DIY Raccoon Control Guide

Hi my name is Brendan Mangnitz, I have been in the Nuisance Wildlife Removal industry now for nearly 6 years since I graduated from College at UF with a background in Entomology and Wildlife Biology. I have seen and controlled just about any wildlife issue you may think of. I have dealt with Raccoons in apartments complex, Raccoons Dieing in the basement, Raccoons in the Attic, Raccoons digging up yards, Raccoons in Pools, Raccoons stuck in Chimneys, and the list goes on and on. I have used several different control and removal methods for Raccoons and that's what I want to share with you guys on our website here at www.CenturianWildlife.com.

The first topic to address, is why are we having this problem with Raccoons at our home or in our attic? Well the answer is actually a lot simpler than you would think, they were here before we were. Raccoons are wildlife animals, they are used to living around trees, forest, bushes, shrubs etc. But as we have populated and continued to grow we have moved into their setting. We have taken away the Raccoon's natural setting and replaced it with homes, HOA's, Apartment complexes, Malls, just regular growth and construction. Well by doing this we have created a hand full of OPTIMAL settings for Raccoons and nuisance wildlife. As humans we create garbage, mess, waste, all of this creates additional food for Raccoons. So now you take their natural setting of a forest, replace it with homes, and then add food. Well what do you think the Raccoons are going to do? THRIVE! And that is what they are doing we are providing the Raccoons with an abundant amount of food, our trash, and we are desensitizing them, meaning they no longer have to hunt and be resourceful to eat and stay alive, but just the opposite. All they have to do is knock our trash can over and BOOM they have a buffet!

Well now let's talk about why the Raccoons are getting into your attic. It's simple, the attic is a PERFECT place for the Raccoons to create a shelter. It's hot, it's nice and comfy with the insulation, there are no outside elements like rain or wind so they are protected, and best of all, there are no predators or enemies. If I was a Raccoon I sure would rather live in an attic then a tree! So you take the perfect conditions of your attic as a shelter, then you add your trash cans right on the outside of the home, and you just gave the Raccoon all the things that they want to live. Why would they ever want to leave your residence? Free Rent, Free Buffet, Cozy bed, and that's why you have Raccoons in your attic or rummaging around your lawn and home.

How to fix your Raccoon problem and how to remove the Raccoons

10 Simple Steps for Effective Raccoon Removal & Control

1st step is to Identify that you do indeed have the problem. Is your yard being torn up by Raccoons? Are you hearing REALLY really loud noises in the attic? Are your trash can being knocked over every night and trash spread out all over your yard? Well if you have the tell-tale signs of a Raccoon infestation then keep reading. What I normally like to do and tell my customers when they suspect that they are dealing with a nuisance Raccoon is document it. So make sure it is a Raccoon, since all animals' removal method is different.

Check the property and roofline, Do you see feces, What Does Raccoon Poop look like? Are you seeing Raccoon poop in your yard, is there poop on your roof or in your pool? Are you seeing Raccoon grease marks on the soffit, on the walls, or leading to the attic?

Confirm the activity on the exterior is indeed Raccoons. You will likely find droppings on the roof or in the gutters. The next step that you are going to want to take is to see if they have made it into the attic or not. You will not always hear Raccoons in the attic. They can be agile, they can be quiet, and Raccoons in the attic are not always loud. So what you are going to want to do is get into the attic and perform and inspection. Any time you think that you have animals in the attic, especially Raccoons in the attic, you want to be 100% careful and safe. If you do not feel safe or do not want to take the chance call me, Brendan Mangnitz, and I can talk to you over the phone and even do an inspection for you or send you one of my inspectors to help out. I recommend hiring a Raccoon removal specialist for safety reasons, but if you do want to do the inspection then continue reading?

Anytime that you enter an attic for Raccoons there are a few things that you need to keep in mind. Raccoons are dangerous, they are territorial, they are Nasty and have tons of bacteria, so you want to make sure you are prepared. Raccoon feces is one of the most Bacteria infested feces that we deal with on the regular so you will want to make sure you wear a respirator like the one on the left. There are a few issues with Raccoon feces that I will touch on to make sure you are protected, get it removed, and the attic and your home is contamination free.

Wildlife are known to carry many different zoonotic diseases, meaning they can be transmitted to humans. We will discuss each of those in detail. We are not intending to scare you by discussing the diseases associated with Raccoons, but feel you should be informed of the health risk to you and your pets. The following is a list of some of the zoonotic diseases that you and your pets could be exposed to from wildlife in your attic.

Leptospirosis: The bacteria that cause leptospirosis are spread through the urine of infected animals, which can get into water or soil and can survive there for weeks to months. Many different kinds of wild and domestic animals carry the bacterium. These can include, but are not limited to cattle, pigs, horses, dogs, rodents, and wild animals.

