Raccoon Removal & Permanent Solutions

Raccoons can be destructive and dangerous to your home and family. Raccoons are primarily nocturnal animals but can be seen in daylight when there is an available food source. Due to raccoons adaptability it is common for them to use urban areas as a habitat, living and sleeping in areas such as garages, abandoned houses, and most commonly attics.

Safely removing wildlife and closing all possible entry holes to your property is essential to preventing future invasions, and is a job that is best left to an experienced professional. Raccoons are also known to cause damage to attic insulation as well as leave behind fecal matter. If any animal fecal matter is present in your attic space make sure to do a little research about Dangerous Animal Feces and what we can do to protect you and your family/business.

If you feel your attic or property has a problem with raccoons give us a call and a representative will be sent to your location to perform a site evaluation which consists of inspection of the roof, attic space, and any other concerning areas. During the site evaluation a technician will be determining the severity of your problem as well as what areas are vulnerable to future entry.

"We Get 'em Out & Keep 'em Out"

Our repair work is backed by an optional Warranty in which you are protected for that period of time. If you have any further problems within the warranty time frame just pick up the phone give us a call and we come back out at no additional cost to assist the situation. Unlike the "other austin pest  control companies" we provide permanent solutions using techniques that prevent future occurences.

    Raccoon Feces     

Knowing how to recognize raccoon droppings is important to you because raccoon feces can be extremely dangerous.  Many people live near raccoons and don’t even know it. Raccoons are well known to live in the metro Austin area.  If raccoons are present in the area where you live, you probably know that they are fierce as well.  They will tip over garbage cans, destroy gardens, tear apart chimneys/siding to gain access to properties, cause severe damage within attic's, and if they are cornered, they have also been known to attack a person or other animal.

Raccoons usually defecate before they enter their dens, enter a structure, or before they climb a tree.  Droppings can often be found on deck steps, roofs, attics, as well as generally in gardens and backyards without the homeowner even knowing that they live nearby since they are mainly a nocturnal forager.  Special care needs to be taken with children’s play structures and sand boxes since these are prime areas where raccoon feces could be found.

Raccoon droppings look similar to the feces of a medium size dog.  Their droppings will be more crumbly than a dog’s and due to their diet, more partially digested food will be evident.  Raccoons will also tend to return to the same place each time they need to defecate.  If you believe that you have found raccoon droppings, do not clean it up before you understand the dangerous diseases that may be present.

Raccoon feces can carry several diseases that are potentially serious.  Rabies and distemper are sometimes an issue, but they are rare.  Distemper will make the raccoons forage more during the day and act unusually aggressive.  Distemper can spread from the infected animal to any domestic pets that come into contact with the raccoon feces.

A more dangerous disease that raccoon feces can contain is a parasite called Baylisascaris procyonis.  This is a type of roundworm that can also infect humans.  If this parasite is transferred to humans, it can be extremely dangerous.  In children, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems, infection with this roundworm can even be fatal.  Infections occur when someone comes into contact with raccoon droppings.  Million of this parasite’s eggs are often present in the droppings.  Even though roundworm parasites need to be inside the host to survive, the eggs can remain alive and dangerous for years in the soil.  This is how people can come into contact with the parasite without even knowing that they have. If you have Raccoon Feces in the Attic, an Attic Decontamination is highly recommended.

Raccoon Entry At Chimney Steiner Ranch 

Raccoons Removed From Tri-Fusion Commercial Property

Baby Raccoons Removed From Lakeway Residentail Property

Raccoon & Oppossum Removed From Rollingwood Attic 

Raccoon Removed From Spanish Oaks Sub Division

Insulation/Attic Damage From Raccoons West Lake Hills

Dangerous Raccoon Feces In Pflugerville Attic

Raccoons Were Running Up Siding Into This Soffit Vent 

Baby Raccoon Removed From Construction Warehouse

Raccoon Relocation Removed From Steiner Ranch Home

Raccoons Nesting & Damaging Commericial AC Unit On Roof

Raccoon Damage In Central Austin

Raccoon Hiding In Soffit of a West Lake Hills Attic

Baby Raccoons Removed From Property In Cedar Park

Raccoon Attic Damage at Lost Creek Home

Raccoon Removal & Exclusion Lakeway

Raccoon Removal & Exclusion Lakeway

Raccoon Attic Entry Point Lake Travis  

Raccoon Damage

(Before)

Damage Repaired

(After)

Identification
The raccoon (Procyon lotor), also called “coon,” is a stocky mammal about 2 to 3 feet (61 to 91 cm) long, weighing 10 to 30 pounds (4.5 to 13.5 kg) (rarely 40 to 50 pounds [18 to 22.5 kg]). It is distinctively marked, with a prominent black “mask” over the eyes and a heavily furred, ringed tail. The animal is a grizzled salt-and-pepper gray and black above, although some individuals are strongly washed with yellow. Raccoons from the prairie areas of the western Great Plains are paler in color than those from eastern portions of the region.

