When you suspect that you have a raccoon in your home, it can be difficult to know definitively that you have a wildlife problem without actually seeing the animal with your own eyes. Strange sounds can just be the wind playing tricks on you, after all. And damage to your home could be from the rain.
However, it’s important not to play off signs of a raccoon in your home. These animals definitely do not make good houseguests, and you will want to remedy the situation as soon as possible in order to reduce the damage and mess made during the raccoon’s residence in your attic.
We’ve gathered some advice from the experts to help you learn how to tell if a raccoon is in your attic. If any of the signs resonate with your situation, it’s time to call a wildlife removal company right away to take care of the problem safely, humanely, and permanently.
Consider the Time of Year
Realistically, you could have a raccoon in your home at any time of the year. However, the most common time of the year where homeowners and cottage owners find themselves with raccoon houseguests is in the early spring. If this is around the time when you started suspecting a raccoon has made its way in your home, you could be right.
Early spring, peaking around March, is known as baby raccoon season. This is the time of the year when raccoon mothers will seek out a safe, dry, quiet place to give birth and protect their young as they grow. Attics are the ideal nesting places. Raccoon families will typically stay in the attic for three months as the babies grow stronger and more self-reliant.
Know What Sounds to Listen For
There are many causes of strange sounds in your attic, which includes a wide variety of other animals, structural issues, and weather conditions. To help you learn how to tell if a raccoon is in your attic, you need to know exactly what sounds raccoons make so you can distinguish them from other sounds that could be coming from above.
Because they’re large, heavy animals, adult raccoons will make loud thumping and scurrying noises when they are moving around. These sounds are quite distinct from the pitter patter of small animals. And because they are nocturnal animals, you’ll most often hear thumping at night. You may also hear these sounds on your roof, rather than in your attic.
When it comes to determining whether or not you have young raccoons in your attic, pay attention to chittering noises. These noises sound similar to the sounds made by birds.
Don’t Disregard a Messy Attic
To make themselves—and their babies—comfortable, raccoons will make nests. Because they’re quite smart and ingenuous, raccoons will find a large number of different materials in order to build their nests. So if you see an area of your attic with a lot of twigs, leaves, insulation, shredded cloth, garbage, paper, and other debris, don’t dismiss the mess. These materials were likely gathered up by a raccoon in order to create bedding.
Look for Signs of Damage
Mice and smaller animals can get into your home simply by using a tiny, dime-sized entry point. Because the raccoon is much larger, it will need a bigger opening to get in—and it will damage your property in an attempt to create a larger entry point.
One of the best ways to figure out how to tell if a raccoon is in your attic is to look for damage to your property, both indoors and out. Serious damage to look out for include shredded insulation, chewed structural beams, ripped up vents and soffit intersections, and torn roofing tiles and drywall.
Pay Attention to Food Scraps and Toppled-Over Garbage Cans
It’s very possible that a raccoon regularly eats out of your garbage and then goes on its merry way. However, it’s also just as possible that it is living in your attic and sneaking out at night to eat food scraps from your garbage cans or vegetables from your garden and then going right back to your attic. It might even snatch up food that you’ve left behind on the counter in your kitchen if it’s brave enough.
Raccoons are messy eaters. If they’re around your home, you’ll definitely notice their leftovers, either in your yard, garden, or attic.
Do you need wildlife removal services? Request a quote today!