How to deter raccoons
Don't want to pay for raccoon removal?
The easiest way to avoid needing raccoon removal services is to deter raccoons in the first place.
Here are three ways to try to keep raccoons off your property.
#1) Restrict Access to Food
Like most urban scavengers, raccoons choose to inhabit properties where they can count on easy access to food. Outdoor garbage cans and compost piles are like all-night free buffet lines for them.
Secure garbage cans and ensure you have enough to handle all of your normal garbage output before pickup day. Don't be afraid to buy locking garbage cans. Houston has a huge raccoon problem!
#2) Restrict Access to Water
Every animal needs water to survive. Do you have standing water in your yard?
We're not saying you must give up your pool, hot tub, or birdbath. Just cover them at night, when raccoons are active.
Check your spigots, too. A drippy or leaky spigot can provide an enterprising raccoon family with all the water they might need to survive.
#3) Restrict Access to The Home
Raccoons will enter your home in any way they can. Is there a gap in your siding? Has your soffit and fascia rotted enough to make a hole? Do you leave windows open at night? Are there gaps in the roof?
About 90% of our work as wildlife removal specialist revolves around finding all the places raccoons and other critters are using to enter the home, and then blocking them off. If you can do that before a raccoon takes up residence, you might never need to call us.
What can you do if you get raccoons despite your best efforts?
Don't beat yourself up. Raccoons are persistent and intelligent. They're difficult to actively deter: they don't care about motion-activated lights, sprinklers, noise makers, or cayenne pepper nearly as much as the Internet thinks they do.
When raccoons take up residence, you need tougher exclusion methods and experts who can trap them, remove them, and release them far away. That's where we come in. The faster you call us, the less painful the removal and eventual damage are likely to be.
See raccoons in the yard, but aren't sure whether they've invaded your home? We'll provide you with a thorough inspection. Once you start seeing raccoons, it's a good idea to get your home checked anyway, as you might want to start using professional-grade exclusion methods before they get the bright idea to nest down in your attic.
We're Houston's raccoon removal experts and ready to help. Call us as soon as you suspect you might have a problem, and we'll take care of you!
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Our goal is to take time to evaluate each customers situation and customize proven results to solve it. If you are looking for a professional solution for your Squirrel Removal needs, please contact us today.
5 Signs You Have a Raccoon Infestation in Your Home
We've been offering pest control services in the Houston, TX, metro area for many years. We know denial is the first reaction many people have when they start noticing signs that raccoons may be invading the house.
People don't want to think about the potential expense of removing raccoons or what could be happening in the parts of their homes they can't see.
Unfortunately, denial only makes the situation worse. If you have these 5 signs, it's time to call us.
#1) Strange Sounds in the Night
If you hear scratching, thumping, or "heavy footsteps" in your attic at night, it's probably not a ghost or a goblin.
It's probably a raccoon. They're most active at night, and you're most likely to find them in your attic, chimney, or walls.
Look to human food. Keep compost in a bin or box. Keep trash can lids affixed to their cans. Wipe up spills and crumbs.
#2) Damaged Insulation
If you go up into your attic and find torn insulation everywhere, you probably have a raccoon. They like to tear up the insulation to create nests.
A skyrocketing energy bill could be your first sign of trouble, as insulation plays a vital role in helping us keep our homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The more raccoons destroy your insulation, the more the R-value of that insulation reduces into uselessness.
#3) Foul Odors
Raccoons don't exactly use litter boxes. They pee and poop wherever it occurs to them to do so. Obviously, the odor can get very unpleasant very quickly.
The more odors you smell, the worse the situation may be. The droppings may be in your ductwork. You could be breathing the particles and germs. Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to get bitten by a raccoon for a raccoon to make you sick.
#4) Footprints
You might find little raccoon footprints in dusty or muddy areas, such as the attic or crawl spaces.
#5) Torn Soffits and Fascia
Raccoons are more than happy to rip up soffits, fascia, and roofing materials to make it inside the home. They're also opportunists: if an opening exists, they're likely to exploit it.
The trash pandas are smart. They know human attics meet their needs.
Stop worrying about the cost!
No raccoon removal could possibly be as costly as letting them continue to chew up your electrical wiring, tear up your ductwork, shred your insulation, and fill your house with diseases while steadily devaluing your home by filling it with awful smells.
Our solutions are cost effective and humane. We'll help you exclude raccoons from your property, so they don't return. You'll get your house back, and you won't have to think about raccoons any more.
Need help? Call us today.
REQUEST A FREE INSPECTION
Our goal is to take time to evaluate each customers situation and customize proven results to solve it. If you are looking for a professional solution for your Squirrel Removal needs, please contact us today.
Raccoons Cause Two Texas Power Outages
In Seguin, TX, raccoons caused two power outages this October by getting into substation transformers.
This isn't the first time a raccoon has ever gotten into a transformer. Out in Colorado, a raccoon once caused a 7-acre wildfire doing the same thing. There were instances in New Mexico where raccoons caused a transformer to downright explode. Raccoons have even managed to start major fires by getting into the power lines.
Squirrels blow out transformers as well, as do snakes and other animals. Anything man can build, it seems, pests want to find their way into.
