If you have some unexplained issues in your backyard, such as holes in your lawn and compost pile, missing eggs from your chicken coop, or empty bird feeders, you might have a raccoon problem. If so, I’m sure you’ll want to know how to get rid of raccoons: they should not be welcomed guests around your home and garden.
Today I’ll share with you what you can do to keep raccoons away from your garden and what others have done to successfully trap raccoons in their backyard.
Let me start by saying that I’m against killing them. This is about keeping your veggies and your chicken safe, not shooting raccoons.
What do raccoons like to eat?
They are omnivores and love many of the same foods we do. They LOVE sweets of any kind: from sweet veggies like peas, corn and sweet potatoes, to fruits and even sugary treats we humans delight in.
How To Get Rid Of Raccoons From Your Backyard
What You'll Be Needing:
Please don’t poison them! If you poison, you could poison multiple food chain recipients, and inadvertently hurt your fur babies.
There are several ways to get rid of raccoons visiting your garden. From making the environment unpleasant to them, to creating a habitat especially for them, or trapping and relocating them (you’ll need to check your state’s laws, as it’s illegal in some states.
How to keep raccoons from coming into your yard
If you’ve seen signs of raccoons in your neighborhood, you can take measures to make your garden unattractive to them. Here are some of the ways you can accomplish this:
- sprinkle wood ashes around your backyard
- add blood meal to your garden beds
- mix garlic and chili powder and sprinkle around the yard
- spread some human or dog hair where you’ve seen raccoon activity
- add lights to the backyard: they don’t like light
- make a liquid pepper repellent that may keep raccoons away (they hate the pepper smell). To make the pepper repellent, get a bottle of hot sauce or a jar or can of cayenne pepper, mix with water and spray around the yard
What is the best bait to trap a raccoon
If keeping raccoons away from your yard is not working out, you might want to get a live trap and relocate them.
HomGarden Live Animal Trap 32
Large Collapsible Humane Live Animal Cage Trap for Raccoon
Reminder: some states don’t allow this, so check before you trap animals for relocation.
So, what is the best bait to trap raccoons? I searched in many Facebook groups and found people use different baits to trap raccoons successfully.
Trapping raccoons with sweets
As I mentioned above, these creatures LOVE sweets! So, offering them what they want, you can easily trap them. Sweets are also safe if you have cats, as they usually don’t care for sweet food.
Here are the most popular sweets that have helped trap raccoons:
- marshmallows are used successfully by professionals. You can add molasses to it to make it even more fragrant. Or, place the marshmallows into some tin foil and smear peanut butter on it. They can’t resist the shininess
- black licorice
- the cookies you use in banana pudding
- peanut butter on a cookie
- Little Debbie or Hostess little cherry pies … be sure to break open so they smell the filling
- small size powdered donuts
- honey buns
- M&M’s
- chocolate
Trap raccoons with meats
- chicken wings
- tuna fish
- chicken skin
- sardines
- chicken nuggets
Catch raccoons with vegetables and fruits
- corn
- peas
- potatoes
- melons
- strawberries and other berries
- grapes
Other bait to lure raccoons
Raccoons love cat food both dry and wet: it’s almost like catnip for raccoons. If you decide to use this, make sure you put your cats inside that night, or you risk trapping them. No big issues if you use live traps: they’ll never get close to it again. But it’s better to avoid that if possible.
You can also get them with a boiled egg.
I hope you have enough knowledge now to help you deal with the raccoon problem in your backyard.
Adriana Copaceanu is a passionate nature lover living in the country on her dream property where she grows vegetables, lavender, and wildflowers that she shares with the wildlife they attract. When she's not in the garden, she loves spending time with her chickens and planning her next nature project. Check out her books below:
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