How Raccoons Are Gaining Access to Your Home?

Raccoons may look like cuddly creatures, but they can cause a lot of damage to your home if they get into the house. The animals enter houses for warmth in the winter to raise their babies in the spring, but because they can carry infectious diseases, it's never a good idea to allow a raccoon to continue living in your home. You can remove raccoons from your attic or crawl space, but it's important to understand how they first gained access to the house to prevent them from coming back. Here are the most common ways raccoons gain access to your house.

Roof

Most commonly, raccoons access your home through holes in the roof. If there are any existing holes, raccoons can easily squeeze through them. They can also create their own entry points by clawing at weak spots in your roof. Maintaining your roof properly is the best way to keep raccoons from getting inside your home. Check it regularly for weak spots and repla ce them as needed. You should pay special attention to your roof after a major storm that could have weakened it or formed holes that could provide raccoons with access to your house.

Soffit Vents

Although raccoons are much larger than rats and squirrels, they can squeeze through extremely small holes in your home's exterior. Soffit vents provide the perfect entry point for raccoons to get into your attic. You should check your vents periodically to make sure they are closed. You also need to examine your house for weak spots in the structure because raccoons are notorious for creating their own holes.

Chimneys

If your chimney is uncapped, it is the perfect environment for a mother raccoon to raise her babies. Uncapped chimneys can easily be accessed from your roof. They are dark, undisturbed spaces where mothers can raise their babies in peace. You may not see a raccoon in your chimney, but if you hear noises coming from the area at night, you likely have a raccoon in your home. This is one of the easiest ways the creatures can access your house.

How To Remove Raccoons From Your Home

Patching up potential entry points is the best way to defend your home from raccoons but sometimes you may miss holes in the exterior of your house or accidentally leave your chimney open. Raccoons may have moved in despite your best efforts to deter them. It's best to turn to a professional for help with wildlife removal. Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control specializes in getting raccoons out of homes and relocating them to a more suitable environment. Once we have gotten the creatures out of your house, we'll help you figure out how they gained access to your home and show you how to prevent the problem in the future. Our team of experts has years of experience removing various types of wildlife from home. We promise to remove raccoons in a humane fashion so that we do not cause any harm to the animals and simply prevent them from causing more damage to your house. We have the tools and knowledge necessary to take care of a raccoon infestation quickly and efficiently. 

Make an Appointment for Raccoon Removal Today

It's never a good idea to attempt raccoon removal in Victoria yourself. The animals can be dangerous, and if you don't get rid of the entire family of raccoons in your house, you will still have a problem. It's best to let Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control help you with wildlife removal on Vancouver Island. If you need help getting a wild animal out of your, contact us today to schedule an appointment.