Raccoons are nocturnal animals that roam around urban and suburban homes. They are pests in that they make holes in the lawn, strip birdfeeders, kill chickens, attack dogs, and dig through the garden. Raccoons are intelligent, agile and quick animals and on many occasions they outsmart humans who try to trap them or use raccoon removal methods. This article aims to detail a few methods that provide answers to the question, how to outsmart raccoons.

How to Outsmart Raccoons – Some Methods

Trying to keep raccoons away using physical barriers may work but not always. The chances are less when scarecrows are used for the purpose. However, using animal repellants sometimes work in keeping these pests away. Raccoons hide away from people and other predators such as cougars, dogs, eagles, snakes, coyotes, etc., during day time. They die from hunger, by falling sick or getting hit by vehicles. An easier method to keep raccoons away would be to eliminate what raccoons find attractive: food sources, water and shelter, they move on to other places to find them.

Other methods include the following:It is important that the bird-feeder is brought inside the house during the night. This helps in keeping away the raccoons from stripping them. It is also equally important to empty the birdbath before nightfall.

Further, it is good idea to spray vegetables with a mixture of flour, water and hot-pepper. Hot pepper sends raccoons to immediately look for drinking water. Any water source is likely to attract a raccoon that is thirsty. Their attempts at scaling fences or dirtying tree edges and stumps can be thwarted by placing/spraying hot peppers at the sites. Again, remove all fallen fruits and vegetables from your backyard before night fall. This is because raccoons love fruits, vegetables, and nuts.

Moreover, never leave bones and meat is your waste dump in the yard. Secure your pets and poultry to save them from being attacked by raccoons. Further, do not have aquariums or ponds with fish outside. Keeping trees trimmed and moving garbage cans away from walls prevent raccoons from accessing the roof. Additionally, close crawl spaces and secure all entry points to sheds. This will keep them from nesting in these places and make the yard less hospitable to the animals.

Finally, it pays to use trash cans with big-sized twisted locks that are difficult for raccoons to pry open. If none of these methods work, get rid of raccoons by calling the animal-control service personnel who ensnare and trap them.