If you live in Ontario and you have a raccoon living in your attic at any time between January and September, it’s a fairly safe bet that you have a mother and her babies in residence. Unfortunately, raccoons can be destructive and noisy, and they can carry parasites and serious diseases that could affect you, your family, and your pets.
So, what do you do if you find raccoon babies in your attic?
Eviction?
The first thing to know is that you should not try to trap the mother raccoon with the intention of relocating her elsewhere.
For one thing, in Ontario, it’s illegal to kill, stress, or relocate wildlife more than one kilometre. Secondly, removing the mother raccoon, potentially leaving her babies helpless and alone, is cruel, and the kids will most likely starve and die in your attic. That’s not only going to create a terrible stink; the corpses will attract other pests too. To deal with problems effectively, you need to hire a professional wildlife control expert in Hamilton.
What options do you have?
Your first course of action is to take no action.
Raccoon babies will be independent by the end of the summer when they will leave the den of their own volition. Once the family has vacated their “des res,” you can seal up the entrance to prevent another family from moving in when the next raccoon baby season comes around.
Harassment tactics
If the mother raccoon finds that the safe, quiet, dark place she has chosen for her den is no longer any of those things, she will take her family elsewhere.
So, you need to show Mom that the attic is not dark, quiet, or safe. Set up your harassment tools close to the den entrance so that there’s no chance of the mother raccoon missing the point.
- Set up a bright, fire-safe light just inside the den entrance. As nocturnal creatures, raccoons hate bright light around their den, and that could be enough to send them packing.
- Raccoons are not afraid of music, but the human voice is another matter. Place a radio close to the den entrance, and tune it to a talk show. Turn the volume up to just bearable, and leave it playing 24/7.
- The smell of a large, male raccoon or predator can be enough to send an anxious mother and her family hurrying to a safer location. Male raccoons have been known to kill kits, so persuading Mom that she has a male admirer might just do the trick and convince her to move on.Soak some rags in a raccoon repellent product, place the rags by the den entrance, and hope that Mom decides to leave. For good measure, spray the area around the access point liberally with the product.
Have they really gone?
Leave your deterrents in place for a few days and nights, and before you seal the entrance hole, tape a double sheet of newspaper over it. Wait a further day or two. If the paper is still undamaged and the attic is silent, it’s most likely that the family has moved on.
Final thoughts
If you think that you have raccoon babies in your attic, the best course of action to take is to contact a local wildlife removal specialist. These firms are highly trained, properly licensed, and experienced in dealing with all kinds of pests, including nuisance raccoons.
Rather than tackling the problem of raccoon babies in your attic, save yourself a lot of hassle, wasted time, and stress, and ask an expert to do the job for you.