Some power companies have responded by retrofitting transformers to prevent animal interference, which we think is a wonderful idea.
Do you doubt that they can do the same to your home?
You shouldn't. Fire investigators estimate that wire-chewing damage by rodents such as rats, mice, and raccoons cause up to 20% of undetermined fires in the United States every year. If there's one thing raccoons excel at, it's good old fashioned property destruction.
These fires are the most common during the winter. That's because animals like to winter down in our attics, and they don't have much to do but stay inside and chew on whatever looks good to them.
One sign of damage could be a circuit breaker that constantly trips. Another sign could be frequently flickering lights, appliance failures, or frequent power surges.
Add those to the other common signs of raccoons in your home, and you might just have to face up to the fact that it's time to call a pest control company like ours.
Signs of raccoons include:
- Sounds of heavy footsteps in the attic.
- Scratching sounds.
- Strange smells.
- You see raccoons on your porch or close to your house.
Take a look at some of our other posts about raccoons to understand the dangers they pose.
- What Transmittable Diseases Do Raccoons Carry?
- What You Need to Know About Raccoons
- Raccoons Have Got to Go—What You Should Know if You Suspect Raccoons in Your Home or Business
We offer humane pest removal, and we're a lot less expensive and distressing than a house fire!
If you think you have signs of raccoons, contact us to get help today.
REQUEST A FREE INSPECTION
Our goal is to take time to evaluate each customers situation and customize proven results to solve it. If you are looking for a professional solution for your Raccoon Removal needs, please contact us today.
Raccoons at Houston Apartment Complex
Bats are one of the worst infestations you can get in your home or business. They’re gentle, and will never attack you, but they’re still problematic.
Continue readingAre Raccoons Dangerous?
Bats are one of the worst infestations you can get in your home or business. They’re gentle, and will never attack you, but they’re still problematic.
Continue readingWhat Transmittable Diseases Do Raccoons Carry?
Sure, the trash pandas are adorable. Everyone loves their tiny little hands!
Yet when coons get too close, disease can follow.
In fact, raccoons carry so many diseases that we'd be hard pressed to name them all. Still, we can give you the most common ones.
Leptospirosis
What it is: a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals.
What it does: causes kidney damage, meningitis, liver failure, and respiratory distress. In short, leptospirosis can be fatal.
How raccoons pass it on to us: through urine contamination.
Rabies
What it is: a viral disease that infects the central nervous system of both humans and animals.
What it does: causes severe inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. It's most famous for turning animals dangerously aggressive; humans can end up in a state of anxiety, confusion, or partial paralysis. Humans can also suffer from hallucinations. It even can cause a severe fear of water: individuals will panic and refuse to drink.
The virus essentially hijacks the brain.
How raccoons pass it to us: through bites and scratches.
Canine Distemper
What it is: a virus that attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and nervous system of dogs.
What it does: causes a watery, pus-like discharge from the eyes. As the disease progresses, dogs develop fevers, nasal discharge, coughing, lethargy, a reduced appetite, vomiting, seizures, partial or complete paralysis. This disease is often fatal. Even when it isn't it can cause permanent, irreparable nervous system damage.
How raccoons pass it to your animals: through direct contact with body fluids or droppings.
Raccoon Parvoviral Enteritis
What it is: a highly infectious virus. Racoons can pass it to both dogs and cats.
What it does: causes lethargy, depression, lack of appetite, fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. You may spot mucous or blood in your pet's feces. This disease can be treated if you get your pet to the vet fast enough, but it can be fatal.
How raccoons pass it to your pets: through contact with droppings.
Infectious Canine Hepatitis
What it is: a contagious viral disease that targets dogs.
What it does: this virus targets the spleen, kidneys, lungs, liver, the lining of the blood vessels and other organs. Symptoms can include fever, vomiting, depression and apathy, thirst, loss of appetite, blindness, a swollen belly, jaundice, red dots on the skin, seizures, and other symptoms. This disease can be fatal.
How raccoons pass it to your pets: through contact with raccoon urine, most commonly when dogs drink from an outdoor puddle or stagnant pond.
Toxoplasmosis
What it is: a disease caused by a parasite known as the toxoplasma gondii parasite.
What it does: causes body aches, swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever, and fatigue. May cause severe, even fatal, problems in babies, those infected with HIV/AIDS, or in pregnant people.
How raccoons pass it to us: through contact with urine or feces.
Baylisascaris Procyonis
What it is: a rare but serious roundworm.
What it does: causes neurological and ocular symptoms in humans. Symptoms include nausea, exhaustion, liver enlargement, loss of coordination, confusion, and loss of muscle control. May cause blindness or coma.
How raccoons pass it to us: through contact with urine or feces.
Keep disease out of your home by keeping raccoons out of your home!
While you may imagine that you'd never openly come into contact with urine or feces or get close enough to a raccoon to get bitten by one, the truth is your risk of disease goes up exponentially when a raccoon moves into your home. You may not realize common household surfaces have become contaminated, or that raccoons have been handling your pet's food and water supply.
Protect your home and your family from disease. Call Elite Wildlife for humane raccoon removal. We'll put them somewhere they'll be happier, and we'll keep you safe at the same time.
