Raccoons are intelligent animals that are very sneaky. They like to have a nice safe place to live and a steady supply of food. If they are lucky, your house can supply both of those things to you. While that makes them lucky, it makes you unlucky. Raccoons can also be very destructive. They can destroy your insulation, chew on your wires, and cause all kinds of damage to your house. If you think that you have raccoons in your house, then you should call an exterminator to have them handled. But, there are a few things that you can do that will help to prevent them and maybe encourage them to move on. 

Lock Your Trash

Your trash may just be trash to you, but to a raccoon, it can be an all-you-can-eat buffet. They can get into your trash and find things that are edible and have a reliable food source. They will also make a huge mess while they are doing it. Putting a lid on the trashcan isn't enough to keep them out because raccoons are tricky and smart. They can figure out how to get that lid open and get at your trash. You can do a few things that will help. One is to keep your trashcans inside your garage or a shed. You can also use things like bungee cords or wires to secure the lids to the cans. Having a heavy trashcan can also help because the raccoons can't tip them over. 

Motion Activated Sprinkler

No one likes a face full of water when they are just walking around doing their thing, including raccoons. One thing that you can do is to get a motion-activated sprinkler and set it up in places where you think that raccoons are frequenting. These sprinklers will let you set the range in which they are looking for motion, so it won't be triggered by something that doesn't fit in the specifications. It will also turn off after a set period of no motion. You can turn these on at night, when raccoons are more active, and use them to help encourage the raccoons to move out. 

An exterminator can help you get rid of raccoons because they are going to have more tools and experience at their disposal, but there are things that you can do while you are waiting for the exterminator to come out to your house. 

To learn more about pest control, contact a pest control company.