When these animals are infected, they may have no symptoms of the disease. Infected animals may continue to excrete the bacteria into the environment continuously or every once in awhile for a few months up to several years. As their feces is infected, anything that comes into contact with the animal can have the disease transmitted to it Humans can become infected through: contact with urine (or other body fluids, except saliva) from infected animals or contact with water, soil, or food contaminated with the urine of infected animals.

* There have been cases this year in Florida of leptospirosis including at least 2 cases in Orlando.

Canine Distemper: Canine distemper is a viral disease that affects animals in the families Canidae (dogs, wolves, foxes, etc.), Mustelidae (ferrets, weasels, otters, etc.), Mephitidae (skunks), Hyaenidae (Hyenas), Ailuridae (the red panda), Procyonidae (raccoons, ringtails, etc.), Pinnipedia (seals, walrus, sea lion, etc.), some Viverridae (racoon-like animals in South Asia) and Felidae (cats) (though not domestic cats; feline distemper or panleukopenia is a different virus exclusive to cats). The disease is highly contagious (via inhalation) and fatal 50% of the time, thus making it the leading cause of infectious disease death in dogs. The virus infects the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, the brain, and spinal cord. Vaccinating your pets is always a good idea in order to protect them, but vaccines and regular vet visits will not matter much if you allow your pets to come into contact with nuisance wildlife, their feces, or their urine.

Common symptoms can include:

  1. High fever
  2. Watery discharge from the eyes and nose
  3. Vomiting and diarrhea
  4. Hardening of the footpads and nose
  5. Seizures (of any part of the body, but seizures that look as if the dog is chewing gum are unique to distemper)
  6. Paralysis

It is most commonly associated with domestic animals such as dogs and ferrets, although it can infect wild animals as well such as possums. It is a single-stranded RNA virus of the family paramyxovirus, and thus a close relative of measles and rinderpest. Despite extensive vaccination in many regions, it remains a major disease of dogs. Hantavirus: Infection with hantavirus can progress to Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), which can be fatal. People become infected through contact with hantavirus-infected rodents or their urine and droppings. Rodent control in and around the home remains the primary strategy for preventing hantavirus infection. All cases of Hantavirus infection are reported to the CDC.

Histoplasmosis: Histoplasmosis is an infection caused by breathing in spores of a fungus often found in bird and Raccoon droppings. Histoplasmosis is most commonly transmitted when these spores become airborne, often during cleanup or demolition projects. Soil contaminated by bird or Raccoon droppings also can transmit histoplasmosis, so farmers and landscapers are at a higher risk of the disease. In the United States, histoplasmosis most commonly occurs in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys. Most people with histoplasmosis never develop symptoms and aren't aware they're infected. But for some people — primarily infants and those with compromised immune systems — histoplasmosis can be serious. Effective treatments are available for even the most severe forms of histoplasmosis.

Raccoon Roundworm: Baylisascaris infection is caused by a roundworm found in Raccoons. This roundworm can infect people as well as a variety of other animals, including dogs. Human infections are rare, but can be severe if the parasites invade the eye (ocular larva migrans), organs (visceral larva migrans) or the brain (neural larva migrans). Rabies: Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The vast majority of rabies cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year occur in wild animals like Raccoons, skunks, Raccoons, and foxes.

So with all these Diseases and Bacteria MAKE SURE YOU WEAR YOUR RESPIRATOR AND MAKE SURE YOU STAY PROTECTED AND REMOVE ALL THE BACTERIA POOP AND CONTAMINATION FROM YOUR ATTIC.

Next step once your lungs are protected you will want to make sure you wear safety glasses and gloves. I ALSO strongly recommend you take your phone in the attic with you or even a blue tooth speaker and you should blare some music. Raccoons in the attic will be afraid of all this noise. They will think that there was a party in your attic and will become afraid and want to hide or leave. This is what you want when you do an inspection, if you are doing an inspection of Raccoons in the attic yourself you do not want to come in contact with a mother Raccoon she may get defensive and you do not want to run the chance of her attacking you. So blare some music, have a disco in the attic, whatever just make sure you make a lot of noise to scare the Raccoon. Once you are certain the the Raccoon is out of the attic, go ahead and take out your flashlight and do an inspection remember to walk on the beams in your attic, you don't want to fall through the attic like my buddy James did when he was doing an inspection. Walk around the attic and look for the evidence of a Raccoon infestation. Do you see Raccoon poop do you see urine, do you see Raccoon trails? If you do then you can confirm that you are having an issue with Raccoons in the attic. If you do not see any of the sign, great, you caught the issue before it became a real big problem. Either or what you are going to want to do is continue ready for the steps below for how to trap and remove the Raccoon from your attic, lawn or property. Then next you will want to close off any of the openings on the home to prevent future Raccoons from coming back. If you do not have them in the attic but just on the lawn you still want to close off these openings or access points otherwise it's only a matter of time that the Raccoon will want to explore and go into your attic. It's always a good thing to be proactive and preventative when dealing with Raccoons. The damage and destruction Raccoons can cause can get into the $1000's of Dollars.

