Raccoons are easily identified by the mask-like patterns around their eyes, which give them the appearance of old-fashioned bank robbers.
Raccoons are more than mischievous. They are inquisitive and can cause all kinds of mayhem and devastation in your yard and your home.
Because they are so good at running, jumping, climbing, and swimming, raccoon control can be challenging.
Raccoons do not hibernate, but they can stay in their dens for extended periods if the weather is bad, causing them to lose a lot of weight.
They’ll go out in quest of food, be it pet food, human food scraps in the trash, or anything else they can eat. They are nocturnal animals, so you can find a huge mess in your yard when you get up.
Raccoons carry diseases, and if you have them, they are likely to stick about or in your home until breeding season, when raccoon pups shortly appear.
Besides hunting for food sources, you can find raccoons can attack small dogs and eat cats or other tiny animals, or at least attack them. Because they carry rabies, it can put the entire family at risk. (Learn How To Refill Fresh Water Tank During Camping)
In our guide, you can learn more about effective animal control, and for a quick way to deal with the issues, you can learn. Does white vinegar keep raccoons away?
Does Vinegar Stop Raccoons?
If you see an online vinegar raccoon repellent, white vinegar raccoons may dislike, but not as much as using apple cider vinegar.
It isn’t just raccoons that hate the smell of applied cider vinegar; there is many a wild creature and other pests you can keep from your yard using this vinegar-based natural deterrent.
- To use, soak a cloth in apple cider vinegar.
- Place the cloth in an aerated container near the raccoon den.
- Once they smell the vinegar, they will be reluctant to stay too long.
- You can add motion sensor lights that come on when wandering raccoons come out at night searching for food. Use these together, and you should be able to scare raccoons away.
Tips to keep raccoons away:
- Secure your trash can to stop them from getting at food scraps.
- Never leave food dishes and pet food outside.
- Monitor bird feeders and pick up fallen fruit and nuts.
- Fence your garden, fish pond, or newly laid turf.
- Keep your yard clean.
- Seal your chimney
What Do Raccoons Hate The Most?
When you want to get rid of raccoons, prevention is better than cure.
The permanent way to get rid of raccoons is to remove all traces of food sources and water from your yard. However, it is easier said than done, so you will need to implement other measures.
Homemade raccoon repellent is often one of the more effective ways of how to get rid of raccoons.
Here are some of the more effective smells that raccoons hate:
Hot Pepper Spray
Cayenne pepper is among the best natural raccoon deterrents and an excellent way to keep rodents and pests away. The smell of this homemade raccoon repellent is repulsive, as any pesky rodents hate the smell of cayenne pepper or hot sauce.
As a result, cayenne pepper is a good element for DIY homemade animal repellent sprays to repel critters of all types. (Learn Can You Tan On A Cloudy Day)
How to make a homemade raccoon repellent recipe:
- Combine a gallon of water and a bottle either hot sauce or cayenne pepper powder.
- To help the mixture stick together, add a teaspoon of liquid dish soap.
- Spray the perimeter of your property, trash cans, entrance points, and any other areas of interest with this substance to prevent raccoons.
Epsom Salt
Epsom salt is not only a great raccoon repellent, but the natural ingredients make great fertilizers for your plants and garden. Place the Epsom salt around your garbage cans and your garden.
You can spread the raccoon deterrent on your lawn, and it will stop them digging for grubs, and raccoons leave your lawn alone.
Soap
A simple solution for raccoon repellents can be scattering bits of soap around your garden. If you want to get rid of raccoons, you’ll discover raccoons hate the smell of Irish Spring. They smell Irish spring instead of food sources.
What Animals Will Vinegar Keep Away?
Even after it has dried, deer and other animals such as cats, dogs, rabbits, foxes, and repels raccoons dislike the smell of vinegar.
Soak several rags in full-strength white vinegar or apple cider vinegar and place them on stakes throughout your garden, especially near your trash can, bird feeder, vegetable gardens, and flower beds, where raccoons may congregate.
It’s better to soak the rags every few days, even if they don’t enjoy the fragrance of these odor repellents when they dry.
What Smells Do Racoons Hate?
Nowadays, the move is towards using natural raccoon deterrents to get rid of raccoons rather than trap them.
Here are a few natural deterrents you can find and scare tactics to get raccoons to leave your garden. (Read Pop Up Camper Weight Guide)
Ammonia
Raccoons don’t like the smell of this chemical; thus, it’s a good deterrent. It is not a pesticide, although it is a chemical.
