Hi, I'm Jim Harmon with California Pest Management here in California and we're going to talk
today about how to keep raccoons out of your yard and away from your house. Well the first
thing that you have to understand is why they're over here anyway, they're looking for a place
to make a house and or food. So with those two items and you understand that, then let's
first say let's get rid of the food. So we look over here, we got garbage sitting out
open without a top on it, that's just asking for trouble, but even if we put a top on,
this is a plastic can they can still get chew through and they'll get into it just like
rats or any other animal. They want it, they're going to get it. Sometimes going to a metal
can is going to help, but eliminate the food source. That's number one. If we get rid of
that, they're less likely to hang out. Now many homeowners have aquascapes, they're small
ponds, koi ponds and such in their backyard. Now it's great for the house, it improves
the value and it's very serene and relaxing, but unfortunately koi in a koi pond to a raccoon
is a sushi bar. So you'll be lucky to keep them. That's a whole different topic we'll
get to later. They like to wash their hands and wash their food so having a small little
bit of water source is just a perfect way to entice them to come in to your backyard.
So we have our trash and then we have our water source, this is raccoon heaven. All
we need now is a place to hang out. This is also a smorgasbord salad bar for any raccoon
that comes through the neighborhood. So you just have to be aware and a lot of times you're
going to have to put chicken wire up around your home garden and prevent the raccoons
from getting into it. And sometimes even put it on the top. OK now one of the other reasons
why raccoons are going to come into your yard is because they're looking for grubs. If you've
gotten your trash taken care of then the raccoons coming in looking for food. Now this grass
looks pretty nice but it's got a lot of worms and grubs underneath the soil layer that they're
going to be peeling this back and digging in it just like a skunk or a possum would
and then feeding on them. Best way to have that solved is to get rid of the food source.
Have a professional pest control company come in and take care of the grubs that are inside
the soil. Now one of the things in your house when you're looking around your yard, remember
raccoons we've already talked about food and water, now they're going to be looking for
a place to sleep and make their nest. Now one of the things we always see is they'll
get up underneath crossed eaves here and if there's a little hole, they'll open that up.
I've seen them take roof shingles apart getting into an attic space. Typically those are the
wood shake shingles. And the next part would be one your house itself. If you look up on
the roof of this house, you see some vents. Well those need to be screened in and the
holes in the vents got to be small enough that a raccoon will not be able to fit through
there, you don't want them getting in your attic because the feces is very dangerous
and a cornered raccoon is even more dangerous. Now having nice, nice storage boxes, this
is great, this is a plastic one. They can chew into the side you'll never know they're
there and then now they got a nice, safe, secure condo. Now for the last tidbit, if
you do have raccoons in your yard already there, trapping is the best way to get them
out. They truly love any kind of fruit, any kind of trash, make sure you use the good
hard trap, industrial strength. You can purchase it at a hardware store or honestly, it's much
better just get a professional in and let them do the work for you because you also
have to relocate this animal very far away and you have to make sure also that there's
no babies in the attic or in the wall where that raccoon was living.