Raccoons have become common residents in urban neighbourhoods like Ottawa, thriving in cities thanks to easy access to food, shelter, and few predators. These smart animals have adapted well to city life, but their presence can cause problems for homeowners. From digging through garbage to nesting in attics or walls, raccoons have learned how to make themselves at home in human spaces.

For homeowners, this can lead to property damage and health risks. Protecting your home starts with understanding why raccoons are drawn to urban areas and taking steps to keep them out. Professionals like Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control in Ottawa can help you safely remove raccoons and prevent them from returning.

But how did raccoons become so good at surviving in cities? And what does their adaptability mean for your home? Let’s explore how urban life benefits raccoons and how you can keep them outside where they belong.

Why Raccoons Flourish in Cities

Raccoons are incredibly adaptable animals, and cities offer plenty of perks that make urban living easy for them. If you’ve noticed raccoons in your neighbourhood, or worse, in your home, here’s why they’re such successful city dwellers:

• Plenty of Food: Urban raccoon behaviour often revolves around food. Cities are full of garbage bins, compost piles, and even pet food left outdoors. To a raccoon, your garbage bag is an all-you-can-eat buffet. They’re surprisingly skilled at getting into bins, even those with lids.
• Safe Shelter: Raccoons in cities need a safe, dry space to sleep and raise their young. Unfortunately, attics, garages, sheds, and chimneys make perfect homes for them. They can climb walls, tear through shingles, and squeeze into impossibly small gaps to find shelter.
• Few Predators: Unlike rural areas, cities tend to have fewer natural predators, giving urban raccoons more freedom to roam and reproduce.

Their ability to adapt sets them apart, but for homeowners, this presents some unique challenges.

What Raccoons Mean for Homeowners

When raccoons move into your home, it’s not just an inconvenience. It can lead to damage, health risks, and even financial strain. Here’s what you need to know:

Home Damage

When raccoons invade your home, they don’t tread lightly. To gain entry, they’ll claw and chew their way through roofing materials, leaving shingles damaged and exposed to the elements. Once inside, the destruction continues. Raccoons will tear apart insulation to create nesting spaces, which not only reduces your home’s energy efficiency but can lead to costly repairs. 

Chimneys are a particular favourite, as they mimic the hollow trees raccoons naturally seek out in the wild. Without chimney caps, they can easily enter and create a mess. Eavestroughs and soffits also take a beating, often developing breaks or sagging from the weight and scratching of the raccoons trying to climb inside. Repairing these damages adds up quickly, as you may need to replace roofing materials, insulation, or even sections of your eaves to properly restore your home.

Health Risks

Raccoons are more than just a nuisance; they can carry serious health threats into your home, endangering your family. Rabies is one of the most well-known diseases they carry, and while bites are rare, exposure to saliva through scratches or infected surfaces can transfer the disease. Their droppings are another significant problem. Raccoon feces may contain roundworms or other harmful parasites that can be accidentally inhaled or ingested, leading to severe health issues in humans and pets. 

The cleaning process in areas contaminated by raccoon activity needs to be thorough and handled with care. Improper cleaning, especially without professional support, risks spreading parasites or bacteria rather than removing them. Professional wildlife control services ensure the mess is properly sanitized, keeping your household safe.

Persistent Return

Raccoons are incredibly resourceful and stubborn once they’ve identified your home as a good shelter. Even if you successfully remove them, they’re likely to return unless you take extra steps to secure your property. This is because raccoons are territorial creatures. Once they establish a den, they see that spot as theirs and will try to reclaim it. 

Without properly sealing entry points or addressing why the raccoons chose the location, you may find yourself dealing with repeat invasions. Urban environments only make this problem worse, as they provide easy access to food and plenty of potential hiding spots. Professional wildlife removal services not only get the raccoons out but also focus on prevention, ensuring they don’t get back in.

How to Protect Your Home from Raccoons

Homeowners cannot afford to ignore these clever animals. Here are proactive measures to protect your home from raccoons:

• Inspect Your Home Regularly: Keep an eye out for potential entry points, like holes in your attic, broken vents, or loose shingles. Pay special attention to chimneys and eaves. Catching small problems early prevents them from becoming big issues later.
• Seal Openings: Use durable materials to seal gaps and holes. Install chimney caps and reinforce weak points on your roof or eavestroughs. Remember, raccoons are incredibly strong and persistent, so flimsy materials won’t do the trick.
• Secure Garbage and Food: Use raccoon-proof garbage bins with tight-fitting lids and avoid leaving pet food outside overnight. Compost bins should also be secure, as raccoons are magnetically drawn to food scraps.
• Trim Trees and Bushes: Raccoons are excellent climbers. Overhanging branches close to your roof provide them with a convenient entry route. Trim back any vegetation near your home to reduce access points.
• Use Professional Wildlife Services: DIY raccoon removal isn’t safe or effective. Raccoons are unpredictable and often carry diseases. We specialize in safely and humanely removing these animals using one-way doors. These doors allow animals to leave your home but prevent them from getting back in.

Why Skedaddle’s Methods Are Effective

The key to Skedaddle’s approach is not just kicking raccoons out but making sure they stay out. Their innovative one-way doors are designed to allow wildlife to exit your home while blocking re-entry. Once the raccoons are gone, their team takes extra steps to secure your home so that it’s no longer attractive to raccoons or any other animals.

Additionally, Skedaddle doesn’t stop at removal. They clean and decontaminate the affected area, addressing health risks and preventing the scent markers raccoons leave behind, which can attract other animals. Knowing your home is safely sealed adds peace of mind you won’t get with quick fixes or DIY methods.

Why You Should Always Act Quickly

If you suspect a raccoon has moved into your home, acting quickly is critical. Waiting too long can lead to extensive damage and costly repairs. Here are some signs that these animals might be living in your home:

• Strange noises at night, like scratching or thumping.
• Droppings or food scraps near crawlspaces, attics, or chimneys.
• Damaged soffits, shingles, or vents.

Raccoons reproduce in the spring, so if they’ve entered your home during this time, they may already have babies. Removing a raccoon family requires extra care to ensure the young are safely removed and reunited with their mother.

What Makes Urban Raccoons Different?

The raccoons that thrive in cities are different from their rural counterparts. Urban raccoon behaviour has adapted to this unique environment, making them cleverer, bolder, and more resourceful. They’ve learned to cross busy streets, climb buildings, and anticipate human patterns like garbage day.

This doesn’t mean you have to accept raccoons as roommates. Awareness and prevention can go a long way in keeping these animals away from your living spaces.

Your home is meant for you, not raccoons. While it’s fascinating how these animals adapt to urban environments, their presence can cause significant trouble for homeowners. From damage to disease, having these animals in your space is an issue you can’t afford to ignore.

Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control in Ottawa has the expertise to handle raccoons humanely and effectively. Their method of using one-way doors ensures the animals leave your home for good without harming them. Plus, they’ll provide solutions to keep your home protected moving forward.

If you suspect a raccoon problem in your home, don’t wait. Request an estimate from Skedaddle today and make your home raccoon-free.