Raccoons might be cute, but they’re no good for your garden: here are tips on how to remove them from your yard.
Keep Raccoons Away from Your Crops
How to Identify Raccoons
Raccoons are small mammals 2 to 3 feet in length and weighing about 10 to 30 pounds. Raccoons have distinct black 鈥渕asks鈥 on their faces, which often characterizes them as bandits. They have fluffy, ringed tails, and their bodies are varying shades of gray, with hints of light brown. The forepaws of raccoons resemble tiny human hands with five toes, which makes raccoons very dexterous.
Raccoons are nocturnal creatures, meaning that they feed at night. This might make it hard for you to identify them, as you might only see the damage they cause. Looking for raccoon tracks near the damage might also help you to identify them. Learn more about identifying animal tracks.
Photo Credit: M. Sorrentino, University of Vermont. After a rainy night, five-toed tracks might appear in the mud around your garden. These raccoon tracks are easily distinguished from most other four-toed mammals.
Raccoon Damage
If your lawn has a lot of holes in it, or your mulch pile has a lot of holes, you probably have a nightly visitor. Raccoons will dig up lawns and mulch piles looking for insects to eat. They will also empty bird feeders, so keep an eye on your feeders to see if you have a raccoon problem. Additionally, raccoons are known to raid chicken coops, stealing eggs and even killing chickens.
Of course, if you have corn, there鈥檚 nothing more infuriating than finding stalks toppled and ears ripped open and half eaten. (Even more frustrating is the idea, offered by animal researchers, that raccoons are wasteful because they don鈥檛 really like sweet corn all that much; in fact, they seem to prefer sunflower seeds, dog food, and sardines.)
How to Get Rid of Raccoons
The persistence and proliferation of raccoons have inspired many solutions; one of them is bound to work for you. Here are tips from all our readers and staff! See what works for you.
- If your raccoon problem is persistent, you can set live raccoon traps in your garden and release the animal at least three miles away (check local and state laws first). Raccoons will eat virtually anything; try fish-flavored dry cat food, chicken necks, ears of corn, or whole peanuts for bait.
- To keep raccoons at a distance, try scattering blood meal around corn plants. Also, try sprinkling wood ashes around your plants.
- Grind up garlic, mix it with an equal portion of chili powder, and spread it around the garden. Frequent applications are needed.
- One reader says, 鈥淗ang shoes and clothes that smell of human perspiration around your garden or corn patch.鈥 Similarly, 鈥淵ou can try to repel raccoons by putting dog hair or human hair around the garden.鈥
- Tune a radio to a rock station and set it in the middle of your garden and/or corn patch. Leave it on all night. The noise will scare away the raccoons.
- Put lights in the garden. A bright lantern will sometimes keep Sun-shy raccoons away.
- Plant enough corn for man and beast alike.
- Add some pinwheels and streamers to your garden to scare the creatures.
- Folk wisdom suggests that you spread newspapers around the perimeter of the garden.
How to Prevent Raccoons
- Build a good fence around your garden. Beware though, raccoons are agile and intelligent; make sure your fence will keep them out. You may need to install an electric fence. This is a good measure. A two-wire fence, with one wire four to six inches above the ground and the other at 12 inches, should be effective.
- If your home is near your garden, remove any possible food sources from the area, including pet food and bird seed. Buy garbage cans with locking lids and keep garbage inside if possible. Keep pet doors sealed shut between dusk and dawn. Cap your chimneys. Seal any holes or gaps in attics and roofs.
- Grow tall varieties of corn such as 鈥楽ilver Queen鈥, 鈥楰andy Korn鈥, and 鈥楲ancelot鈥. Taller plants bear their ears higher, causing raccoons trouble getting leverage to topple stalks and ravage them. They prefer shorter plants.
- You can also plant squash around your corn or other plants to deter raccoons; they don鈥檛 like walking on the prickly squash vines.
