When you are hearing noises coming from your attic there are only a few species of wildlife you can be dealing with. One of the most common, and most challenging animals to contend with are raccoons. Not only are they large and very mobile; but if they have broken into an attic it is more often than not to have babies. Therefore, there is a high likelihood you have a litre of young raccoons to deal with. Because the baby raccoons are helpless and must be physically removed and cared for until the mother is successfully evicted, raccoon removal and prevention is one of the more sensitive undertakings we encounter.

SIGNS OF RACCOONS IN THE ATTIC

Below we will touch on the best way to confirm it is in fact raccoons making those noises in your attic as well as how to quickly and humanely remove them from your home. Raccoon removal can be a tricky process and is best left to experienced professionals. One small slip up can lead to significant damage being done to your home.

Sounds in Attic

It’s worth repeating that raccoons are the largest animals you will come across in an urban setting. Because of their size and weight, the sounds they make are easily distinguishable as the sounds coming from a bigger animal. If you’re hearing thumping noises, it’s one of the surefire signs a raccoon is in the attic. No other urban pest is big enough to create stomping noises. Squirrels will scurry and bang around, but a raccoon literally will sound like a small person is up there.

They are very vocal animals as well, especially when babies are in the mix. When around their kits the mothers will become much more vocal. As for the little ones when they are not asleep they are usually crying.

Check out this video to hear what raccoons sound like:

You might also hear what sounds like something walking across the roof; this is another one of the common signs a raccoon is in the attic and on the way back to its nest. This mostly happens at night.

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Time of Day and Season

The next best indicator that you are in fact dealing with raccoons is the time of day you notice the activity. Raccoons are nocturnal and the most common period in which they will attempt to gain entry to any structure is during the late evening hours or overnight.

Another major consideration is the time of year. Baby raccoon season takes place in early spring, peaking around the month of March. Attics, sheds, and garages are ideal locations for mothers looking for warm spaces. Once the babies are born, the raccoon family will stick around for a bit longer; it generally takes three months for babies to grow strong enough to move around on their own. For these reasons, you want to remain extra vigilant during the spring. Reacting to a break in even 24 hours later could be the difference between a mother birthing her kits and taking up semi-permanent residence till the summer, and a two-day inconvenience.

If you’ve spotted an adult female raccoon in your attic or in close proximity to your attic during this time of year, it’s almost certain she has babies nearby. If you hear the sound of crying or high-pitched squealing, that’s the sound of babies calling for their mother.

Nesting Materials

If you suspect a raccoon has gained entry anywhere on your property, take a look around for any signs of nesting materials. Raccoons will immediately begin to make themselves at home by creating nests for themselves. They are fairly ingenious animals and will use just about anything and everything to make themselves a nest.

They’ll bring in a fair bit from outside, including leaves, twigs, and other debris, but they’ll also tear up insulation and cloth found in the attic to create bedding for themselves. If you notice twigs and leaves scattered about or shredded cloth and paper throughout the space, this is one of the most common signs your up against a raccoon.

Visible Damage

damage by raccoon to roofline of a houseOnce again to belabour the size factor with these animals; raccoons can make a real mess of things, very quickly. Especially if they are up in your attic. They have sharp teeth and claws; they will chew into wooden support beams, roofing tiles, and drywall. When doing an inspection of your attic space, look for any obvious signs of damage to the walls, floor, and ceiling of your property.

If a raccoon is trapped and feels panicked, it will literally destroy your attic in a matter of hours. Even if it’s just taking up shelter and isn’t trapped, a raccoon will damage to your insulation, wiring, structural beams and HVAC components.

The insulation can be a problem in terms of keeping your house warm, but when it comes to the structural beams that support your home things start getting really dangerous.

Raccoon Sightings

Even if you haven’t seen a raccoon in your attic, you might have seen one around your property. Perhaps it’s been sniffing through your garbage can. Or, maybe you’ve witnessed one climbing up or down your downspout or have seen one on your roof. These are all signs that a raccoon is likely living in your attic.

If you’ve seen any of these signs of raccoons in the attic, don’t dismiss them. Raccoons can be destructive. They’re messy. And they are also carriers of dangerous parasites like Baylisascaris and deadly diseases, such as rabies.

Knowing how to tell if raccoons are in the attic is an important first step to wildlife removal. Once you’ve determined that you do indeed have raccoons in your home, you can take appropriate action to humanely evict the animal and any babies. From there you can start the process to clean up, restore your attic, repair damage, and prevent future re-entry.

Feces

Another way to tell if you have raccoons in the attic is to look—or sniff—for scat. Raccoons will use one area of your attic as a latrine, rather than leave feces all over the place. Raccoon feces is also foul smelling and you’ll likely be able to smell a small buildup of scat from other areas in your home.

