Aren't they cute, with their little masks?

    The only people who think raccoons are cute are those who have never had to deal with them. In case you want to give them their due, their scientific name is Procyon lotor. If they have infested your house, you will have other names for them.

    Although they prefer wooded areas near water and natural habitats, they are not averse to living in urban areas and often become pests of the first order. They are omnivorous, which means they eat both plants and animals. Animal foods include crayfish, clams, fish, frogs, snails, insects, turtles, rabbits, muskrats, and the eggs and young of ground-nesting birds, including waterfowl. In urban settings, in addition to feeding on backyard fruits, nuts, and vegetables, they scavenge from garbage cans and compost piles.

    The young are generally born in April or May and the usual ‘family’ is 4 kits. They  stay together as a family unit for the first year, after which they begin to assert their independence.

    Their little black-masked faces are adorable, making you think of kittens. But sweet little critters they are not. When looking for a nesting site, they will easily tear off soffits, roofing, gutters, air conditioning ducts and rooftop ventilators. They are amazingly strong and only the strongest measures will foil their attempts to get into your house, garage or barn. Good climbers, they will shinny up downspouts and jump from nearby trees. They will also make a den under a porch or patio.

    As a child you learned that raccoons were clean animals, because they ‘wash their food’ before they eat it. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They wash what they eat to moisten it. Human ideas of cleanliness have no part in their make-up. If they get into your house, you may not notice at first because they are nocturnal. But eventually you will be shocked to see the damage they have done to insulation, wiring, roofing, wallboard, and ceilings of the rooms below. They use their ‘den’ (your attic) as a latrine, and the odor is simply awful and almost impossible to get rid of. You thought cat smell was bad! Wait till you smell raccoon stink!

    They are also destructive in the garden. Sweet corn is a favorite food. They will climb the stalks, peel down the husks and eat every last kernel on the ear. Usually they harvest the corn when it is ripe,  the night before you intended to do it. They are also fond of melons and other fruits and vegetables.

    Raccoons are known to carry a number of diseases and internal parasites. The raccoon roundworm, an infection spread to people by the accidental ingestion or inhalation of roundworm eggs from raccoon feces, has caused increased concern in recent years. Roundworm infection can cause serious disabilities, and young children are thought to be most susceptible. Raccoons are also carriers of rabies and distemper. Be sure pets are properly vaccinated to mitigate this threat. Occasionally a whole colony of raccoons becomes rabid, and that is serious indeed.

    The best way to handle raccoons is to keep them from entering your spaces in the first place. Chimneys need a firmly-attached, strong roof cap; tree limbs must be cut back at least 5 feet from the roof; shrubs and bushes must be kept thinned out; holes dug under patios must be dealt with immediately. Garbage must be kept in tightly-lidded cans. Bungee cords can be used to keep cans firmly upright. Bird feeders are the candy shop of the critters, and their Subway is the pet food left out for pet cats.

    They are not bothered by moth balls, blood meal or any of the other smelly things that you might think would keep them at bay. Noise makers, flashing lights, shrill sound makers: none of them work. Fences won’t keep them out either, unless you add some DC current. Electricity is one thing that they respect, and strands of electrified wire like those used to contain cattle is often the only solution to keeping them out of a garden.

     Live traps are the best way to catch them, and the best baits are marshmallows, peanut butter or sweet rolls. They like fishy smelling food, too, but so do cats, and you don’t want to catch cats. Once they are caught, they need to be killed. Don’t fall for the old ‘trap and release’ thing. They will return to your house before you do.

    If you have a ‘raccoon problem,’ it’s probably best to call in professional exterminators. Make sure they are not proponents of ‘trap and release’ or you will be wasting your money.

    Does this sound like experience speaking? It is.

Resource: ucdavis.edu - Integrated Pest Management Program