Raccoons are very intelligent animals, which makes them a difficult type of pest to deal with. If raccoons infest your property or get under your home or into your attic, they can wreak havoc. It is also possible for raccoons to be quite mean, and a bite can be very painful or lead to a serious disease, such as rabies. Thus, if you have a raccoon problem, it is important to act quickly to get it under control. Use the following tips to deal with a raccoon infestation.

Limit Access to Trash

What you consider garbage, raccoons see as a tasty feast. It is not uncommon for raccoons to begin living in areas where there is easy access to trash or other types of food to eat. If you discover that you have a raccoon problem on your property, the first thing you should do is make sure that the raccoons can't get into your trash cans. Since raccoons are very smart, you will need to take extra care to secure your trash can—ideally you will want to purchase trash cans that have locking mechanisms.

Remove Other Food Sources

In addition to securing your trash, take the time to remove other food sources from your yard as well. Never leave pet food outside around the clock—if you feed your pet outdoors, immediately remove the food when your pet is done. Yards with fruit trees are also attractive to raccoons, so immediately pick fruit when it ripens and rake up any fruit that falls on the ground. If you have a fruit or vegetable garden, you will need to secure the area so raccoons can't access it.

Scare them Away

There are several things you can do to try to scare raccoons away from your property. Raccoons have a very sensitive sense of smell, so you may want to consider using one of the many raccoon odor repellants available. Another idea is to set up motion detected flood lights that will illuminate an area when a raccoon is around. A third thing you can do is set your sprinkler system up so it runs at different times at night and scare raccoons away. 

Contact a Pest Control Specialist

In some cases, no matter how you try, you won't be able to get rid of raccoons on your own. Your best bet is to hire a pest control company that is experienced in trapping and removing wildlife like raccoons. An experienced pest control expert will know where to place the traps on your property and will remove and relocate any raccoons that are caught in the traps. 

Visit websites like http://molterpestandwildlife.com for more information.