Raccoon prevention - how to keep them away

Tips and tricks for keeping raccoons away from your garbage cans, bird feeder, yard, house, or any other property.

This educational guide will help you to resolve your problem with a raccoon. Raccoons are basically urban animals, and they love to eat out of garbage cans or dumpsters or pet food dishes, and they frequently set up a den or a nest inside human dwellings, including in the walls or attic. They are very strong and have dexterous hands. You will find that the best way to keep raccoons away from your property is often with simple and free habitat modifications.

Raccoons in the garbage cans, bird feeders, pet food, etc.

PREVENTION IS KEY - In most cases, you can solve the problem by taking away the attraction. You do not need to trap and remove the raccoon - that's just a temporary fix anyway.
GARBAGE CANS - If possible, keep garbage indoors, and put it out for the garbage men in the morning. If not, you can drill holes in the side of the can and lid, and then use standard bungee cords to strap the lids on tight. Note, this isn't a guarantee because raccoons are very strong - it has to be very secure to work, and you can spray Ropel on the ropes to discourage touching them.
BIRD FEEDER - You can install a large squirrel baffle, which will also work for raccoons. You can also temporarily leave the feeder empty until the raccoon stops associating with a food source, then re-fill it.
PET FOOD - This is a no-brainer. If you leave pet food outdoors, it's an open invitation to raccoons, opossums, skunks, stray cats, and more. Bring it inside if you don't want wildlife eating it!
KILLING GOLDFISH - If you have a decorative pond with goldfish, simply buy some chicken wire at a hardware store, and either anchor it down, or make it into a ball that the goldfish can hide in.
RAIDING GARDEN - Raccoons are strong, and excellent climbers. So the usual trick of a fence around the garden won't cut it, unless it's a really good fence, with razor wire around the top.
IN THE YARD - If you think a raccoon is digging in your lawn, it's quite possibly a different animal. Regardless, if you simply want to get rid of raccoons in your yard, your best bet is to find out whatever is attracting them, and modify it: remove it, or raccoon-proof it.
Raccoons in a swimming pool, chicken coop, pet door, or house.

POOPING IN THE SWIMMING POOL - Raccoons like to wash their food in water, if possible (procyon lotor means "washes with hands"), and they like to defecate in water. They will often enter the swimming pool via the shallow front step and do their business. To stop this, you can install a board with nails sticking up on the front step, or just put unstable chicken wire over the area.
ENTERING HOUSE THROUGH PET DOOR - They often enter in search of pet food! So either keep the pet food locked in another room, or lock the pet door for a period of time until the raccoon quits. Or get a magnetic pet door that responds only to the collar of your dog or cat.
KILLING CHICKENS IN A COOP - Not much to say here except that you need a sturdier chicken coop. That goes for future raccoons, increasingly common urban foxes and coyotes, etc.
ROLLING UP SOD - They sometimes roll up fresh sod to look for worms/grubs. Some people have had success with motion-sensor water sprayers at keeping them away. If that doesn't work, this is a tough case, and one of the few in which you may have to resort to inhumane cage trapping and euthanization if you can't stand sod destruction.
UNDER THE HOUSE, PORCH, OR SHED - Find out how they got in. In many cases, the entire perimeter of the structure is open, and that's an invitation to raccoons, skunks, stray cats, everything. If you don't want animals under there, install a strong steel mesh exclusion barrier. Bolt it into the structure, and bury the bottom at least 8" underground, with the mesh sloping outward. To get them out, you can use the newspaper trick or a one-way door.
Keeping raccoons out of your house

SEAL ENTRY HOLE(S) - This is one of the most important single concepts in humane wildlife control. If you want to know how to keep raccoons away from your house, just remove the enticing entry holes inside! If your home is secure, with no easy and obvious entry holes, raccoons will leave it alone. Put steel caps on your chimneys, make sure all vents are properly screened, make sure your eaves and soffits do not have any openings. If every house in America were well-sealed against animal entry, we would barely have any wildlife conflicts at all!
INSPECT YOUR HOUSE - Check your house top to bottom. Get on a ladder and on the roof, if you can safely do so. Check for any vulnerable areas or open areas through which wildlife can enter. With raccoons, it's made easy, because they need a relatively large hole. But it's also made hard, because raccoons are strong and can rip weak areas open. The usual weak points are soffits, loose vents and the points where dormer windows and walls meet the roof. Pay special attention to the eave gaps - the areas where a soffit (the under part of an eave) meets up against a roof, such as at the corner of a dormer. These are the most common areas for raccoons to enter a house and attic. They often climb up downspouts, or onto the roof via trees. But in reality, they can easily climb many surfaces, such as brick walls.
DO PROFESSIONAL GRADE REPAIRS - If you've already had raccoons in your attic, they may leave a scent behind that attracts new raccoons, or they've proven that your home is desirable. Your repairs must be very secure to prevent future raccoons. Use steel flashing, steel mesh, or wood for repairs, and bolt the repairs in strong. Raccoons can tear things apart, so shoddy or weak repairs won't prevent raccoons from entering.

