GETTING BABY RACCOONS OUT OF YOUR ATTIC

A raccoon in the attic is a problem that most people don’t expect. Many who discover that they have this are somewhat panicked. Their anxiety only grows when they hear baby raccoon noises, look at the calendar and realize why momma raccoon is actually up there. The next thought usually is “how do I get these raccoon out of my attic”. Other questions follow. Should I trap her? What do I do with her? Can I just relocate her. How do I get the babies out etc.? Well, here it is, how to get momma raccoon and babies out in a nutshell.

Seasonal raccoon problems

The character of raccoon calls change through the year. Late summer and fall seasonal calls focus more on what kind of mischief raccoons are getting into in the back yard. Calls in late winter and spring have an entirely different nature. This is when momma raccoon is looking for a place to make a den and have her babies. Late winter and spring calls focus on what is going on in the attic. This is because momma raccoon is thinking about denning and raising her young. Attics, in the opinion of momma raccoons, provide excellent den sites. They are dry, private, and warm, and have an abundance of fluffy nesting material (aka your insulation). Evidently their fur protects them from the itchy effects of the insulation and does an excellent job of keeping the babies warm.

Are There Babies?

If you have a raccoon in your attic during denning season, odds are really good that it is a female with denning on her mind. The question then becomes whether or not she has delivered her litter. If she hasn’t, that is good, but it is really hard to know. Young kits do not make a lot of noise while older ones do. Mom may have them tucked into some corner where the insulation is thick and noise is muffled. Insulation does more than insulate against the cold. It also does an excellent job of insulating against sound. That is one reason interior walls are well insulated. It is better to assume that there are babies present. Think about it. What will happen if you trap momma in the back yard and relocate her? If there is any doubt, it is a lot better to assume that there are babies

Can I just seal the ENTRANCE?

A big no on that one! Baaaad idea. Even after dark when momma should be foraging you can’t be absolutely sure if she is out. What if she has some kind of sick headache from dealing with these kids all by herself, dealing with a little postpartum depression, thinks the weather is bad, etc. and she decides to stay in. How do you know for sure? Slapping a board or some screen over the hole will leave you with more problems than if you did nothing. You are going to have one stressed out momma raccoon that will do anything to get her babies back. What would you do if someone locked you out of your house and your kids were starving and crying inside? Would you rip, tear, smash a hole through the wall? I would and I have tools and so does momma. Momma raccoons will grab things with their teeth and rip like a dog and they also have little hands that they can grab things with. I have heard stories where anxious momma raccoons removed siding and shingles trying to get back in. Just remember, she is going to be desperate! Desperate raccoons do desperate things.

Trapping momma - are there babies?

Getting a raccoon out of your attic is hard, but getting a mother raccoon out along with her babies is way more complicated. Setting a trap somewhere and catching the raccoon in the attic may seem like a simple thing, but doing this can leave you with mewing raccoon kits that is a few days will, after they starve to death, will become a couple pounds of rotting raccoon in your walls or attic. This is not a good option.

Trapping momma is not too hard. She is nursing and this increases her demand for calories. Setting out a trap with a nice selection of raccoon bait will usually do the job. But, risking trapping momma without taking babies into account is not a good idea even if you haven’t heard them. You really don’t know if she has delivered her litter or not. Lots of people begin to notice raccoon activity long before babies are mobile. There is often enough thumping, ceiling creaking, footsteps, etc. to draw attention early in the process, but the bulk of my spring raccoon calls involve babies. So, be warned, there can definitely be babies there even if you don’t hear them. If you are hearing chirring, kitten like noises, or lots of thumping and ruckus you have well developed babies. (Think about a litter of rough housing puppies). Attic noise comes to a crescendo right as she prepares to leave the attic den site.

Where is the litter and How Do I get them Out

Once mom finds her way inside the attic, she can put her litter just about anywhere in the attic space. She is normally in some little boxed-in area that helps her form a nest (think momma cat in a cardboard box with her kittens). It can be right in the middle of the attic, over in the low ceiling part of the attic near an exterior wall, inside a wall, or in the eaves of the house behind the gutter. If it is near the exterior wall, inside the wall or in the eaves it will be super inaccessible. Momma raccoons seem to prefer the hard-to-access spots. I am sure that she understands that inaccability equates to security for her litter. If the insulation is blown in and really thick I have seen momma raccoons squash down some insulation to make a nest area in the middle of the attic. You should hope to be this lucky.

