Have you been racking your brains trying to get rid of your raccoons with ammonia, moth balls, light, and noise? Have you found that none of these methods work at all?
You’re not alone. It is famously difficult to for homeowners to chase raccoons away with any cheap or easy method. Even fancy sonic screamers don’t work.
Here’s why professional wildlife removal may be your only hope.
#1) Intelligence
Raccoons are wicked smart.
Scientists have been studying raccoon intelligence since 1905. They are excellent at solving puzzle boxes, even memorizing them and solving them faster as they encounter them again in the future. They do this in the wild as well as in captivity.
Initial scientists even referred to them as “cunning.”
Try to trick them or outsmart them to keep them out of your home or attic, and they might just laugh at you and go around whatever you’ve put down.
#2) Adaptability
Raccoons are the MacGyvers of the animal kingdom. When conditions change, they study them, figure out how to turn them to their advantage, and adapt. They even use tools. They’ll pick up a stick to push or rake food from a location, especially if they consider the food to be “high value.”
Even when they don’t use tools, they use their little hands to explore and manipulate their environment, while also relying on their nose. In other words, if you change their environment, they might just adjust to the new conditions with ease.
#3) Curiosity
The first reaction a raccoon may have to one of your deterrent measures may not be fear. It may be curiosity as they sit back and try to figure it out.
You might put out some sort of sound box only for them to sit back, study it, determine it can’t hurt them, and then ignore it. Remember, they’ve adapted to urban environments like Houston. An urban environment is nothing but noise: car engines, car horns, shouting people, generators, air conditioners, and every other kind of noise you can imagine.
Once they figure out a new sound doesn’t represent a threat, they stop caring.
#4) Dexterity
They’re fast and furious. They’re excellent climbers. They’re little acrobats.
Like rats, they can fit into holes far smaller than their body will suggest. For example, a raccoon only needs a hole as small as 3-4 inches in diameter, softball sized, to squeeze into any space.
That’s why blocking the big, obvious egress point doesn’t always make a difference. They’ll often just find another location you missed. You need a thorough inspection to find all those little places.
#5) Stubbornness
Once raccoons find a good spot to raise their young or protect themselves, they don’t want to give it up. They’ll keep trying to find workarounds in the hopes of staying right where they are.
When they encounter a deterrent they don’t think about how to run away from it. They think about how to defeat it.
Ready to end your raccoon problem?
Professional wildlife removal is usually the only way to get a raccoon out of your property.
We know exactly how to outsmart, catch, and relocate raccoons, and we know how to find all the little points where they try to squeeze into your home. We’ll block them all off.
Ready to get started? Schedule your free inspection today.