How To Humanely Keep Raccoons Off Your Property

One of the problems that many people experience when they are dealing with raccoons is that these animals can be quite destructive when they come into contact with people in a domestic setting. From stealing pet food and fallen fruit to rooting through garbage to find waste food, the mess left behind by raccoons can be a problem, and this can be even worse if these animals find a way into your property and make a nest either in a chimney or an unused attic space. The key to humanely keeping raccoons off your property is to remove the attractions that will draw them there, while also putting in place features that will encourage the animals to go elsewhere.

Removing The Features That Attract Raccoons To Your Property

The primary reason that raccoons will be drawn to a particular property is the potential to scavenge food easily, so the first and most important step is to look at removing any easy sources of food for the raccoons. Garbage is often one of the most valuable sources of food for raccoons in an urban setting, so there are a few steps you can take. The first is to try and minimize any food waste that you create, and to consider using a food waste disposal unit in your kitchen, or to put any excess food into a secure composting bin that the raccoon cannot get to. When it comes to storing garbage, ensure that it is placed in a shed or outhouse that is securely fastened, or place it in a bin that can be fastened shut so that the raccoons cannot get to the food inside. There are also raccoon repellents that can be sprayed on bungee cords in order to help ensure that the fasteners aren't removed or gnawed through by the raccoons. Another attraction for raccoons is homes where the pets are fed outside in the yard or on the back porch, and it is best not to leave any pet food unattended, as the raccoons are opportunistic and will quickly take up the offer of free food. Another source of food that raccoons can be attracted to are fruit trees, so it is important to make sure that you check the area regularly and make sure that any fallen fruit isn't allowed to lie on the floor, as raccoons will be attracted to the scent.

Securing The Perimeter Of Your Property

Raccoons are naturally furtive animals that do not like to be out in the open, so they will usually look for gaps in fencing or a piece of fence that can be easily moved in order to get in to your property. Another important step to keep the raccoons from your property is to make sure that your fences are well maintained, and that there are no obvious gaps that will allow the raccoon to easily get through or to climb over. It is also important to ensure that the fence is embedded a short distance into the ground, as raccoons are skilled burrowers, and can easily get beneath fences that only go to the surface. While fences may not be the most attractive part of the garden, they do play an important role in humanely keeping these animals away from your property. A difficult decision is whether or not to use a barbed wire or an electric fence to help keep the raccoons away. If you do choose to use an electric fence, a single strand will usually be enough, and should be one that is a high voltage but low amperage so that the raccoon will experience a shock, but won't be harmed. On rare occasions, barbed wire fences can cause harm to raccoons as they climb over the fence.

Features That Can Repel Raccoons

As well as removing the attractions that draw raccoons to your property, another option is to take steps that will naturally make the raccoons want to look elsewhere for their scavenging grounds. One of the most effective deterrents for raccoons is a motion activated floodlight which will light up your yard or garden when it senses movement, which will usually send the raccoon running for cover. Another option is a motion activated audio repellent, which emits a high frequency noise that is theorized to be unpleasant for the raccoon, but is not audible to the human ear. However, these sound devices have shown very little effectiveness in the field. It is also possible to have a motion activated sprinkler which sprays water at any animal that visits your yard or garden, and is also an effective repellent. There are also plenty of repellent products that work using scent that can be used around the perimeter of the property to try and repel the raccoons and encourage them to go elsewhere. These products mimic the scent of the raccoon's natural predators such as coyote urine, and provoke a natural fear response which will send the raccoon elsewhere to look for an easier target. Our experience with repellent products has been fairly dismal, but you can give them a shot. It's usually better to remove attractive features rather than try repellent.

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Raccoon prevention - how to keep them away

Tips and tricks for keeping raccoons away from your garbage cans, bird feeder, yard, house, or any other property.

Raccoons in the garbage cans, bird feeders, pet food, etc.

Raccoons in a swimming pool, chicken coop, pet door, or house.