Sarah Metlova
Getting Rid Of Raccoons In Your Yard – Masked bandit raccoons are nocturnal mammals that feed at night. Therefore, it can be difficult to keep them at home without proper planning and execution. But did you know that different scents can deter them from entering your home?
Specifically, they hate hot peppers, onions, garlic, peppermint oil, and Epsom salt smells. But wait, there’s more!
Getting Rid Of Raccoons In Your Yard
Below, we’ll take a look at some smells that raccoons really hate and the best ways to use them to your advantage.
Getting Rid Of Raccoons
Stay tuned to learn more about how to keep these masked criminals off your property and make sure they’re gone for good!
They have really learned to adapt to their environment – that’s why they are becoming more common in cities than in forests.
Raccoons have learned to live with humans because it allows them easy access to food and shelter. In addition, raccoons are agile, strong, and their nimble hands make them more difficult to control than any other animal you may encounter.
There are only two reasons why a raccoon will take up residence in your home: it is hospitable to them and it is the safest place to find food.
How To Get Rid Of Raccoons
There are many problems with raccoons, but these are the most common problems. The more you leave them unattended, the harder it will be to control them.
The first option you have when dealing with raccoons is to use scents that repel them. Using these scents correctly will create an invisible shield around your home that will keep them away.
NOTE: Scents are not as reliable as physical deterrents in deterring raccoons. This may be because they need to be reused frequently. However, they can still do their job.
However, if these little bug nests are already in your home, you may need to be more creative to get rid of them. But first, let’s try to keep them off your property for now, shall we?
How To Repel Raccoons From Your Home
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When raccoons are looking for food, the most efficient way to find a food source is through their olfactory receptors (responsible for detecting smells).
Hot pepper is one of the strongest scents you can use to scare them away because it irritates their sense of smell. Therefore, they are less likely to continue foraging. Regular use of hot pepper can teach these animals that your property is off-limits to them.
However, there is one caveat; the hot pepper only irritates their sense of smell and over time its smell weakens.
How To Outsmart Raccoons
A stubborn raccoon will return to your home within days if you don’t spray pepper spray where it is most likely to find food. So, if you’re going to use it as a raccoon deterrent, use it regularly and use it in all areas where they find food or on any routes they use to get to food sources.
To use, sprinkle pepper over areas you don’t want raccoons to visit. For more specific information on this raccoon repellent, see our guide to using pepper to repel raccoons!
Hot peppers are effective against raccoons, but sometimes the temporary irritation isn’t enough to deter them from your property. So you might want to try a combination of onions and peppers from the same mixture cooked in water.
This combination stimulates their sense of smell while releasing an unpleasant odor that can help repel raccoons.
What Attracts Raccoons To My House?
Despite the pungent smell, the mixture of onions and peppers only lasts a few days. The smell fades over time, so you should use this combination at least twice a week if you want to keep raccoons off your property for good.
You may also need to spray it in the areas they use as habitat to teach them that their olfactory receptors will only be irritated when they enter your property.
While this is an option, it is definitely a temporary solution, as with ALL fragrances. After a while they disappear! For more information, see our comprehensive article on using onions to repel raccoons.
Using these scents to keep raccoons away from your property takes a LOT of time and effort. So another viable option is to use a scent that most creatures hate.
How To Get Rid Of Raccoons
A widely used essential oil, peppermint oil is very useful in many industries and is a great raccoon deterrent.
You can go even higher with peppermint essential oil, although it can be more expensive.
Whether you’re using a pure spray or a pure essential oil, like any perfume, you’ll need to reapply when the scent wears off, possibly every day or week, depending on how strong the scent is.
If you want to use this method, you can check out our more detailed guide to using peppermint to repel raccoons, which details several peppermint recipes you can use!
How To Get Rid Of Raccoons In Your Shed?
You won’t use it at home, but if you want to keep those little bugs out of your yard, this is one of the best products you can use. It is easy to apply and does not need to be mixed to be effective.
All you need to do is scatter them around your garden and it should act as a deterrent to help repel raccoons.
If you have garbage cans or food containers in your home, you can use Epsom salt to discourage them from feeding there and move these animals to another place where food is easier to get. But over time, the smell it emits will diminish.
If you suspect you are dealing with female raccoons in your home, another option is to use eviction fluid. A University of Nebraska-Lincoln study on the effectiveness of liquid removal found that mimicking the scent of another male raccoon may be a viable option for encouraging a nursing raccoon and her cubs to leave their environment.
How To Get Rid Of Raccoons In An Apartment
Although secretory fluid has been used for some time, the method needs to be more valid. Nevertheless, it is still a cheap and potentially effective way to contain these animals.
While there are no guarantees with this or any other method, you can learn more about secretion fluid here.
You can apply this product to your chimney, attic, or anywhere you suspect a nursing raccoon is caring for her young. It emits a strong odor reminiscent of that of a male raccoon, which threatens feeding raccoons.
In addition to odors that irritate them, another deterrent you can use against raccoons is predator urine. Instead of targeting their olfactory receptors, this scent tricks them into thinking your home is already another predator’s territory. If raccoons are already using your home as their home, they will think a predator has just arrived and will be forced to move to a safer location.
How To Get Rid Of Raccoons: Humane, Expert Methods, Plus Smells They Hate |
Having found a new territory, the predator first marks the territory by urinating around the perimeter.
The best thing about this method is that you can use the predator to prey ratio to buy predator urine.
Check out the original PredatorPee Wolf Urine, which comes with a sprayer and labels. You can also find these items in many sports centers and online stores.
Different areas are home to different predators, such as wolves, bobcats, coyotes, or mountain lions. The more known the predator in your area, the more effective the deterrent will be.
Signs Of Raccoons In The Attic
So find out what animals are common in your area! Figure out the relationship between predator and prey and be tactical. If you want to use coyote scent instead of wolf scent, check out our guide to the best coyote watches here!
If you are going to use said scents, you have to be careful where you put them. Although they are safe for humans and only emit odors that repel raccoons, they will be less effective if used in the wrong places.
Remember that these scents need to be close to the raccoons and should be used in several places around the house. Here are some places where you should use these deterrents:
This is what raccoons hate the most because they will think there is no food in that area. If you can rid your home of any food source these animals can find, they are less likely to stay on your property.
What You Need To Know About Raccoons In Houston
This is the most effective, but we talked about it last because it won’t be easy if you don’t temporarily evict the raccoons from your property. Immediately after using one of the
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