St Louis Pest Control Blog

How to Get Rid of Raccoons

Do you hear bumps in the night? If you do, you may have a raccoon living in your attic.  In St. Louis and other parts of the country this is a very big problem.  St. Louis Pest Control operators receive dozens of animal calls about noises heard in the attic each week.    Raccoons are nocturnal  and awaken around dusk to start searching for food.  Most people who have raccoons living in their attic generally hear noise in the early evening and then again right around dawn when they return to their den for a days sleep.  In some cases of  heavy weather, the raccoon will not venture out at all and walk around the attic all night until it becomes restless and beds down again for the day.  Raccoons forage for food at night.  They have excellent night vision and hearing to locate any meal near them.  They are opportunistic feeders and are classified as omnivorous.  They will feed on almost anything: insects, fruits, vegetables, pet food, dead animals and anything they can find in a garbage can.

Raccoons can be very aggressive and dangerous if cornered.  They have been known to severally hurt or even kill a household pet if they feel threatened.  Raccoons are also a major carrier of Rabies, fleas and ticks.  In some cases, people who do not own a pet complain that they have fleas in their home.  If you have any type of wildlife in your yard, they can easily leave fleas behind and be picked up by anyone who walks by.   The same is true if an animal burrows under a front or back porch.  Animals that nest in chimneys can also have fleas fall off the host animal and fall through the fireplace and infest a home.

Raccoons living in your attic can go unnoticed if you are a household of heavy sleepers.  Raccoons are very strong and can easily tear a hole into your roof or rip open one of the roof vents for entry.  In some cases, the homeowner doesn’t know they have an animal living in the attic until they begin notice a strange odor or find staining on the ceiling from the raccoon urinating or defecating in the attic.

Contaminated insulation and drywall will need to be removed and repaired after the animals have been removed and exclusionary repairs have been completed.  If you plan on taking on this job yourself, make sure that you wear proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), such as long rubber gloves, Tyvek body suit and a respirator,  as raccoon feces commonly have roundworm eggs inside the feces and can be accidentally transferred to humans if not handled properly.




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