If the nest is in the middle of the attic you can consider just climbing up there and just grabbing the babies. This isn’t something that I recommend laymen doing though. You are at a definite disadvantage. You don’t know how momma raccoon is going to react to your presence in the attic. Going into an attic carries its own special risk even without an upset momma raccoon. Drywall ceilings will not carry the weight of a person, but raccoons can generally trot over them just fine. One misstep off a rafter and BAM you could fall through a drywall ceiling. Imagine…. angry momma rushes… you step back… and CRUNCH! You are lying on the floor of the living room looking into the face of momma raccoon peering at you through the hole that you just made in the ceiling doing her raccoon chitter. NOT GOOD! If you go up there, you better have a good plan….experience helps. This may be a job for a professional.

Baby Raccoons in an Inaccessible Area

If things didn’t sound bad already, here is where it gets really tricky. Momma raccoon, as I already mentioned, has a strong instinct for putting her babies where nobody else can reach them. This is just survival instinct. This leaves you with a couple of options. They are:

1. Sit back and wait till she finishes raising the litter and the babies are mobile. (She will eventually check out of the maternity ward.) This way babies aren’t stuck in the attic when mom is trapped. However, this method has its problems. There will be an ever growing amount of poo, pee, filth, and damage to the attic. Wiring, ductwork, insulation can sustain further damage while she is in there. (She can sometimes accomplish two of these things at once. I once had a customer look up in the bedroom light fixture to see a pee puddle.) Things can get even worse once the babies start to tussle and play. Think five small rough housing puppies looking for a sneaker to chew up. Also, if there is a ceiling integrity issue, there will be a risk of mom falling through the ceiling into living spaces. This is not normally a problem, but the risk is there.

2. Option two is to trap mom and be prepared to cut a hole in the drywall to remove babies and place them in a recovery box. If you do this, you will have to follow the much of the same procedure mentioned above regarding sealing all current entrances, potential entrances, and alternate entrances into the attic are closed before you set the babies in the recovery box. If you don’t, you may end up repeating the process and cutting two holes in the drywall. This option can become mandatory if a baby falls into a void inside the wall. Most walls in modern homes are hollow. They are a wooden frame with drywall on both sides. If the carpenter somehow left an opening at the head of the wall, there is a chance that one or more of the babies can fall down into it where mom can’t reach. If this happens, you will begin to hear mewing noises and maybe some scratching closer to the floor. If there is a large enough void in the wall, momma raccoon may purposely place her litter in the wall. She is an excellent climber and she might do this if there are sufficient foot holds.

3. Try applying some Kick Momma Out Fluid. Yep, no joke, it really does exist. I keep it on the truck at all times with at least two bottles in the springtime. It has a funky smell, but this stuff can work magic in a tough situation. It has to be placed as close to the nest site to work. Getting it there may require some special tricks (you tend to develop a few over the years), but it can really be worth the effort. If all goes as hoped, mom will move babies out in a night or two to a new residence. This technique is not 100% effective, but well worth trying if you find yourself in a bad situation. It is a much gentler approach than others and can save a lot of destruction and cost. It tends to work better with newer mothers than experienced mothers and moms who haven’t denned on the site before.

What I do with the babies

Baby raccoons, once removed, can be put into a recovery box where mom can find them. If you will do this, she can move them to an alternate den spot. The big trick is making sure that all current entrances , potential entrances, and alternate entrances into the attic are closed before you set the babies in the recovery box. If you don’t you are just going to have more problems.

How Do I keep Raccoons out

Most people who try this themselves don’t know what to look for and miss soft spots. Considering the size of a raccoon, it would blow your socks off to see some of the rooftop entrances that I have come across. (I can’t tell you how many times I have heard customers say “you mean she can go through THERE!). If you don’t seal everything, you are likely to just have mom carry them right back into the attic. But, she just had a bad experience. She will be more “careful” about where she put her litter. This time she is likely to move them to a much harder spot to access and your situation will only be worse. If you have several entrances, it is probably better to get most of your carpentry work done before you move babies to the recovery box.

Even if mom voluntarily moves the litter to another site there is always next year. Your attic may have been a den site for several years and you didn’t know it. (I have seen this numerous times). You have a small herd of raccoons running around out there that know that you have soft/open spots on your roofline. They are very likely to come back. I can’t tell you how many times I have gone into an attic and found many YEARS worth of droppings in an attic and the homeowner swears that they just heard the noises this year for the first time!

Seeing raccoon make repeat visits to your roof or climbing a tree next to your house can be a sign of trouble. If you have this, it is better to schedule an inspection than to wait till you hear raccoon noises in the attic.