What can be done about racoons?

Question

There seems to be some roaming around the neighborhood

How do you keep them from coming to your yard?

Answer 1

There is no way to stop raccoons from coming in your yard.

What you have to do is buy some large have-a-heart traps and bait it with cat or dog food.  Eventually you will capture the critter.  Then you put news papers in the floor of the trunk of your car and pick up the cage making sure the raccoon cannot reach out to you.  The raccoon will hiss and jump but it will not be able to harm you if you don't let it grab you.

Put the cage in the trunk and drive at least two or three miles to the nearest forested area.  Release the raccoon.  It will not attack you as it is afraid of you and will head for the nearest woods as fast as it can.

The reason you put the news paper in the floor of your trunk will now be clear as raccoons will defecate when they are frightened.  So you might have a minor mess to clean up.

I have to trap raccoons about once ever three months in my neighborhood and transport them to the nearest woods.  I had a mother raise four babies in my back yard and had to keep the cat door closed when the cat food was out in the pool patio.  They also overturn my garbage can if I don't close my garage door at night.

The babies are cute.  And I waited until they were able to defend themselves before putting out the trap again.

You also need to be aware that raccoons are a vector for rabies.  If you have raccoons in your area your pets must be vaccinated for rabies.

Answer 2

put some rags soaked in amonia around your property they hate it!!

Answer 3

The simple answer is, you don't. All you can do is keep things like garbage cans (metal if possible as they chew through plastic) tightly closed so they can't get at food scraps and stuff like that. My plastic cans are in a metal shed they can't get into, and I found they won't go near cans out at the curb. If they find a source of food, they will keep coming back for a long time, even if they only found food one time. Beware, raccoons carry rabies as do squirrels, rats and other scavengers. Where I live in WA state, raccoons apparently are protected. No matter how much of a pest they are, we can't shoot 'em and where I live, we are almost to the point of being overrun. In the wooded rural area I live in, I see many as I drive down the road to town and I see new raccoon road-kill every day because the population has risen so much recently. My neighbors, a few anyway,  have introduced outdoor cats and backyard dogs into my neighborhood in an effort to run the raccoons out. I have no idea if the cats will cause them to move elsewhere. I'm talking big, male cats here, and kittens which will grow into big cats. Only time will tell if the cats will do anything, but the dogs will at least keep them out of several of the backyards where the dogs live. My neighbors on both side have dogs outside. So far, the few added cats I've seen may have had an effect on the mole population. I no longer have moles in in the urban wilderness called my backyard. I've noticed one big tom cat hunting back there in the high grass on almost a daily basis. You won't be able to keep them out of your yard, but you may be able to limit things somewhat if you have a dog who lives in or near your backyard.