overnight. My raccoon didn’t seem to care about all of these options, so I didn’t find them very important.

I tried a laundry list of fragrance ingredients. I’ve tried many of them at the same time, so it’s hard to say which one works best. Raccoons have sensitive noses. So when they touch these things and touch their faces, it burns a little. I did some research and found out that it’s like eating hot peppers – not as sweet but not fatal. The strong smell prevents them from getting close to the object.

I found that a combination of cayenne pepper, Irish spring soap and predator urine seems to work. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

How To Get Rid Of Raccoons In The Attic

An electric fence is the most expensive but “proven” way to keep raccoons out of your yard. However, this option can be very difficult depending on the size of the yard. I also don’t want to hurt an animal if there is a nest nearby. So I went with some of the personal/natural options mentioned above.

Let us know if you plan to try one of these ways to keep raccoons out of your yard (or others!) Your yard has many places for raccoons to attack. Find out which areas of your yard are most at risk of raccoon activity and how to avoid them.

Interesting fact: Raccoons are omnivores, which means they eat all kinds of plants as well as animals. They are rightly known as invaders of sweet corn fields, but they often eat melons, berries, grapes, and various garden vegetables.

Damage: The telltale signs of raccoon damage to your garden are bent corn stalks on the ground and, of course, chewed kernels on the ears. You can see the skins of watermelons being split, the flesh being cut, and some vegetables being partially or completely eaten. It is difficult to catch raccoons because they are more active at night, when people are not around.

How To Get Rid Of Raccoons Fast?

Solutions: Raccoons have a strong sense of smell and taste and rely on their good feet to help them find their way and find food. You can keep raccoons out of your garden by irritating their smell, taste and touch with hot peppercorns. Create a barrier by spreading granular raccoon mulch around the garden. Motion-activated sprinklers can also be used to deter raccoons by releasing large amounts of water, sound and movement.

Prevention Tips: For complete protection, surround your garden with a low-voltage electric fence with one wire about 5 to 6 inches from the ground and another 4 to to 6 more than the first. You can save electricity by only turning it on from dusk to dawn.

Interesting fact: Your kitchen garbage can contain many things that attract raccoons, especially meat and fish scraps. Once raccoons find a high-quality food source like this, they will visit again and again and insist on returning it.

Compassion: Knocking over trash cans seems to be a favorite pastime of raccoons. They also remove the lids from the bins and tear the plastic bags, spilling the rubbish and leaving a mess for you to clean up.

Ways To Keep Raccoons Out Of Garbage Cans

Solution: Attach the lids to the cans with straps or bungee cords and, if possible, secure the cans so they don’t bind. Liquid spray repellents work best because they irritate the noses and paws of animals that don’t feel pain. Water repellants can be applied directly to water surfaces – sprinkle them on trash bags and trash cans to deter dangerous raccoons.

Prevention Tips: Keep trash cans in the garage or other enclosed building except on pick-up days. If this is not possible, install a motion sprinkler that will repel raccoons by emitting a surprising burst of water and sound.

Top attractions: Nuts, seeds, and dried fruit—mixes of many birdseed ingredients—and treats are high-calorie foods that raccoons seek out, especially in the winter when food is scarce and other sources of nutrients are scarce.

Damage : Raccoons can bite hummingbirds just like birds and squirrels, but when a feeder falls to the ground, broken and caught, raccoons can take the blame.

The Realities Of Getting Rid Of Raccoons With Ammonia

Solution: Spray wet raccoon repellent on feeders and posts. These repellents will irritate raccoons but will not affect birds.

Prevention Tips: Keep bird feeders away from any structure (like fence)

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