Raccoon Removal

Raccoon Problems

            While raccoons are a welcome addition in their native habitats, eating insects and snakes, they are often a nuisance and a pest when they move into a more established area. Raccoons are one of the filthiest animals around. This is due to their bad habit of eating people’s garbage. These pests also eat dead animals and carry many diseases. Not to scare you too much but they carry potentially fatal diseases, parasites, and bacteria including:

• Canine distemper
• Roundworms/Nematode
• Rabies
• Salmonella
• Leptospirosis

Beyond their potential health concerns, raccoons are also infamous scavengers across Colorado. They are omnivores and will eat just about anything, which is why raccoons can often be spotted raiding pet food, trash cans, chicken coops, and dumpsters which make a huge mess in the process. 

            Raccoons can get into a lot of trouble when they enter your home. They’re especially troublesome because of their enormous size. These animals can cause the following problems:

• Creating messes: Raccoons can make your life a lot harder than it has to be. These animals are notorious for tipping over trashcans and digging through gardens. This both ruins your home’s aesthetic and forces you to spend time cleaning up after the animals.
• Spreading diseases: Raccoons carry many diseases thanks to the questionable places they live in and eat from. These pests are a common carrier of rabies, leptospirosis, and other nasty illnesses. That’s why you should keep your distance from them.
• Damaging items: These animals are known to damage many important things in your home. This ranges from insulation to ducts to wires. The damage they cause can drive up your heating bills and cause fires, so you’ll want to get rid of them before it’s too late.
• Keeping you awake: These little burglars are nocturnal, meaning they become active at night. Combine that fact with their relatively large size, and you’ll get loud footsteps keeping you up as you try to get some rest.

Once they’ve moved into an area like Fort Collins, raccoons will settle somewhere comfortable near a food supply. This can include sewers, sheds, crawlspaces, porches, barns, and attics; anywhere they can sleep during the day while protected and hidden from predators and humans. In addition, raccoons are territorial and will return to the same locations repeatedly, making dealing with raccoons a difficult process. 

The raccoon (Procyon lotor) is native to North America and found all across the United States, but their preference for wooded areas has made Colorado an attractive place for these animals. In addition, the destruction of their natural habitat has pushed more and more raccoons into the more populated areas.  Raccoons typically make their way into your home via the attic to give birth or raise their young. They will use insulation and other materials to build nests while contaminating the space with urine and defecation spreading odor and disease throughout your home. First Choice Wildlife Services will humanely remove the raccoons in your Colorado home, while thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting the contaminated space.

First Choice Wildlife Services is highly experienced at dealing with raccoons across the front range of Colorado – including Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Boulder, and Denver. With every job, we strive to exceed our customers’ expectations and deal with every animal in the most humane way possible. With over 11 years of experience, we are one of the top wildlife services in all of Colorado.

Removing Raccoons

            Raccoon removal is a tricky process as these animals can get very vicious when backed into a corner. You’ll also often find a raccoon settling into your home with its children, which can make things much harder.

• Removing food sources: The first step to removing a raccoon is to get rid of what attracted them to your home in the first place; food. You should make sure your garbage cans are sealed tight so that the pests can’t get inside. You should also clear your lawn of any pet food, fruits, and vegetables as these attract raccoons.
• Sealing entry points: Raccoons get into your home through gaps in your walls or roof. That’s why you should thoroughly examine your home to find these holes and seal them up. This stops any potential pests from getting inside.
• Trapping raccoons: You should use a live trap to capture a raccoon. You can place these near their nest, along with some bait. These traps will quickly catch the animal so you can get rid of them.
• Relocating raccoons: Relocating a raccoon is a straightforward and humane way of removing the animal. You should drive them at least ten miles away from your home before releasing them into the wild.
• Cleaning up: Once the animal is removed, it’s important to spend time cleaning up and sanitizing the area. This gets rid of any remaining germs in your home, and it will return your home back to normal.

There’s a lot of nuance in raccoon removal, and things get tricky when multiple raccoons are involved — especially children. There are also many safety precautions that you need to take to ensure you don’t get bitten, scratched, or infected by a disease.

