How to Repel a Raccoon in the Attic

Raccoons are drawn to the warmth and safety of an often empty attic.

Raccoons enter the home for the same reason as many other animals. Warm and safe places like your home attic are ideal living quarters for small animals, who create a nesting area and move right in. Getting them to move out is a bit more difficult. The process of removing raccoons from your attic may be approached in several ways, starting with the simplest and most basic and ending with professional assistance.

Things You'll Need

• Coyote urine
• Mothballs
• Raccoon repellent
• Spotlights
• Radio
• Live trap, 10-by-12-by-32 inches or larger
• Tuna
• Fish-flavored cat food
• Chicken
• Thick leather work gloves
• Pillowcase
• Steel grating

Instructions

1. Place repellents around the attic to create an uncomfortable atmosphere for any resident raccoons. Spread coyote urine, mothballs or store-bought raccoon repellent throughout the attic so the raccoon inhabitants no longer feel safe. Place the scented repellents in every corner of the attic so raccoons do not just move to a different spot where the smells are not present.

2. Take away the comfort zone provided by the dark and quiet attic. Place a loud boombox or radio at the center of the attic and play it at the highest volume you can stand. Place spotlights throughout the attic space so there are no dark corners or hiding places.

3. Set a live trap to catch the adult raccoon. Ideally, you should place the trap near the point of entry the raccoon is using. If you are unsure of where the entry point is, place the trap in an open spot in the attic so you can monitor whether the raccoon has been caught without having to dig in any dark corners where you will be vulnerable to attack. Place a few pieces of bait outside the trap, a few at the opening, a few halfway through and a large portion in the back of the trap. Effective raccoon baits include chicken, fish-flavored cat food, tuna and whatever the raccoons have been dining on locally.

4. Call your local animal-control center or sheriff's office for instructions on what to do once the raccoon has been captured.

5. Locate and remove baby raccoons. If your resident raccoon is a female who recently has had a litter, you have to remove the babies in addition to the adult. Put on thick leather work gloves and lift each baby raccoon from its resting place. Slip the babies into a pillowcase and remove them from the attic. If the mother raccoon is present during this process, you will be attacked. If the mother is not present, you have to set a trap to capture her.

6. Inspect your home for the entry point used by the raccoons. Seal any existing holes and place steel grating over open vents. Raccoons can enter through holes as small as 3 inches across, so make sure to block any openings, no matter how small. Check the areas beneath your edges where they overhang the exterior walls; pay special attention to the roof itself.

Tips & Warnings

• Coyotes are a natural raccoon predators, and their scent should cause raccoons to reevaluate their housing options. Mothballs are a nuisance smell meant to make raccoons uncomfortable.

• Raccoons have destructive habits and are known carriers of disease. Consider calling in a professional decontamination service to clean up the attic once the raccoons have been successfully removed.

• Raccoons are nocturnal animals and typically leave the attic to find food at night.

• Raccoons are formidable defenders of their territory and themselves. Do not under any circumstances attempt to approach an uncaged adult raccoon, or to come between an adult raccoon and its young. Serious injury, attack and disease may result.

• Do not kill the raccoons in your attic. There are no legal poisons for use with raccoons. Raccoons are protected by a variety of laws throughout the United States, and their killing, trapping and releasing is heavily regulated.

References

• Raccoons in the Attic: Guide to Safe Removal
• Orlando Wildlife Patrol: Animals in the Attic
• Professional Wildlife Removal: How to Get Raccoons Out of the Attic
• University of Florida; Raccoons; William H. Kern Jr.
• Humane Wildlife Control: Wildlife Issues -- How to Get Rid of Raccoons
• Tampa Wildlife Control: How to Remove Raccoons From the Attic
• Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: Raccoons