Tips For Trapping Raccoons With Unipest: Pest Control In Santa Clarita
During a recent “Pest Talk” show on pest control in Santa Clarita, Unipest opened up a discussion about tips for trapping raccoons.
Host Cardon Ellis of Unipest was joined by Frank Ortiz from Advanced Wildlife Removal to share his experiences.
“We deal in Santa Clarita all the time with raccoons,” said Ellis. “Granada Hills, North L.A. County, the whole nine yards has tons of raccoon activity.”
The first tip Ortiz had for the show’s listeners was to get a strong cage to trap a raccoon.
“The trick is, you have to buy a good cage for raccoons,” he said. “Possums, skunks, all the other ones, (more basic) cages are great. For raccoons, they’re not. They’ll bust out of them. They’re intense.”
To illustrate just how strong raccoons can be, Ortiz shared what he’s witnessed a raccoon do to a tarp he typically uses to cover a cage after trapping a skunk.
“The raccoons will pull the entire tarp through a 1×1 inch square into their trap if it’s within range,” he said. “I don’t even know if I can necessarily do that. That’s how much force they exert over it.”
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A good bait choice for raccoons is fish, which can be wrapped in mesh and tied to the back of the cage so the raccoon can’t reach around the trap’s trigger pedal and take it, according to Ortiz.
“They like fish,” he said. “Whenever we get a trap-shy raccoon that doesn’t want to go into the traps, we use a piece of salmon. I literally will let it sit in the back of my truck while I drive around all day and get it a little extra smelly, wrap it in some mesh and zip-tie it to the back of the trap. And then I disguise the trap between bushes and whatever’s around to make it look less trap-like.”
Unipest staff typically does an exclusion with raccoons, meaning that they get them to leave the homeowner’s attic or similar space and then seal it off to prevent them from returning.
“What I have done in the past is, I’ve just bought the disposable radios, put a battery in them and I just throw the radio in there,” Ellis said. “It makes it so audibly uncomfortable, and I’ll put a trail cam up and you’ll see the raccoons self-relocate because it’s just a horrible living environment.”
Similar to this method, Ortiz said homeowners can buy male raccoon pheromones online and use it to get a female raccoon and her babies to leave their attic on their own.
“When there’s a female with her pups, the male finds them (and) he’s going to kill all of them. It’s a dominance thing,” Ortiz said. “So you get the male raccoon pheromones when there’s mom and babies. You just put some of them on some cotton balls, … throw it in your attic and over a few days, she should leave.”
To watch the full episode of “Pest Talk” with Unipest, click here for the extended YouTube video.
The Santa Clarita pest and termite control company Unipest is the premiere residential and commercial pest control company for Los Angeles County. If you’re looking for pest or termite control in Santa Clarita or surrounding areas, Unipest prides itself on being your one-stop solution, and offer orange oil treatments, bee hive removal, fumigation, escrow inspections, removal of bed bugs, organic pest control and more. Residents and business owners are encouraged to call Unipest for immediate assistance!
