Skedaddle Wildlife Oakville | All About Raccoon Babies

Raccoons look like cute little bandits, but these furry creatures with black, beady eyes have powerful paws that can wreak havoc on your property. They can open jars, bins, and even doors when they are searching for food. There are a few things that you need to know about raccoons to help you understand their behaviour.

All About Raccoon Babies

Newborn raccoons are grayish brown and lightly furred. Their eyes remain closed and ears folded. Baby raccoons measure less than six inches upon birth. Once a baby raccoon reaches seven months, it can walk, climb, wrestle, and play with other babies. Mother raccoons often move their young from one den to another. A 12-week old raccoon can start accompanying its mother to look for food. Raccoons start foraging on their own once they reach four months old. Despite their cute appearance, raccoons are wild animals that do not make good pets. Raccoons are capable of inflicting severe injury with their bite and powerful paws. They can also transmit rabies to a human host.

Where do raccoons live?

Raccoons prefer living in warm areas such as hollow trees, right under outcroppings, bush piles, and logs. When a raccoon searches for a suitable den in urban areas, they normally create a den in chimneys, sheds, under a porch, or attics. These areas are warm which make them conducive for raising young.

Prevent Raccoon Infestation

To prevent your home from becoming a raccoon den, make sure that you keep garbage bins properly sealed. Add locks, place something heavy on top of your garbage bin, or keep it away from areas where raccoons can easily get to it. Protect your vegetable garden with SPCA-approved mesh and fencing. Seal any entry points around your property.

Remove Raccoons Humanely

Raccoonremoval experts such as Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control can ease that conflict you are currently having with the critters and help you move them out of your property safely and permanently. The raccoon removal methods used by a professional have been tried and tested over the years. A professional will lure the mother raccoon out of your property by using one of her young as bait. Once the raccoon has been lured out, all of its possible entry points will be sealed to prevent re-entry. Skedaddle can also help deodorizes the den to prevent it from attracting other raccoons. If you want an effective and humane way of getting rid of raccoons in your property, hiring a professional raccoon removal service provider is the best way to do so.

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What Attracts Raccoons to Your Property?

There are anywhere from 15 to 25 raccoons per square kilometre. Your neighbourhood is no exception.

A raccoon is a resourceful, curious and extremely intelligent animal. For these simple reasons it is important to be mindful of your property and what may attract raccoons and other wildlife to it.

Garbage is the number one attractant for raccoons. They love the variety of discarded food scraps (they aren’t picky!), and the ease at which they can tear open the plastic to get the food.

Another reason raccoons may want to spend an extended period of time on your property is the fact that they’re attempting to gain access to the inside of a structure through any vulnerable spots. These include garages, attics, sheds and under porches. Raccoons need food and shelter to survive and humans can provide more than enough of both.

Here are some tips for making your house less desirable for a raccoon:

●     Keep garbage in closed containers and put it to the curb in the morning

●     Repair any damage to the exterior of the home where a raccoon could enter

●     Frequently inspect the integrity of any external structures such as sheds, decks and porches to make sure they aren’t being frequented by wildlife

●     Don’t leave pet food or bird seed outside. Keep any food sources locked up

The warmth of an attic’s insulation provides ideal conditions for a raccoons nest. Often, raccoons will enterthrough soffits and loose roof vents. The heat from the vents attracts the raccoon and lets them know that there’s a warm, safe place right below.

Once inside an attic a single raccoon can cause irreparable damage to insulation and structural wood. The constant defecation and coming-and-going will undoubtedly be difficult for a homeowner to deal with.

It’s important to note that there are many raccoons per square kilometre, and that a single home is only one of potentially many homes that a raccoon is poking around.

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Raccoon Territorial Behaviour

If you’ve got a raccoon problem, learning about their habits and behaviour can go a long way in helping you better understand and in turn avoid these curious creatures from claiming your home as their own. Whether they’re getting into your attic or raiding your garbage can, raccoons can be hard to live with, especially if you don’t know much about the way they live. Learn more about the territorial behaviour of raccoons with these helpful tips and informational tidbits:

1. Their habitat – Raccoons aren’t very social creatures. Aside from raising their young until they’re old and strong enough to go off on their own, and aside from mating, for most of their lives, raccoons live solitary lives. Their habitat is dependant on the following factors: the availability and abundance of food and water, the number of females in surrounding areas, and the size of the territory.

They prefer dark and warm spots in forests, cozy hollowed out trees, a dense brush, and wooded areas. They also like the comfort and security of sewer drains, attics, crawlspaces, and the dark spaces beneath a home.

2. Their food habits - Raccoons will eat anything and everything, so be sure to keep your food sources stored properly and your garbage lids secured tightly. As omnivores, raccoons like to rely on everything from nuts, fruits, and plants to insects, worms, small animals, and fish for their sustenance. Expectant mothers are known to have voracious appetites.

3. How they mark their territory - When raccoons mark their territory, they usually rub their behinds on it. Raccoons have special anal glands that secrete a substance that signals to other raccoons that that’s their territory. They also use urine and fecal matter to mark their home turf.

4. They communicate through scent - Raccoons communicate through the scents they leave behind. A typical territory for a male raccoon reaches up to 7 square kilometres in coverage, and should another raccoon cross his territorial path, he’ll be able to identify through scent markers left behind.

5. Those curious communal latrines - Raccoons share communal latrines. These are usually found alongside trails, by logs, or on tree branches and stumps. The theory is that raccoons use this as a way of avoiding and being aware of overlapping territories.

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Wildlife Entry Points: Roof and Fascia

Common entry points for wildlife are your home’s roof and fascia. Learn how to properly seal and prevent any wildlife from entering these areas.

As much as we try to keep our home clean and our rooms tidy, sometimes, a wake-up call in the form of an unwanted house guest can threaten even the most immaculate of settings. But don’t stress out too much. Keeping wildlife out can be hassle-free if you know the right steps to take to prevent those seemingly cute and cuddly creatures from entering your home. It all starts with prevention.

Assessing your home and surrounding areas is the first step in wildlife-proofing. Common entry points include intersections in your roof and soffits, and spaces or cracks in the fascia. Animals can gain access through these points and make their way into your attic. This area is where a portion of the overhang meets the lower section of the roof – for instance between the garage roof and the main roof of the house. Raccoons are the most common wildlife culprit that enters this area of the home.

Repair any cracks or rotted or broken areas in the fascia or roof using a 16 to 19 gauge welded wire mesh (1 inch x 1 inch or half inch by half inch). This is available in most hardware stores. Mid-October is the best time to work on roof repairs as most wildlife babies are already moving about and are easier to move out of temporary dens they may have made in your home. But do be aware that winter may also be migration time for some animals that might choose to seek shelter your home to escape the winter cold. Before starting your repairs, make sure there are no existing occupants in your attic. Closing up this entry point before removing wildlife from your attic may lead to even more issues.

Consult a professional if you’re not sure of how to go about wildlife-proofing your home. This will ensure it is done properly and can prevent further damage from happening.

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