Baby Raccoons Are Here

What started a few weeks ago is really starting to hit its stride- the removal of mother raccoons with litters of baby raccoons.

Female raccoons here in NE Ohio have been giving birth for a few weeks already.  The older the little raccoons get, the noisier they become.  The more noise they make, the more likely they are to get noticed.

With clients throughout the Akron, Canton, Kent Ohio area noticing baby raccoon noises, we have already been steadily removing litters of young raccoons from soffits, attics, and chimneys since the beginning of April.

This post looks at how that is done and shows a less typical through-the-masonry-removal technique.

Location of Babies Drives Raccoon Removal

Nests can be made wherever a mother raccoon finds what she feels is a safe, comfortable place.  Raccoons use soffits, chimney bases, attics; really any cavity-like structure they can manage to get into.

After the young are born, they are usually quiet and definitely don’t come out on their own.  Only as they grow older and are capable of climbing and eating solid food (in a couple of months) do babies come out of the shelter.

When they are young and not traveling in and out of the nest, the most efficient way to get the baby raccoons is to remove them by hand.  This obviously requires knowing where they are inside a structure and figuring the best way to access that spot.

In baby raccoon removal, location dictates the tactics used.

Some Location Scenarios

Baby Raccoons may be found in:

1) Attics:  Getting them out of attics is pretty straightforward.  They are usually tucked into a depression in the insulation and can be scooped up.  Finding them in a large attic can be tricky but noise and thermal imaging usually find them quickly.

Crawling around in an unfinished attic is not fun.  Care must be taken to not damage ceilings and the operator must be prepared for blown in insulation.

2) Soffits:  Soffits are usually pretty easy to dissemble and find the babies.

3)  Chimneys:  Raccoons in chimneys are dealt with using chimney traps for the mother and removing the babies from the fireplace by opening the damper and grabbing them.

4) Walls and Ceilings:  These spots become the trickiest because access can be tough.  That doesn’t mean the raccoons can’t be removed.  Cutting into walls is a good tactic when the location is known.  The trick is to make holes that are big enough to get raccoons out but are in spots where repairs are easier to make.

An Example of Finding, Removing & Repairing

Here is a an example of a less frequent removal scenario.

In the following video Ryan shows where he went going through an exterior masonry wall to get to some raccoons.  The mother raccoon was able to access a void in a masonry chimney by coming down one of the uncapped flues.  She was caught in a chimney trap, but getting these babies out was more involved than opening the damper and reaching up to grab the babies since they were in a void in the chimney.

Getting to these baby raccoons in the most direct way that can be repaired efficiently makes this job satisfying.

Professional Raccoon Removal Akron, Canton, Kent

Wherever they may be, Frontline Animal Removal can come up with a plan to get the raccoons out.

Sometimes we even have to use the mother raccoon to remove the babies.

Like we said, sometimes its quick and easy. Other times it takes some creativity.  But, no matter the scenario, we have the experience  to employ the necessary tactics to achieve a raccoon-free outcome.

We encourage you to look through past raccoon removal blogs for more complete scenario descriptions and videos.  Also visit our raccoon removal playlist on YouTube for numerous baby raccoon removal scenarios.