With their adorable little faces, raccoons give the appearance of being sweet critters. Unfortunately, their instincts and behaviors are not so cute. For instance, they are often found hanging around at night digging through outdoor trash cans in their quest for food, leaving you to clean up their unsanitary messes.

Raccoons are known as “opportunistic eaters” which means they’ll eat whatever they can grab. Many of the putrid scents coming from the trash smell like a mouthwatering smorgasbord to raccoons. To nip this problem, take steps to raccoon-proof your outdoor cans and prevent these nocturnal animals from strewing trash contents all over your yard.

• Seal or double bag your trash to keep raccoons from being able to whiff out where food is found.
• Weigh down your trash lids. Any heavy object such as a cinder block, heavy rock, or bricks might do the trick.
• Raccoons are shrewd enough to open lids and clips, and they are also capable of chewing through plastic. A metal trash can with a lock is another solution many people find successful.
• Adding motion lights may scare raccoons away as they approach your cans.

Raccoons are clever creatures and sometimes preventative steps aren’t enough of a deterrent to stop the problem and you’ll need professional intervention. Another important consideration is raccoons tend to frequent areas abundant in smaller rodents because they feed on them. If you know there is a rodent issue around the yard or surrounding areas, this could be attracting raccoons. Calling a wildlife animal control professional not only offers you a good raccoon removal strategy, but you may also be able to eliminate smaller pest issues too.

Hearing a crash in the middle of the night can be terrifying. However, by taking preventative measures and calling a raccoon removal service, you can put a halt to this nighttime nuisance behavior.