Ok so Next Step: Removal of the Raccoon: Trapping! Trapping is the most successful and humane way to remove Raccoons. There are deterrents for Raccoons that you can use, and I will discuss tools to trap Raccoons, but in all honestly the best way to remove Raccoons is to Trap them. I prefer Havahart Raccoon Traps. You generally want to buy and use 2 traps when dealing with Raccoons in case there are several in the area. You want to put the traps around the property where you are seeing the signs of a Raccoon infestation. So put the traps around the garbage, put them on the areas on the lawn where you are seeing the activity. Once you have determined the correct place for the Raccoon traps you will want to set those Raccoon traps. Here is a video of me, Brendan Mangnitz, setting a Raccoon trap at our Office.

Next you will want to make sure that you properly bait the Raccoon trap. There are several different baits you can uses. Try with just some trash from your trash can, that's what they are sued to. You can use cat food, since most Raccoons are used to stealing cat food from neighbors that leave cat food out. This is such a bad idea; all you are doing is attracting cats and other animals and wildlife to your home. Rats, squirrels and Raccoons will eat cat food. So if you have cat food lying around, you are only attracting Raccoons. Stop feeding your animals outdoors or feeding stray animals. Here is what I generally do for Raccoon trapping Bait: Honey Buns, Marshmallows, Cat food, and basically anything can work for.

*Note- Sometimes Raccoons are smart enough to steal the bait from the traps by reaching through and grabbing handfuls of bait without setting it off. They will also flip the traps. If you run into this, there are a few tricks you can use to fool them.

Stake the traps down in the ground with Rebar stakes. It will prevent them from being able to flip the trap and cause damage to the trap, or re-open the one-way door. Take the Honeybun, Marshmallow, etc and wrap it in Hardware cloth. You can use the wire that is wrapped around the hardware cloth to hang the wrapped bait from the roof of the trap above the trip pan. They get frustrated that they can't just grab the bait and will sit on the pan.

Live Raccoon Trapping and removal can take some time. I generally give it a total of two weeks trapping from start to finish until I catch all the Raccoons. Normally Raccoons travel in pairs or groups, so even if you catch just one Raccoon, I would recommend keeping the Raccoon traps out there for a extended period of time. Be patient, give it time and don't mess with the traps. Let the bait sit there for a few days and try to catch the Raccoon. Bait will normally stay good for about 72 hours depending on weather conditions, but remember Raccoons are used to eating trash, so the Raccoon will not be picky if it smells a little. Remember, once you think you've finally trapped all the raccoons, you probably haven't, so don't put that trap away in storage just yet. Keep baiting the trap until you don't notice any raccoons.

Next Step: I caught the Raccoon what do I do next?? Simple – Humanely relocate the Raccoon. Raccoons have a great sense of smell and direction. So when you have successfully caught the Raccoon, you will want to make sure you relocate it far away from your home. 25 miles or so should do the trick. Every state and county is different, you will want to contact your local wildlife management agency like fish and wildlife commission and get their state statutes on relocation. Generally it's a 40 acre plot of land where you have written consent from the owner. You want to relocate the Raccoons to an area that you know they will thrive in and be safe. Examples of good areas would be like wildlife management preserves, forests, and other areas that are their natural habitat.

When you have the animal in the trap you want to make sure that you handle the animal safe. DO NOT put your fingers in the trap, do not mess with it, the animal can scratch or bite you which would then be a rabies scare to cause you to need to go and get tested. What you need to do is buy good Kevlar Glove like these and these are rated for animal handling. If you caught the animal the law states that the animal has to be released from the trap within 24 hours of the Raccoon being caught. The sooner the better for the longer that the animal is in the trap the more it will suffer. We want to focus on humane and safe animal trapping.

Traps have a handle on the top of the trap and a safety plate. You want to grab the handle of the trap, NO OTHER AREA of the trap. The Raccoon may try and stick its arm out the trap that is why you want to wear the Kevlar animal handling gloves and only hold the handle. Be careful when you are holding the trap, don't keep it to close to your legs or it may reach out and try to grab your legs or shoes. Be very safe when holding the trap and transporting the animal.

