Raccoons are adaptive animals that thrive in a wide variety of environments. While they often prefer dense woods and lush meadows to live in, raccoons are also found in urban and suburban neighbourhoods. They can cause incredible amounts of damage to your property, however, so you should take measures to keep the masked bandits away from your house. Here are some practical tips to reduce the risk of raccoons moving into your home.

Avoid Feeding Them

Raccoons look like cute little masked bandits, so you may be tempted to feed them. They are notorious scavengers and will eat anything they can find, so even something as simple as leaving out a bowl of pet food or throwing leftover dinner scraps into your yard is enough to sustain them. If you feed them, the creatures may start to lose their natural fear of humans. They will grow bolder and continue to visit your property because they associate it with an easy source of food.

Close Access Points

Raccoons are destructive. If they find even a tiny hole in the exterior of your home, they will claw at the siding until they create a space big enough for them to fit through. The best way to keep raccoons out of your home is to board up any potential points of entry. Make it a habit to thoroughly examine your home several times each year to identify places raccoons may use to get inside. A reputable pest control technician such as the ones at Skedaddle can point out places you need to cover to prevent raccoon access.

Get Rid of Attractants

Because raccoons have such a varied diet, they prefer to seek out the easiest sources of food available. They will hunt crayfish and other small animals if no other food source is nearby, but they will steal crops, chickens and eggs from backyard homesteads if they can access them. Pet food that is left out all day also attracts raccoons, and so does unsecured garbage.

Getting rid of all of these attractants is the best way to deter raccoons. Put away pet food as soon as your dogs and cats eat, and keep all of your garbage in a tightly secured can. Make sure your gardens and chicken coops are secured properly. If raccoons have no easy sources of food, they are unlikely to stay on your property. You don’t have to worry about sharing your home with raccoons if they feel like your house is not a suitable environment.

Maintain Your Property

Raccoons prefer to live in areas with plenty of places to hide. Overgrown lawns, piles of fallen leaves and ill-maintained outbuildings all give the furry creatures prime hiding spots and places to den. Keeping your yard neatly trimmed is a good way to discourage raccoons from taking up residence on your property because they don’t like being exposed when searching for food and shelter. You can also rake leaves and dispose of them properly.

While raccoons access home in many ways, one of the most common is via low-lying tree limbs that create roads to roofs. Trimming any branches that lay close to your roof limits the number of access points and minimizes the risk of raccoons getting inside.

Call Skedaddle for Help With Raccoon Removal

When raccoons invade your property despite your best efforts to deter them, the professionals at Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control can show you how to get rid of raccoons for good. We understand the habits of raccoons and know how to take action to remove them in a humane fashion. Contact us today if you need help with raccoon removal in Victoria.