This is what raccoon feces looks like:

raccoon faces on roof

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HOW THEY GET IN

Here are some of the most common ways that a raccoon can become an unexpected and unwelcome house guest.

Climbing down Your Chimney – Santa Claus isn’t the only one coming down your chimney. Without a chimney cap, a raccoon can get down there, too. Your chimney is a perfect place for a mother raccoon to nurse her babies. It offers shelter and protection and it mimics a hollowed-out tree, which makes it easy for the adults to get up and down easily.

Squeezing Through Your Plumbing Mats – Your plumbing mats are on the roof vents that connect to your plumbing system and are used to exhaust sewer gases. When plumbing vents are installed, the hole cut out in the roof to extend to the pipe is usually cut much bigger than the pipe itself to make it easier to run the plumbing through. To cover the large holes that are made, these rubber mats are used.

Raccoons are tough, and they can tear and pull at these mats until they make large enough holes to squeeze themselves through. Then down the hole, they go, right into your attic to make themselves at home.

Opening Flimsy Roof-Soffit Intersections – Roof-soffit intersections are the areas of your roof where the soffits sit above the section of the roof. These intersections are typically located where the top and bottom roof meet. The soffits are made of thin plastic or aluminum, making it easier for a raccoon to get in. All the animal has to do is use its shoulders to open these flimsy soffits in order to gain access to the attic.

Destroying Your Roof Vents – Destroying your aluminum or plastic roof vent cover is a simple task for raccoons. Since these vents are on your roof to allow air circulation in your attic, raccoons can feel the escaping air through them. This tempts them to get in to access this warmth, so they’ll work hard to get in there.

Tearing through Your Roof’s Edge – The roof’s edge, where the house and the eavestrough meet, is a common entry point for raccoons. By design, all melted snow and rain must move through the roof’s edge to get to the eavestrough. This means the roof’s edge gets weathered and deteriorates more quickly due to the harsh conditions and the high amounts of moisture. So it’s quite easy for an opportunistic raccoon to tear away or chew at the rotten wood in order to get into your home.

WHAT NOW 

Now that you are 100% it is raccoons in your attic, you have some decisions to make. Below we will go over what your options are and what not to do, as well as a couple of helpful hints to help prevent this from happening again down the road.

What Not to Do

There are two main things you do not want to do under any circumstances if you are seeing signs of raccoons in your attic:

  1. Live traping –  the main concerns with this approach is the separation from its environment as well as the potential of separating a mother from her offspring. Raccoons are territorial and introducing them into an unfamiliar environment will almost assuredly result in suffering or death. Similarly, if young kits are separated from their mother the chance of their survival is negligible.
  2. DIY Repairs – it may be tempting to save a few dollars and patch up the gaping hole in your roof where the raccoon broke into your attic. Problem is if you trap an animal in there, either the animal will perish up there and you will be left with a mess, or it will cause even more damage breaking back out. And of course, you will be no closer to fixing the problem. There are several considerations when successfully, safely and humanely evicting wildlife.

Tips for Around the Home

Because raccoons are intelligent, nimble animals who are also opportunistic feeders with a varied diet, we must take an updated approach to general preventative measures around our property.

Clean Up

With easy access to areas in and around your home, raccoons can make themselves comfortable while causing quite a bit of damage. It’s important to keep the area around your home clear and free from nooks, holes, or sheltered areas that might provide ideal living spaces for raccoons. Latrine sites are often found near trees, rocks, or stumps— keep these areas unsheltered and clear from debris.

Remove Food Sources

Make sure your garbage cans are always closed tightly and left in a shed or garage if possible. If trees in your yard yield fruits or nuts, be sure to clear the ground from any fallen edible items. If the area around your home is prone to animal visits, removing your birdfeeder will lower that number. As smart animals that have adapted to life with humans, raccoons have been known to open garbage cans and go sifting through the contents. Investing in a heavy lid for compost or garbage bins will make it harder for the animals to disrupt the area around your yard and your house.

Trim Your Trees

If a tree in your yard has long branches that extend toward your home, that connection can be an easy pathway for curious animals. Be sure to keep your tree branches trimmed and away from the house to make roof access less easy. A fruit or nut tree might also leave food sources around your roof that could be drawing unwanted animal visitors toward your house.

Contact Wildlife Removal Experts 

Now that you know what to look for and what not to do, it’s time to call a local humane wildlife removal company. The company will humanely remove the raccoons from your home with a one-way door, ensure that no babies are left behind, seal up all entry points to prevent future re-entry, and help with decontamination and repairs.

It may be tempting to try and resolve the issue yourself or through cheaper methods, but when it comes to protecting your home from raccoons you do not have time for trial and error. Call the experts immediately.

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