Massive Raccoon Problems

I am not aware of "ONE" redeeming value of a raccoon. You have very little choice than to 'eliminate' all of them and keep after them because they repopulate quickly. Go outside just after its good and dark with a BIG flashlight/spotlight. and see how many eyes are looking back at you,look thru the trees, the grass, the buildings,everywhere. friend said he did that last week and was greeted by a "sea" of eyes looking back at him. You CAN live trap them in time, using honey or marshmellows as bait. Hunting them at night is faster. A small sweet corn patch in summer will attact them,,,then I 'heard' of a solution, but never tried it. Coke a cola in a shallow pan,,,and mixed with golden maldrin fly bait,,maybe a cupful. IF they get more than 10 feet from pan before all four are in the air,,,mix a bit more fly bait. The ONLY good one is a dead one,,,thats a fact!!(they carry a HOST of diseases,children have been known to DIE from that!!)(if in doubt,google it)

When they rip siding and enter homes and sheds,its time they go,they can do ALOT of damage,,,ever see insulation after those fat hogs waller thru it?? And there droppings are DEADLY,,,have I mentioned that yet??

I couldn't find anything stating its illegal to kill a raccoon (except Canada)
Canada (some areas?) you can't trap them (jaw trap that will kill)
In many (most?) places it is illegal to trap them & then release them anywhere but on the same property where they were trapped

You need to seal every entrance with wire
One thought is to electrify this wire -not recommended
An electrican friend did this around his birdfeeder w/switch
Raccoon stepped on the metal matt & started to shovel food into his mouth. He flipped the switch - raccoon froze. He cursed - it wasn't working...shut the switch off......and the raccoon keeled over

Raccoons have never bothered our house or garbage
Possibly due to cat litter in the trash & now diapers
The only time I hade 4 raccoons (3 babies) on the back patio is when I was cooking lobster outside. They smelled it & knocked the top off the pot - empty.
I left the empty shells down by the stream well away from the house. Not a shred of shell was left the next day - rocks were overturned as they looked for more
One died trapped in the fence, I see the others foorprints - but have not seen them

I heard an exterminator on a talk show say he had seen a house repair done where the babies were trapped in the attic by mistake. The mother came back and clawed and chewed through brick to get them. This is a fomidable opponant.
We have them in our neighbourhood but have noticed since we separate and seal all wet kitchen waste in a locked recycle bin, they haven't touched our garbage once. One day last year I watched two scale our neighbour's 8 foot chimney and hop inside. Funny to watch but scarey to think where they can get to.
I have seen and heard that a mechanical motion sensing owl is a great cure. Never tried one but the device is a natural predator. You need to beat nature with nature and elimainate the hospitable envoronment. Play some AC/DC as well
Also saw a guy on Detroit news last month, who is layed off, who traps and skins and sells them. $15 each. "good eatin!!!!!!" He had about 6 in his freezer ......skinned like turkeys. You may want to look him up and have him drop by.....

This is what I do for a living

Deterrents only work as deterrents not as evictions
Once they have established a home site putting ammonia, that only smells like urine same as their next anyway, will not force them out

All you can do is trap the offenders
Just because you are trapping several ***** in the area does not mean that these are the ***** that are causing the problems

You have to trap the animals that are actually coming in, that means proper trap placement

You also have to identify and harden not only the current entry ways but all secondaries
They have nothing to do all nigt but look for a way in, you have to think like they do
.Eave gaps are the most common way that they get into a non crawl house
Harden all of them at once

There are also attic treatments that eliminate the odors and pheromones that they leaves behind that will attract others in after they are gone

Scuba_Dave said:

I knew someone in NH who was fed up with *****
He connected up wires & breaker & switch
Metal matt - one wire on the ground that they would have to stand on
Heavy duty Metal birdfeeder - 2nd wire

Raccoon stood up & grabbed the birdfeeder, he threw the switch
Raccon just stood there, didn't move
He shut it off & went out to chase the raccoon away
...and the raccoon tumbled over...dead :laughing:

He only used it that once...he only wanted to shock them & scare them away

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He didn't notice the **** was all of a sudden smoking?

an electrified fence charger, like in a horse fence would have done it.

Hey, has anybody tried that? string the electrified wired under the eave where they would have to go to get in? You would have to run 2 wires since an electric fence usually uses the ground as one conductor so you would have to engineer a placement that would cause the ***** to be touching one conductor as they reached and touched the other. Wouldn't be that hard to do and not very expensive either.

I know my Akita/shepherd mix dogs really shy away from the fence for a long time once they get zapped just once.

Scuba_Dave I couldn't find anything stating its illegal to kill a raccoon (except Canada)

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I think the fact he is in the suburbs of Chicago might be why it is illegal to hunt them although, if he goes into the city, I am sure he could find a lot of guys with enough guns to eradicate all the ***** he has:whistling2:

my dad had a **** chew through his roof. Kind of right in the middle of the roof. No rhyme no reason for that spot that we could tell. Just started chewing through the shingles and kept on going through the roof timber and into the attic.