Do you have any more tips for getting rid of a raccoon? Let us know below!
Catherine Boeckmann
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I have found a Have-A-Heart trap to be the most effective. I caught all the raccoons in my neighborhood last summer, 5 total. Relocated them about 5 miles away in a rural area. On second-guess it would have been better to release them across the river from my county.
Almost anything can be used for bait. Raccoons have an especial appetite for Marshmallows. In fact that is printed on the box which contained the trap. I can verify that the raccoons in my area loved marshmallows.
Some have complained that the Have-A -Heart does not work. The bait was gone but the trap was not sprung. Reason for that is probably the animal was too light to spring the trap. If you are careful the trap can be set to a more sensitive setting. Also if that doesn't work a weight can be taped to the tripping platform. Use some any kind of metal such as bolts, nuts or whatever you have.
It is illegal to rehome raccoons in North Carolina also and for the same reason.
I used a Hav-a-Heart and took him over 10 miles away. four weeks to the day he returned to my house/attic. And, yes, it is the same one.
I have found a Have-A-Heart trap to be the most effective. I caught all the raccoons in my neighborhood last summer, 5 total. Relocated them about 5 miles away in a rural area. On second-guess it would have been better to release them across the river from my county.
Almost anything can be used for bait. Raccoons have an especial appetite for Marshmallows. In fact that is printed on the box which contained the trap. I can verify that the raccoons in my area loved marshmallows.
Some have complained that the Have-A -Heart does not work. The bait was gone but the trap was not sprung. Reason for that is probably the animal was too light to spring the trap. If you are careful the trap can be set to a more sensitive setting. Also if that doesn't work a weight can be taped to the tripping platform. Use some any kind of metal such as bolts, nuts or whatever you have.
Raccoons are not only smart but they are also vicious creatures who will eat your cats and can kill your dogs. They also can collapse their bones allowing them to squeeze through little spaces you won't think them capable of fitting through. They carry a wide variety of nasty diseases. The biggest one I've shot had weighted almost 40 pounds (average size where I live is 30 to 40 lbs). One raccoon by itself killed both of my neighbors full grown German Sheppard's in the same attack in the middle of the day. To get rid of them, you need to shoot them. Yes. Shoot them. They are not cute little animals, they are s nasty, deadly disease carrying, over populated nuisance.
Buy from Amazon bottle of 100% coyote urine sprinkle around & good buy coons.
Sounds like the police should be training these mammoth raccoons then instead of German Shepherds!
There is no way in hell 1 40lb raccoon killed 2 german shepards at once. German shepards weight upwards of 60lbs each can rip apart a human and are trained police dogs. 1 alone would tear any sized raccoon to pieces...2 of them and it would be hard to even tell it used to be a raccoon... stop being such a jackass
Ok I have tried all that you list to get rid of raccoons except catching I don鈥檛 want to that . I bought the strobe light with cougar sound plus another sound both not affective. Once raccoons feel no threat they move the device out of their path for food . I was at wits end until a week ago. I read somewhere about using cougar urine . I felt this was my last chance because I have outdoor cats that were scared to death . Neededto something.
Well I can tell ya it works perfectly. Setting the urine around perimeter especially if you know where they come out of . I am on my second week 鈥樷欌檏nock on wood鈥欌 it鈥檚 working .
Making my life , my cats and the raccoons much better to live together.
My cats can now eat at night without fear. As for the raccoons, lol there are now bother someone in neighborhood instead of me.
Just wanted to share oh by the way a bottle of cougar urine 5.99 it鈥檚 too bad I had spent 150 on devices before a 5.99 cured my problem
Several years ago we were having problems with raccoons - they were killing & eating my son's 4-H rabbits. We live trapped several & disposed of them. We even trapped some that had no bait in them. Someone told us about Nite Guard lights or Predator Eye - we bought about 8 of them and haven't had a problem with raccoons since. You can find the light on Amazon.