Raccoon Prevention

There are two aspects to raccoon removal and control: prevention and removal. While there is no way to totally prevent raccoons from invading your home or property, there are several ways to minimize the possibility:

• Cut off the food supply. Raccoons are nocturnal scavengers, and they are not above digging in your trash for a nighttime meal. Keep your trash in a secure container and lock up pet food so that your property is not an attractive location for raccoons.
• Seal off access. While a determined raccoon will find a way in, you can still do a lot to prevent an invasion by sealing off access to your crawlspace and attic. Common access points include chimneys, gaps in your soffit, and rooftop ventilation points.
• But what do you do if raccoons have already laid claim to your home? While removing a nuisance animal like a raccoon seems simple at first, you should always contact a professional wildlife pest service provider to ensure your safety. Dealing with wild animals is always a risky business – especially when you consider the possibility of harmful parasites and bacteria that can cause serious health complications.

What Kind of Damage Do Raccoons Cause in the Attic?

Raccoons are one of the most common animals in Colorado, if not the entire United States. These fuzzy little gray creatures are unmistakable, both in their appearance and with the damage they leave behind. While they’re not too big, raccoons can cause an exceptional amount of damage, both in an attic and throughout wherever else they may be. It’s important to note the warning signs of a raccoon invasion, to make it easier to get rid of them.

Moving Indoors

These animals leave behind a wide variety of damage and potential damage, whether in an attic or not. Raccoons move indoors to escape predators, poor conditions, or if they can’t find any other shelter. Attics are a big spot for them to move in, thanks to the relatively secluded area, lack of people or other animals, common openings, and insulated shelter. As such, these animals move in pretty quickly, leaving behind a mess after their unwelcome stay.

Leaving Damage Behind

Tearing and Shredding

One of the most common and well-known damages left behind would be torn and shredded items. Not specifically just the attic itself, tearing and shredding happens often during a raccoon’s stay. Torn wires, chewed cables, destroyed air ducts, and messed-up insulation is just a few of the problems raccoons can leave behind. While that’s already bad enough, raccoons can also cause electrical fires or insulation problems, thanks to either destroyed wires or destroyed insulation.

Biological Risks

Another major issue is with a raccoon’s urine and/or feces. As these animals live in your attic, they’ll eat, sleep, drink, and defecate. This leaves behind not only food scraps and messes which can attract other animals, but also urine and feces, which can be dangerous to you and your family. Both these items are oftentimes poisonous, in addition to being incredibly acidic. If having the ability to burn through wood doesn’t scare you enough, raccoon feces can also hold parasites, bacteria, and viruses.

Minor Damages

While these two results are pretty scary, they don’t always occur. Raccoons, while oftentimes pretty damaging, may sometimes just move throughout an attic. There’s not a guarantee they’ll cause serious damage, many times just leaving minor damage when they enter and exit. It’s still important nonetheless to look out carefully for damage left behind from raccoons. Whether the creatures are active at the moment, or the damage is from a pest invasion, it’s important to be careful and contact professionals.

Picking Up Slack

After a raccoon invasion (or before), you can be left pretty helpless. Raccoons, while small and relatively cuddly-looking, can be incredibly dangerous. Remember, these animals’ feces alone can cause burns, parasitic infections, or make you sick. Imagine what damage their little claws and teeth can do, and you might not want to deal with any raccoons, any time soon.

The damage left behind can be pretty difficult to remove as well, and so we have a recommendation. Contact the pros! For those in Colorado, we recommend First Choice Wildlife Services. Our company is licensed by the state of Colorado to not only deal with raccoons themselves but also to clean up the aftermath. Raccoons can be pretty dangerous, and it’s important to leave it to the professionals. Our team is certified to take care of raccoons and the damage left behind, and we have the knowledge and tools to do so.

While the obvious stains, scratches, and cuts are the most important to many, they’re not all. Our expert teams know that there are biological issues left behind, entry issues to take care of, and much more to get done. Feel free to call or message us for help dealing with raccoons, the aftermath of any, or just to receive help with preventing any raccoons or animals from moving in again.

Call First Choice Wildlife Services

            Because of the challenging and time-consuming nature of raccoon removal, we recommend calling a professional to sort the problem out for you. If you need help dealing with a raccoon or other wildlife, contact us!

            We here at First Choice Wildlife Services have over eleven years of experience solving raccoon problems and can guarantee excellent service. We service the areas of Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, and many other areas in Colorado.

            Give us a call at 970-460-4044 to schedule our services!