Logo

Finally when you have chosen the area in which you are going to want to relocate the Raccoon you will want to safely set the Raccoon trap down. Point the trap away from you, and in the direction in which you intent to relocate the animal. ALWAYs stand behind the trap when you are ready to release the animal. You will want to push down on the safety bar and spring, this will then allow the door to be pulled up. Then you will want to pull the door all the way up, this will allow the Raccoon to safely exit the trap. Generally the Raccoon will run right out of the trap. In the event that the Raccoon slowly leaves the trap and is facing you put your arms in the air as if you are a bear and make several loud predator sounds this will scare the Raccoon causing the Raccoon to leave and run away.

Once it is confirmed that all the Raccoons are gone, trapped, and removed, the next step in How to Remove Raccoons is going to be an Exclusion. An exclusion is where you seal up the home from any of the openings, damage or access points that the Raccoon or other animals have used to gain access to your attic and home. This is more on the handyman side of things. If you are not good at handyman or construction work you may want to give me a call, Brendan Mangnitz, and I can go out there with my exclusion crew and take care of the Raccoon damage for you. If you want to try it, then keep reading and good luck!

You want to use only the best materials anytime you are dealing with Raccoons. They are strong and fierce, and very determined. The foam that they sell at the hardware store, is 100% GARBAGE. Raccoons can chew right through this with very little effort. It may be okay to buy bargain brands and low-cost alternatives for household goods, but the materials you use to repair or enhance your home should last through your lifetime.

You want to use only Steel, Metal, and Concrete products. Identify all the areas on the home that have gaps or openings. You then want to seal off these areas ensuring that future animals cannot get into the structure. Take your time and do a good job closing off your home from the Raccoons, take a look at the roof, walk the soffits, and really make sure you locate any spots that can be potential access points. Roof returns are common areas that Raccoons generally use, you will want to close these off using metal and concrete. See the way I closed off this Roof Return on a home, this is how you do exclusion work to guarantee that you will not have a future issue with Raccoons!

Final and Last Step! Clean up the mess behind. No one said this was all fun and games. Raccoon removal is hard and dirty work, but it's got to get done quickly and efficiently. Now that you have trapped the Raccoon, gotten the Raccoons out of the attic, did the animal exclusion and repair work, you are on the final steps to completing the job. The last thing that you want to do is remove all the mess that the Raccoon left behind in the attic. This is honestly one of the most important parts of Raccoon removal and my how to guides for removing Raccoons and getting rid of Raccoons, but so many time homeowners skip this step and have more and more issues in the future.

Why: feces and urine contains contaminates. Their waste is literally festering bacteria in the attic. Do you want this over your head at night when you sleep? NO! that is why it must be removed. There are ductworks and airways that lead from the attic into your home. Just look up, you see those vents in your ceiling? Where do you think the ductwork and vents are? Your attic, and what if there is an opening or cut in the ducts from the Raccoons, well then you're breathing in all that bacteria that was left in the attic. YIKES! Remember the harms from the Raccoon poop I was talking about before? Well that's in your attic, you want to remove that asap. Breathing in bacteria from a Raccoon infestation can be fatal and causes many other severe respiratory issues. You will want to wear a full Protective suit and make sure you are fully covered and protected, you can uses a shop vac with HELP filter or use your hand and bags and start removing all the insulation that has been contaminated and also all the feces and urine areas, these are called Latrines, when Raccoons defecate in one single area. Once ALL the contaminates from your attic and from the Raccoons are removed you will want to apply a product such as DSV to all of your attic. You can use a little pump spray like this one from your local hardware store and apply all the product to the insulation and attic. Make sure you read the label and use the correct amounts. Here at 247, I, Brendan Mangnitz, use heavy duty equipment like an atomizer, when I am doing any type of attic sanitation. For my customers I wasn't to make sure that EVERY single section in the attic is fully taken care of and nothing is left behind. If you are ready this how to article and want to do this yourself just make sure you do a very good job, don't cut any corners, and be extremely proficient to ensure the safety of your family.

And that is my How to Guide when it comes to Raccoons in the attic or your property and how to remove them. Like I have mentioned my name is Brendan Mangnitz, and I have being doing pest wildlife and Raccoon removal now for over 7 years. I have worked and trained hundreds of people of the past years. It takes time, skill, and patience. While I think that removing Raccoons can be very fun, I and others like me understand that it is a dangerous, but necessary service we provide. Raccoons have learned how to thrive and do great in the urban and suburban settings. This is not something that is going away. With more and more houses being built every day, and more land being constructed and developed, we will always have issues with Raccoons in the attic. Just read and learn how to protect yourself, your family and your home and you should be good to go. If you have any questions you can email directly at brendan@CenturianWildlife.com or call my office at 1-844-247-WILD any time of the day or night THANKS!

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