How do you get rid of Raccoons

[Bill Cunningham]

I seem to have a family of Raccoons living under my shop, they have the siding ripped off one part so they can get under.. I bought a live trap, and so far I have caught 5 skunks, 2 squirrels and now 3 raccoons (there's one in the trap now, and two others are trying to get him/her out) The Skunks are no problem, I just drag the trap to the back of the yard, flip it over and release the latch so the door falls down and they run off. (they won't spray while in the trap) The two Raccoons I have caught, I just dropped the trap in the car trunk, drove them about 6 miles away, and let them go. I will do the same thing in the morning to the one I have in there now, if his/her buddies don't find a way to spring him/her overnight. I did discover that you have to wire the back section of those folding traps closed, or they can get them open.
Now, I know there are still two more under the shop, they may or may not be smart enough to avoid the trap seeing they can't seem to help the one in there now(although they certainly have been trying). Does ANYONE know how to discourage these things from taking up residence? Shooting them is out of the question, I'm 'now' in a residential area (it wern't when I moved in here 40 years ago) And it's not likely the ones I release will find their way back, so there's no point in shooting them in some remote location.. I know there are sound generators that drive off rats and mice, is there anything like that for Raccoons?

[Jim Rimmer]

There was a recent post about getting rid of skunks. Maybe they have some ideas. My Dad said moth balls would repel skunks. Trying throwing some under the shop, may be it will drive them off. Can't hurt and won't cost much. Would like to know if it works.

[Darius Ferlas]

Ammonia soaked rugs will definitely discourage them, but you need to make sure they are not inside first. The process needs to be repeated a few times so that they don't assume the nasty smell was a one time event.

Month balls work too, and they will last a little longer but are not as harsh.

[Jerome Hanby]

Rabid Wolverines will get rid of them quick...with the obvious bad side effect.

[David G Baker]

Bill,
I live trap and transport like you do. I have trapped and transported as many as 100 critters in one year. On the raccoons you have to keep trapping until they are gone. I use black sunflower seeds on everything except groundhogs, they want cabbage and carrots. You need to get them out of where they are living because they can do a lot of serious damage and can create some very stinky messes.
The highest raccoon count was 12 in one season.
Anything that will attract the critters needs to go or you will eventually get a new group after the old one is gone.

[Ben West]

FYI -- Moth balls will NOT work. There is a reason they are called moth balls, not raccoon balls, bat balls, snake balls, or anything else!

[Darius Ferlas]

FYI -- Moth balls will NOT work. There is a reason they are called moth balls, not raccoon balls, bat balls, snake balls, or anything else!

A known snake repellent is Snakeaway. Naphtalene is thew main ingredient, and naphtalene was often used by the US soldiers during WW2 in the Far East. They used it to repel snakes.

They used naphtalene in the production of mothballs too. But mothballs would not repel snakes? Go figure

Now naphtalene in mothballs is often replaced with another organic compound of similar properties,pDCB, which like naphtalene is harsh to mucous membranes such as lungs, the linings of the respiratory track and to eyes. Maximum safe levels for humans are 75ppm. Mothballs in constrained areas will release much more. Mothballs also contains camphor, a popular insect replant.

I used mothballs to discourage skunks from returning to live under my front porch. It worked, although it stank in front of the house for a couple of weeks.

[Ben West]

Snake-away is a known repellent, but it has never, not a single time, been shown to be effective through independent research. Snake-oil would be a better name for the product.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of products on the market that purportedly help people deal with problem wildlife but have little or no actual benefits.

You've all seen deer whistles, right? The little devices that your bolt to your car and supposedly frighten deer away, thus avoiding a collision? They do absolutely nothing to scare deer away. In fact, the first several years of manufacture, the sounds they did produce were outside the hearing range of deer. The do a good job of separating people from their money, though.

The little plug-in ultrasonic emitters that supposedly frighten away rodents and insects have been tested again and again, and the results are staggeringly consistent. They do nothing.

As an aside, all pesticides and repellents in the United States must be labeled for each specific use, which is mandated by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. To to the local big box store,for example, and pick up any bottle of weed spray, and you'll see a listing of how the chemical can be used.

Moth balls are not registered for use to repel snakes, raccoons, skunks, etc. So, not only does it not work for these purposes, but it also is a violation of federal law. Now, the feds would never come after a homeowner for this, but there have been several small pest control companies that have been fined, in a big way, for such things.

I know more about this stuff than I should...have spent the past several years as a academic in the wildlife arena, studying and teaching mostly about problems with wildlife.

[Darius Ferlas]

Moth balls are not registered for use to repel snakes, raccoons, skunks, etc. So, not only does it not work for these purposes, but it also is a violation of federal law. Now, the feds would never come after a homeowner for this, but there have been several small pest control companies that have been fined, in a big way, for such things.

I know more about this stuff than I should...have spent the past several years as a academic in the wildlife arena, studying and teaching mostly about problems with wildlife.

The OP is posting from Ontario, where the US wildlife laws have fairly little weight. At least for now .

Ontario government (Ministry of Agriculture) provides links to sites (such as this official City of Toronto site) where mothballs are among the recommended repellents.

[Ben West]

Ahhh, Canadian raccoons. There's the problem....

Enjoy the weekend, everybody!

[Darius Ferlas]

Ahhh, Canadian raccoons. There's the problem....

Enjoy the weekend, everybody!

I think you're confusing raccoons with beavers
Good weekend to you.

[Don Jarvie]

Get Coyote pee (liquid) not the dried pellets and put it in a small bottle and soak a cotton ball and put it in the bottle (like a wick).

Put it by the entrance where they are getting in and in a few other places under the shop and once their gone board up the hole.

My BIL did this and it worked. Just make sure you get all of the holes where they come in.

[Dave Ogren]

I have not tried to repel racoons but ground hogs here try to dig under concrete foundations of buildings. The way that I have found to chase them away is by using Magnesium Sulfate. There is something that they smell in it that makes them leave.
This is a fertilizer product and can be purchased at an AG. Supply store 50 pounds was about $8.00 rwo years ago.
It is also great for your flowers and especially evergreen trees.

The retail name in small containers is Epsom Salts.

Good Luck, Please let us know how it works on racoons.

Dave

[Scott Shepherd]

http://www.amazon.com/Havahart-Critt.../dp/B000RUIICU

I was working in a house a few years back, renovating it and I kept hearing noises from behind a wall a room that used to be the attic. We determined it was a raccoon some how. I think the pried open gable vent was a clue.

So we took the trap door off to access that area, went in, put a trap in there, planning to catch and take it for a drive in the country to it's new home. Someone said they liked cat food. Bought a can of cat food, put it in the trap, closed the trap door up, went home. Came back the next day, checked the trap, the can was empty and the trap was sprung.

Dang it. How'd that thing do that?

Set another can in there, set the trap.

Came back next day and checked it. Can empty, trap sprung, no sign of the raccoon.

Someone said Marshmallows. So we bought a bag of those, put them in the trap, set it, left. Came back next day.

Empty trap, no marshmallows, trap sprung.

This went on for about a week. Finally I gave up and determined if he was smart enough to eat all that food that was in a trap, without getting caught, then he was smarter than the person trying to catch him/her (me) and it deserved to be there.

Finished fixing up the house, it got sold and the trap is probably still sitting in the attic

[ed hoxter]

12 gauge! works every time on unwanted critters. ed