This video was shot by one of our wildlife technicians last spring during a raccoon removal. The homeowner had been hearing strange and heavy sounds coming from her attic for several weeks and suspected that she had uninvited guests. She gave us a call to arrange a property assessment and within a few minutes of being on site and inspecting the home we knew exactly what we were dealing with.

A mother raccoon had broken into the attic, and this being spring she wasn’t alone. As it turned out, she also had a litter of five babies with her. Any wildlife control service with any experience knows that the first step to removing a family of raccoons involves locating and retrieving the babies. At this particular job, the technician climbed into the attic in search of the babies and managed to chase the mother out of her den and on to the roof. She didn’t go far, and instead of running off to one of her alternate den site in the neighbourhood, she decided to hide elsewhere on the roof.

Raccoons easily lift soffits to enter attics and make their home.

It wasn’t until our technicians had ascended to the roof to secure the entry point and any other vulnerable areas that the mother raccoon was spotted. She had nestled herself in the angle where the aluminum soffit overhang and the roof meet. This would have been a very familiar spot for her as it was this type of area, found in several locations elsewhere on roof that she had been using to access the attic. One of the most common points of entry for raccoons into homes is the point where a soffit meets the roof.

They use the roof as leverage to put a bit of pressure on the aluminum soffit above and once it gives way they slip right in. Fortunately, our technician’s presence on the roof was enough to force her into a hasty retreat, though not for long as her maternal instinct will bring her back in search of her babies.

With the mother gone, our technicians went to work securing the home’s soffits to prevent her from gaining re-entry when she inevitably returns later that night. As for her babies, they were placed on the roof next to the newly repaired entry hole in a heated release box. One by one she will collect the babies and take them to one of her other predetermined den sites in the area.

That’s it, job done – The Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control Way!

If you decide to hire a wildlife control service to get rid of the raccoons in your attic it is important to ask the right questions. During the birthing season, they must have a plan for how to deal with babies. If they don’t it could result in their death and end up costing you more time and money.