Basic Animal Trapping

Purpose:

During the winter, many animals will take advantage of attic space in homes and buildings. These spaces provide shelter and warmth. If you allow them access, they will readily move in and stay until spring. Common damage caused by animals in attics includes torn insulation, chewed electric wires and odors from their excrement. If these animals are active in your yard, they will tear up turf, destroy bird feeders or live on your pet’s food. If you suspect animals are in your attic or your yard then it's time to evict them!

Raccoons and Opossums are the primary and most common culprits of these offences and because their behaviors are the same, similar products are used to control for both.

1.      Raccoons are nocturnal animals and reside where wooded lots are available for nests. Because their natural predators are nonexistent in cities or metropolitan suburbs, raccoons have populated excessively. Raccoons are the most likely carrier of the rabies virus in many states across America and if you see one out during the day STAY AWAY. Besides posing a health threat to pets and humans, they love to tear apart garbage and pilfer gardens. They love to dig in yards and have been known to uproot sod and grass in search of tasty grubs and insects. Raccoons will readily take advantage of fish and turtles kept in small ponds as well as pet birds. Many times dogs and cats are blamed for making amass of garbage when in fact the culprit is a raccoon. If a raccoon has been active on or around your home, it is only a matter of time before they figure out how to get into your attic or crawl space.

2.      Opossums are another nocturnal animal which may live in the country, the city or the suburbs. They, too, love to get into garbage and gardens. Leftover dog or cat food on your deck is a sure way to attract Opossums in your area. Opossums may live in burrows, attics, or crawl spaces as well as sheds and garages. Their burrows are larger in diameter and characterized by one large hole which leads to a den. Many times they will take advantage of naturally created holes around patios, wood piles and sheds. These burrows may cause structural and water problems if they exist alongside foundations. In addition to burrows, Opossums can climb onto any attic. Like Raccoons, they can destroy insulation/electrical and their excrement leads to strong odors.

Treatment:

Both Raccoons and Opossums will readily tear into garbage, dig up mulch piles or chew on yard furniture and decorations. You can try Raccoon proofing your garbage pails, but this may be hard to do without a metal trash can. Raccoons are smart and will find many ways to gain access to areas they suspect have food. Furniture and other yard items becomes the target of this gnawing and though generally never consumed, the damage done is both annoying and expensive.

1.      Yard Treatments

a.       Both Raccoon and Opossum will dig up sod, turf mulch piles, pine straw, wood chips and just about any ground cover you have in the yard seeking food. Their favorite foods are insects and once they smell insect activity, they will begin to dig up turf, pull back sod and overturn mulch. They are seeking grubs, crickets, ants, millipedes, grasshoppers, slugs, termites, box elder bugs, bees, yellow-jackets, earwigs, roaches, pill bugs and just about anything which may be living in or around your yard. To stop this from happening, you can try several approaches.

                                                                                      i.      To kill off the grubs and other insects the Raccoons or Opossums are eating you will need to use a two-step program. Apply Bifen LP or Cyonara LP granules over the area where they are active. These granules will release lambda-cyhalothrin or bifenthrin over several months to kill off grubs and insects of all types. Apply them with a push or hand spreader to get good coverage over the entire treatment area.

                                                                                    ii.      Next for quick treatment use a hose end sprayer and apply Viper EC or Bifen I/T. These liquid products will give you immediate control and cease the digging immediately. Preforming both of these treatments will ensure that Raccoons and Opossums will not be able to find food in your yard.

2.      Attic Treatments

a.       Raccoons and Opossums will regularly move into attics, crawl spaces or other parts of the home seeking shelter. They will learn to climb up down spouts, cedar siding and other types of home construction leading to them into attics and other voids of the structure. Animals living in such areas pose a hazard to the structure and the electrical wiring of the home as well as creating a bad odor that can enter living areas. It may be that trapping and relocating may be the only option to get rid of them once and for all. DON'T SEAL OFFANY ENTRANCE HOLE UNTIL YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TRAPPEDOUT ALL ANIMALS USING THAT SPACE. For Raccoons and any Opossums, use our Havahart Live Animal Traps.

                                                                                      i.      Trap placement only needs to be done alongside the path the target animal is using. This could be against the foundation wall, under deck, on a deck, in a crawl space or right in the attic. It is best to place something heavy like Cement Block on top of the trap to make it stable. Use soft cat food as a lure. Raccoons will not hesitate to bite, claw or do whatever they can when confronted with someone doing something they don't like. If you are not 100% confident or comfortable with handling any animal, don't. Leave it to the local animal control officer to remove.

Clean Up and Odor Treatment:

Raccoon and opossum active or living in or around the home will bring with them nasty odors which can invade living areas. These odors can pose a health hazard as well as remain persistent for long periods of time. Ordinary household cleaners will not remove Raccoon and Opossum odors as they are biological and alive. You need an enzyme eating bacterial cleaner. Invade Hot Spot works well as a biological cleaner and can be sprayed directly onto problem stains and odors.

RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS

Cyonara 9.7™ - concentrate (contact kill, residual activity)

Cyzmic CS™ - concentrate (contact kill, residual activity)

Bifen I/T™ - concentrate (contact kill, residual activity)

Cyonara LP™ - granular (contact kill, residual activity) 

Bifen LP™ - granular (contact kill, residual activity)

Invade Hot Spot™ - aerosol foam (enzymic cleaning agent)

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