Pest Spotlight: How To Keep Raccoons Off Your Jacksonville Property
Most of us probably played the hide-and-go-seek game growing up. One person would close her eyes (supposedly) and count to ten while everyone else ran and hid. Inside a house, there are plenty of hiding places for children, like clothes hampers, behind clothing in a closet, or under a bed. The goal was to stay in hiding until the "seeker" gave up, which meant you won the game.
Raccoons are good at finding hiding places on your property, but they are not always good at hiding their presence. If you suspect raccoons are on your land, you need our Jacksonville pest control experts from B&T Pest Control. Our forty years in the pest control industry have taught us that pests come in many forms ranging from spiders and insects to rodents and wildlife. We understand that a raccoon living on your property can be scary and the thought of removing it daunting, which is why we are here to help you get rid of it!
Where Raccoons May Be Hiding
Raccoons are great climbers that can stuff themselves through openings in your home unnoticed. They enjoy hiding and raising their young in dark, quiet places like attics, wall voids, ductwork, under stairways, and inside crawl spaces. Even though raccoons are hide-and-go-seek experts, they occasionally leave hints that they are in the house. These clues include:
- Shredded roofing materials
- Noises in the attic
- Chewed wiring
- Insulation piled up like a nest
- Food scraps in the yard
- Smelly rooms
Raccoons may be good at hiding but leave clues of their presence lying around. Contact the raccoon control near you from B&T Pest Control for quick removal.
What To Do When You've Spotted The Raccoons
There is a difference between wildlife and rodents, and many people consider raccoons as large rodents in North Carolina, but they are wildlife. Like all wildlife, raccoons carry diseases and are carriers of rabies. Raccoons cause nearly 30% of all wild animal rabies cases. Baylisascaris (roundworm), leptospirosis, giardiasis, salmonellosis, and E. coli infection are diseases these musteloids also spread.
Because raccoons may attack if cornered and will inflict wounds and potentially spread disease, we do not recommend that homeowners attempt to use traps to capture them. To be safe, call our certified wildlife experts from B&T Pest Control immediately if you see signs of raccoons around your Jacksonville home.
Ten Essential Raccoon Control Tips
Raccoons are a nuisance and a danger to homeowners, so the best way to prevent them from hanging around your Jacksonville house is to implement these raccoon control methods:
- Remove debris around the house
- Dispose of leaf and brush piles
- Cap outdoor garbage containers with a tight-fitting lid
- Provide proper drainage for ditches and low-lying areas
- Treat the yard for grubs, a favorite food of raccoons
- Remove pet food from outside the home
- Remove bird feeders and bird baths
- Store firewood 20 feet away from the house
- Create a barrier using raccoon repellant
- Install motion-activated sprinklers
Implementing these suggestions will help with raccoon prevention and control around your Jacksonville home.
Raccoon Removal & Control With B&T Pest Control
When you call B&T Pest Control for wildlife control in Jacksonville, we will respond with a thorough inspection of your property. We will determine entry points, attractants, and areas where raccoons frequent. Using the information we gather, we will develop a customized treatment plan deploying baits and mechanical traps to remove the raccoons. To prevent a return of raccoons to your Jacksonville home, we provide exclusion services to seal all entry points. Contact us today and get a quote to remove raccoons from your property.