When it gets warmer and spring comes, those suspicious raccoons start coming out more—no matter if you live in a large city or somewhere quiet with a large amount of trees and fields. March is when mama raccoons have their babies, so everyone needs to be careful to ensure we don’t have raccoons trying to move into our houses! In the city, raccoons really adore to dwell in place because they can find a large amount of food and places to stay.

Urban Homeowners: Protecting Your Home from Raccoons

• Ensure your trash cans are locked up because raccoons like looking for food there. You can tie them up close with elastic cords. Search every part of your house for little holes or spots where raccoons could get inside, such as in the attic or below the house, and ensure those places are all sealed up.

• Put up lights that turn on when they see something moving. Raccoons don’t like it when it’s too bright, so they’ll stay away from your location.

• Note about your chimney! You can put a special cover on it so that raccoons can’t go there and decide to live.

If you live out where there’s more room, such as on a farm, you have to be careful of raccoons, too! Here are ideas for making raccoons stay away from places with a large amount of land:

• You must keep chickens and your pets safe, because raccoons believe they are good to eat. Construct your chicken homes forceful with good fences and locks.

• Ensure to check your large sheds or barns for any signs of raccoons wanting to play there.

Rural Homeowners: Keeping Raccoons Away from Your Property

Ensure your trash cans are not easy for them to knock over, because raccoons are like sneaky animals and love to tip things over to find snacks.

If you got a garden, put a fence around it so they can’t eat your vegetables. And, if you construct a compost pile, put a lid on it so raccoons can’t get in. If you see things such as your trash spread everywhere, missing chickens, or your garden looking like someone made a big mess in it, you might have raccoons. Also, if you hear abnormal noises such as scratching from your walls or ceiling, or you see parts of your house are ripped up, those could be clues too.

What to Do If You Have a Raccoon Problem

What you can do is use stinky stuff they don’t like, such as ammonia on rags (but be careful, because it’s very strong), or you can get special animal pee from a store that sells things for outside—just spread it around, because raccoons really don’t like that. Now, don’t try to take away raccoons by yourself when you’re not feeling happy, because they could be sick with things such as rabies that you really don’t want.

Keep yourself safe, and don’t let raccoons crash at your location this spring. Keep an eye out, so you can play outside without worrying about fuzzy troublemakers!