If you have raccoons on your property, before calling your local wildlife removal expert, you ought to get to know your nuisance! Bottom line, you want to get rid of raccoons!
5 Raccoon Habits (You Should Know!)
Raccoon Habit #1: They are not fussy eaters.
These carnivorous mammals will eat almost anything, whether meat, or plant matter. But do you know what some of their favorite meals are? Freshwater fish, crabs, and frogs that live nearby. Of course, in keeping with their ‘I’ll eat anything’ mentality, they’ll also indulge in a serving of fruit, nuts, bird eggs, small animals, seeds, and even insects such as grasshoppers! One study even found that raccoons appear to favor apples in particular – would you believe they were found in just over 17% of stomachs examined?
In keeping with their non-fussy reputation, raccoons don’t bother to wash their food before eating it either. That being said, if you see them near a fresh water source, you may catch them dunking their food in the water before eating it – but not to wash it – it’s thought that this is just a leftover habit from learning to fish.
Lesson learned: Don’t tempt raccoons to your property by leaving food sources easily accessible.
Raccoon Habit #2: They like to scavenge.
Raccoons will sometimes take the path of least resistance and love to scavenge food that people, and other animals, have left behind.
Lesson learned: Properly secure all garbage and food waste to deter raccoons.
Raccoon Habit #3: They like to stay up all night.
Raccoons are nocturnal creatures. They usually sleep during daylight, and spend their nights looking for food. They don’t like to travel further than necessary to find their favorite food source – can you blame them? They’ll get vegies from farms, fish from the nearest river, and other surprise treats from your local neighbourhood garbage can.
Lesson learned: If you want to catch a raccoon ‘in the act’ of stealing food from your property, your best chances of seeing it are at night.
Raccoon Habit #4: They prefer to be introverts.
In keeping with their masked appearance, raccoons are an introverted animal that likes plenty of alone time, especially if they are males. During mating season, they’ll relent and live with a female, but they are not exactly doting dads and leave before the babies are born.
Females, on the other hand, will dutifully stay with their young until the end of their first winter. She provides them with food, warmth, and shelter.
Lesson learned: Odds are, unless you have a female with babies, you’ll only have to worry about removing a single raccoon from your property at a time – they do not settle down in packs.
Raccoon Habit #5: They like to have their own territory.
They travel all over in search of food, water, and suitable locations to make their den. Males have been known to wander as far as 10 miles in search of food or a mate! Once they’ve settled on a place to call home, they mark their territory to warn others to stay away. A male’s territory can range as far as 250 acres, a female’s is generally much smaller since she’s often busy caring for her young and can’t afford to wander off too far.
Lesson learned: See number 4. Your odds of having to deal with a raccoon invasion, made up of 10’s or 100’s of raccoons, are slim to none. That’s something worth celebrating, wouldn’t you agree?
Know Your Raccoon’s Habits for Easier Deterrence
Once you know more about the raccoon, it becomes much easier to figure out ways of deterring them from moving into your property. And remember, you’re smarter than these masked bandits will ever be, so stay strong, and don’t give up in trying to remove these pests from your property.
If you have a raccoon problem with raccoons and they’ve entered your attic, for example, call Halton Wildlife Services today for a no obligation quote! Proudly serving Burlington, Oakville, Milton, Waterdown and surrounding Halton-Hamilton areas!
