Fact: rats hate clean clothes. So do squirrels, raccoons, mice, and other rodents. Tuck dryer sheets under the doors of your basements, RVs, and garden sheds, to keep critters out.
Raccoons can smell the food for miles and will more than likely travel to find that delicious smell. The use of dryer sheets, will not only make everything smell good to humans, but it will keep the raccoons far away since they do not like the smell of them.
Because they have an acute sense of smell, overwhelming scents such as black pepper, peppermint oil, garlic, vinegar, and ammonia are a few odors that will keep them at bay.
One homemade “taste” raccoon repellent recipe uses 1 bottle hot pepper sauce or 1 bottle cayenne pepper powder and mixes it with a gallon of water and a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid. The soap helps the liquid to adhere to what you're spraying, and should be sprayed on the entire area that you would like to protect.
Raccoons aren't fond of spicy smells, so a cayenne pepper spray can be an easy and effective raccoon repellent. Mix a small bottle of cayenne pepper with a bottle of hot sauce, then add both to a gallon of water and shake well. Spray this pepper solution around your plants, bushes, and other garden greenery.
Since raccoons have a strong sense of smell, which they use to find convenient food sources, one can take advantage of this feature by using scents they hate. Hot pepper, garlic, peppermint oil, onion, and Epsom salt are a few scents used to repel raccoons.
Trapping – The fastest way to remove a live raccoon is through trapping, often done professionally but also possible through DIY methods in certain cases. This is best used for raccoons that are living places like under a deck or in a den on a property. Professional trapping usually takes a few hours or less.
Plants That Are Prickly. Raccoons have sensitive feet. Because of this, they stay clear of walking on prickly plants.
Vinegar will deter raccoons from returning time and again to your home and yard since they hate the smell. Like if you were using peppermint oil to deter them, you can soak a number of rags with vinegar then put them in key access points around your home and yard to keep them away, albeit until the smell fades.
Garlic: Crush garlic cloves and leave them in containers around your property or mix garlic juice with water to create a repellent spray. Cayenne pepper: Generously sprinkle dry cayenne pepper around areas where raccoons might frequent or mix one full can of cayenne pepper with a gallon of water to make a spray.
Bonus: It will keep pesky critters like raccoons away, as Pine-Sol is an effective pest repellant.
Raccoons use their superb sense of smell to forage for food, and some scents are really effective at keeping them away. The ingredients in Irish Spring soap are generally effective in keeping raccoons and other small mammals out of your yard.
Although a porch light is helpful, it will not keep every raccoon away because the light source is too high. Motion-activated floodlights are lower and will only activate after a raccoon triggers the sensors. If you place the lights in key locations around your property, they will scare the raccoons away.
From string, or a clothing line strung across a fence, hang balloons, strips of cloth or aluminum foil. These will frighten the animals and encourage them to leave the area. Remove or cover all possible food sources. Seal food in tightly closed containers of glass or metal.
If used for preventative reasons, they may work well to keep rats and mice away. Most of the all-natural or DIY methods used to prevent mice are said to work because rats are repulsed by their smell. This is especially true for dryer sheets—while these smell wonderful to us, they are abhorred by rats and mice.
Many animals are repelled by citrus scents; gather up orange, lemon and grapefruit peels and scatter them around your plants. Animals don't like shapes that move in the night – so hang strips of rags, aluminum foil or balloons from branches or a clothesline to chase them away.
DO NOT approach, confront, or try to chase it - Raccoons can bite or scratch if scared, startled, or feeling threatened. Give the raccoon an escape route. Let it leave on its own. If the racoon cannot make its way out – Call local Animal Control or CDFW.
Save your screaming and purchase some inexpensive Epsom salts from a drugstore. Sprinkle them on and around your garbage cans and raccoons will stay away, but it's safe for your dog or cat!
Scare 'em.
If raccoons are raiding your garden, try scaring them off with motion-detecting sprinklers or strobe lights. Radios and other noise-makers can also deter raccoons. Switch up your scare strategies to keep raccoons from becoming accustomed to one method.
During the day raccoons sleep in their dens. They usually have several of these dens and move between them often – even during the daytime. It isn't true that raccoons that move during the daytime are rabid raccoons! In most cases, they come out of their dens to search for food or because the den is destroyed.
Raccoon Poop is usually about 2 to 3 inches long and half an inch in diameter, and they tend to be tubular in shape. The color of raccoon poop can vary, but it is usually dark, due to the fact that raccoons have a diet that is high in plant material.
Although they are omnivorous, there are some things raccoons can't eat: Chocolate, onions, raisins, and macadamia nuts are toxic to raccoons. Garlic and bread aren't toxic, but they can upset a raccoon's digestion.
Predators. Hawks, owls and humans are major predators. Snakes may eat young raccoons. A raccoon will stay in its den during the day to avoid being preyed upon, and can be aggressive toward potential predators.
Raccoons will wander through your yard in search of food, but access to water will convince them to stick around. Water, after all, is fundamental to every creature's survival. All types of water sources can attract them to your yard, including leaky hoses, ponds, and holes or low areas where puddles can form.