You can use ammonia in a variety of ways. You can soak some rags in ammonia and lay them in areas where the raccoon enters or has a nest. Another alternative is to spray ammonia in places where raccoons have been spotted.
It’s safe to spray on the ground and inside garbage cans; however, the fragrance only lasts a few hours.
Mothballs
Raccoons dislike the smell of mothballs, so many people toss them in crawlspaces and attics to keep raccoons away.
When using mothballs, you must be cautious as they will lie around. Young children and pets could accidentally swallow them.
If mothballs are kept in the attic for an extended amount of time, the chemicals in the mothball might leak into other parts of the house and become poisonous.
Because of this, while you’ll find many raccoon repellents on the market, mothballs are not one of them.
This chemical insecticide, which is used to prevent and kill moths, is banned in the United States against raccoons.
Predator Urine
The notion behind predator urine is that if a raccoon smells it, it will flee in fear of becoming prey to the predator. You can find a variety available from sports goods stores and wilderness web stores.
Aside from irritant scents, predator urine is another deterrent you can employ to keep raccoons away. This scent induces them to believe that your home is already a predator’s territory, rather than targeting their smelling sensors.
If raccoons are already living in your home, they will mistakenly believe that a predator has come, prompting them to flee to a safer location.
When a predator discovers a new territory, the first thing it does is urinate around the perimeter to identify it as its own. The best part about this strategy is that you can profit from the predator-prey interaction by buying predator urine.
Raccoons hate the smell of wolves, bobcats, coyotes, bear mace, and mountain lion urine in different regions. The more familiar a predator is with your community, the more effective a deterrent it will be.
Although you can use human urine, it may not be as effective as urine from natural predators.
Onion and Pepper
you can deter raccoons by using hot pepper, but sometimes transient annoyance isn’t enough to keep them away. As a result, you might wish to try boiling an equal blend of onion and pepper in water.
This mixture will aggravate their sense of smell while also emitting an unpleasant odor that may deter raccoons.
The onion and pepper combo, despite its intense odor, will only survive a few days. Because the fragrance fades with time, you’ll need to use this combination at least twice a week if you want to keep raccoons away for good. (Read Are Hot Air Balloons Safe)
You may also need to spray it in areas where they congregate to teach them that entering your property would only annoy their olfactory sensors.
While this is a possibility, it is only a short-term solution, as with any smell. They vanish after a while. So, if you have raccoons, secure trash can lids and don’t expect smells to stop them rooting.
Peppermint Essential Oil
Using these scents to keep raccoons away from your home requires a lot of time and work. Another workable alternative for you is to use a scent that most animals dislike.
Peppermint oil is a commonly used essential oil that has applications in various sectors and is effective at keeping raccoons away.
A peppermint-based wildlife repellent spray, such as Rodent Sheriff Ultra-Pure Peppermint Spray, is my recommendation.
You can even take it a step further by using pure peppermint essential oil; however, this will be more expensive.
Whether you use a straight spray or pure essential oil, you’ll need to maintain reapplying the aroma as it fades, which might be daily or weekly, depending on the strength of the scent.
Raccoon Eviction Fluid
If you believe you have a female raccoon in your home, another alternative is to apply an eviction fluid. The scent of another male raccoon was discovered to be a potential alternative for forcing a nursing raccoon and her young to abandon their habitat.
Although eviction fluid has been used for a long time, there is still a need for more significant research into the approach. It’s a low-cost and probably an efficient solution for keeping these pests at bay. You can keep it in a spray bottle and spray around the areas you know you have raccoons.
While no procedure, even this one, is guaranteed to drive raccoons away, it can be a worthy addition to your armory of natural raccoon deterrents above.
This product can be used in the chimney, attic, or wherever else you suspect a nursing raccoon is caring for her young. It will emit a powerful aroma like that of a male raccoon, posing a threat to nursing raccoons.
Scare Tactics
In the garden or other locations where raccoons are prone to infiltrate, You can install motion-detecting devices.
Raccoons are nocturnal creatures who hate sudden bright lights and will flee if they see the sudden glare of a scare light.
You can also use loud noises, yet they could interfere with your home or your neighbors. The other thing is, raccoons and other wild animals can become accustomed to sights and sounds; thus, these stop being as effective, mainly if there is no backup threat to follow.
