Homeowners are always trying to figure out how to get rid of raccoons without hurting them. It can be tricky because raccoons can adapt easily to new situations and can also be single-mindedly determined in pursuing what they want. If you’re wondering how to scare raccoons away from your property, loud noises might be an effective deterrent if the animals are just passing through. However, this is not an effective long-term solution as you could end up becoming more of a nuisance to your neighbours than the raccoons. The safest and most effective option is professional raccoon removal in Markham. 

Here are some noises that have been known to scare raccoons, as well as the benefits and downsides of using them.

1. Pots and Pans

If you hit pots and pans together, or strike them with a wooden spoon, they make a loud clanging noise that is likely to scare off any wild animals in your yard, including raccoons. The benefit of this method is that you probably already have all the materials you need available. Nevertheless, while the neighbours may not mistake the sound for gunfire, it could still annoy them. Prolonged exposure to loud noises could still damage your hearing.

2. Shouting

Nature has equipped you with tools you could use to deter raccoons with sound: your own vocal cords. If you stood outside shouting and screaming at the raccoons from a safe distance, it would probably startle them enough so that they’d run away. Nevertheless, after the initial startle, the raccoons would probably return to the yard after it quieted down to investigate. You would have to stand in your yard shouting and screaming all night, which wouldn’t be very practical and could also damage your vocal cords.

3. Radio

Raccoons in rural areas are startled by human voices. To keep them out of your yard, you could tune a radio to a talk station and leave it on out in your yard all night. It would be difficult to find a volume that was loud enough to scare raccoons and yet not so loud that it wouldn’t keep you up all night. Also, raccoons in urban settings are used to human noise, so it probably wouldn’t have an effect.

4. Wind Chimes

When wind chimes are agitated by a passing breeze, they produce musical tones. Wind chimes are pleasing to people but can be frightening to animals that don’t know where the sound is coming from. Wind chimes shouldn’t disturb your neighbours or keep you up all night. Nevertheless, for wind chimes to be effective as a raccoon deterrent, you would have to move them around your yard frequently so the raccoons don’t have a chance to adapt to them. Even that might not be successful.

5.Motion Activated Noise Systems

Much like motion activated sprinklers or lights help to keep raccoons away, activated noise systems startle raccoons from the property. Since raccoons feel safe in predictable environments, this tactic may help deter them from returning in the future. However, raccoons are clever, and once they discover the sound is non-threatening, they may return. 

Call Skedaddle for Raccoon Removal in Markham

Our process includes removing the animals safely and humanely and closing the entry points where they got in. Raccoons keep several den sites within their territory, so once one becomes inaccessible, they will move to another of their own volition. Learn more about what professional raccoon removal entails.