Range
The raccoon is found throughout the United States, with the exception of the higher elevations of mountainous regions and some areas of the arid Southwest. Raccoons are more common in the wooded eastern portions of the United States than in the more arid western plains.
Habitat

Raccoons prefer hardwood forest areas near water. Although commonly found in association with water and trees, raccoons occur in many areas of the western United States around farmsteads and livestock watering areas, far from naturally occurring bodies of permanent water. Raccoons den in hollow trees, ground burrows, brush piles, muskrat houses, barns and abandoned buildings, dense clumps of cattail, haystacks, or rock crevices.

General Biology, Reproduction, and Behavior
Raccoons are omnivorous, eating both plant and animal foods. Plant foods include all types of fruits, berries, nuts, acorns, corn, and other types of grain. Animal foods are crayfish, clams, fish, frogs, snails, insects, turtles and their eggs, mice, rabbits, muskrats, and the eggs and young of ground-nesting birds and waterfowl. Contrary to popular myth, raccoons do not always wash their food before eating, although they frequently play with their food in water.

Raccoons breed mainly in February or March, but matings may occur from December through June, depending on latitude. The gestation period is about 63 days. Most litters are born in April or May but some late-breeding females may not give birth until June, July, or August. Only 1 litter of young is raised per year. Average litter size is 3 to 5. The young first open their eyes at about 3 weeks of age. Young raccoons are weaned sometime between 2 and 4 months of age.

Raccoons are nocturnal. Adult males occupy areas of about 3 to 20 square miles (8 to 52 km2), compared to about 1 to 6 square miles (3 to 16 km2) for females. Adult males tend to be territorial and their ranges overlap very little. Raccoons do not truly hibernate, but they do “hole up” in dens and become inactive during severe winter weather. In the southern United States they may be inactive for only a day or two at a time, whereas in the north this period of inactivity may extend for weeks or months. In northern areas, raccoons may lose up to half their fall body weight during winter as they utilize stored body fat.

Raccoon populations consist of a high proportion of young animals, with one-half to three-fourths of fall populations normally composed of animals less than 1 year in age. Raccoons may live as long as 12 years in the wild, but such animals are extremely rare.

Usually less than half of the females will breed the year after their birth, whereas most adult females normally breed every year.

Family groups of raccoons usually remain together for the first year and the young will often den for the winter with the adult female. The family gradually separates during the following spring and the young become independent.

Damage and Damage Identification
Raccoons may cause damage or nuisance problems in a variety of ways, and their distinctive tracks often provide evidence of their involvement in damage situations.

Raccoons occasionally kill poultry and leave distinctive signs. The heads of adult birds are usually bitten off and left some distance from the body. The crop and breast may be torn and chewed, the entrails sometimes eaten, and bits of flesh left near water. Young poultry in pens or cages may be killed or injured by raccoons reaching through the wire and attempting to pull the birds back through the mesh. Legs or feet of the young birds may be missing. Eggs may be removed completely from nests or eaten on the spot with only the heavily cracked shell remaining. The lines of fracture will normally be along the long axis of the egg, and the nest materials are often disturbed. Raccoons can also destroy bird nests in artificial nesting structures such as bluebird and wood duck nest boxes.

Raccoons can cause considerable damage to garden or truck crops, particularly sweet corn. Raccoon damage to sweet corn is characterized by many partially eaten ears with the husks pulled back. Stalks may also be broken as raccoons climb to get at the ears. Raccoons damage watermelons by digging a small hole in the melon and then raking out the contents with a front paw.

Raccoons cause damage or nuisance problems around houses and outbuildings when they seek to gain entrance to attics or chimneys or when they raid garbage in search of food. In many urban or suburban areas, raccoons are learning that uncapped chimneys make very adequate substitutes for more traditional hollow trees for use as denning sites, particularly in spring. In extreme cases, raccoons may tear off shingles or facia boards in order to gain access to an attic or wall space.

Raccoons also can be a considerable nuisance when they roll up freshly laid sod in search of earthworms and grubs. They may return repeatedly and roll up extensive areas of sod on successive nights. This behavior is particularly common in mid- to late summer as young raccoons are learning to forage for themselves, and during periods of dry weather when other food sources may be less available.

The incidence of reported rabies in raccoons and other wildlife has increased dramatically over the past 30 years. Raccoons have recently been identified as the major wildlife host of rabies in the United States, primarily due to increased prevalence in the eastern United States.

Legal Status
Raccoons are protected furbearers in most states, with seasons established for running, hunting, or trapping. Most states, however, have provisions for landowners to control furbearers that are damaging their property. Check with your state wildlife agency before using any lethal controls.