What Do Raccoons Eat?

Oftentimes I get asked the questions what do raccoons eat? What is a good raccoon trap? What's the best bait to catch a raccoon? My answer is pretty simple: what do you have around your house? Raccoons of learn how to adapt to an urban environment; this simply means that they no longer need to scavenge in the trees or dig up your lawn in order to find grub. What it means is that raccoons have learned what to eat around urban areas like cities and suburbs. Alot of people seem to overthink trapping and what type of bait to use to catch a raccoon, and its really not that hard. Think to yourself for a quick second, what did you seem then last eating when you saw them around your house? Was it the cat food you left outside for your cat? Did you see them in the trash can? Were they in your fruit tree? Do you see where I am going with this? If you are having an issue with Raccoons in your attic or raccoons around your home, chances are there is a food source that they are using around your home, you just have to figure out what it is, and once you determine that, well then use that as the bait! The raccoons are already used to eating it, so all you need to do now is put it in the trap and chances are you are going to catch it!

So here the Question what do raccoons eat? FYI we are talking Nuisance Urban Raccoons.

  • Raccoons eat trash
  • Raccoons eat garbage
  • Raccoons eat cat food
  • Raccoons eat dog food
  • Raccoons eat Fruit
  • Raccoons eat ANYTHING!

Ok you don't like that answer, you want me to tell you what type of secret fancy pants bait we use? What is my ultimate super secret sauce that I use to catch all the critters we get called for? Fine Ill tell you!

Raccoon Bait that we generally give our techs that do Raccoon Trapping:

Marshmallows work great for Juvenile Raccoons

Cat Food is always our #1 go to, you just have to be careful you don't catch the neighbors cat ;)

Sweet Licorice Paste works good, but I don't waste my money on it honestly

Jelly on the Trip Pan and some Marshmallows in the Back of the Trap

Honey Buns are great, I just have to keep them away from my wife because she will eat them all

Moon Pies work really good too, they can just melt, so you have to change them out daily

Sardines work ok if you are dealing with a raccoon that is used to eating fish or protein based diet

Raccoons can eat just about anything. Their digestive systems have learned how to adapt given their changes in diet and changes in environment. If the raccoon is used to eating the trash out of your garbage, go ahead and take your raccoon trap and use the garbage as raccoon bait. In the back of the truck, load the bed with garbage, set the trap near your garbage and chances are next morning when you wake up you will have a raccoon in that trap. If the garbage in the truck didn't do the trick, for the best raccoon bait go ahead and try cat food. Cat food is a great raccoon bait to use when trapping raccoons in your general home and property. Every now and then you might capture a cat with cat food.

If you do, simply open the trap and let the cat out and reset the trap using another raccoon bait, I personally love using oatmeal cream cookies as raccoon bait; they are one of the best raccoon baits because they're made with marshmallows and sugar. Raccoons have a sweet tooth; raccoons like sweet baked oatmeal cream pies. Another great lure that works very well is marshmallows. Take a handful of marshmallows and lightly sprinkle them around the trap, in the trap and a lot of marshmallows in the back of the raccoon trap. The marshmallows will be a great raccoon lure.

Ultimately if you want to get rid of raccoons you need to start doing raccoon trapping. That is the first and best way to do so. In order to do trapping you need to know what raccoons eat. If you can figure out what your raccoon is eating and you can place that bait in the back of the trap, you will be able to get rid of raccoons in your attic.

Raccoon habitats of changed largely over the past 25 years with a growing population construction and new development, the previous raccoon habitat is no longer the woods, in the wildlife or the in the wildland. Make sure you adapt your trapping methods to New Age raccoon removal tips in order to use the right raccoon bait in order to capture that nuisance animal. If you have any questions my name is Brendan, you can give the office a call and ask for me or talk to any of my amazing & friendly staff or vendors on the preferred vendors list and we would be more then happy to help! Give me a call if you would like help or would even like to set up a free inspection to help you trap that pesky raccoon!

Articles In This Series

Top | © 2017 Centurian Services, LLC
Centurian Wildlife Service is rated 4.9 stars on Google based on 10 reviews