How to Catch a Raccoon with a Live Animal Trap

Watch how to humanely capture raccoons with live traps using the Solutions four step process! This video will show exactly what to do when you have raccoons on your property!

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Want to skip ahead?

1) IDENTIFICATION & INSPECTION: 0:20
2) TREATMENT: 1:31
3) PREVENTION: 3:40

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It’s not uncommon for raccoons to wander onto your property in search of food, water, and shelter. Having raccoons can cause damage to your property or even health issues. In this video, we’ll go over how to identify raccoons, how to trap them using professional live traps, and ways to prevent them from coming back.

Raccoons have a distinctive look and can easily be identified by their gray fur, ringed tail, and facial coloring that gives them their iconic “eye mask.” They typically stand 12 inches tall and are 24 to 38 inches in length. Raccoons are nocturnal, so most of their activity will occur at night.

Check any garbage bins you keep outdoors for evidence of raccoon activity. An obvious indicator is if the bin is tipped over, but you can also look for trash in the surrounding area.

If there are any fruit or vegetable plots, check these for animal activity, such as chewed or eaten plants, droppings, or tracks. Raccoons will also eat pet food if left out overnight, so check for missing food or disturbed bowls.

After identifying your pest animal, select the best bait to increase your chances of a successful capture. Raccoons will eat anything, but they are especially attracted to sweets. For this, marshmallows is a low cost and effective bait option.

Before trapping, make sure you put on your personal protective equipment, or PPE, especially gloves. Gloves will prevent you from transferring your scent to the trap or bait, which will dissuade raccoons from approaching.

In order to maximize our chances of catching the raccoon, we need to remove food sources that may compete with our bait. This includes sealing trash bins, picking up pet food after dark, fencing away fruit and vegetable gardens, and sweeping up fallen fruits, berries, and seeds.

Place your live trap far away from human or pet activity, along the edge of your property. Physical boundaries like fence lines, dense foliage, and garden edging make great placement guides, so set your trap along these structures.

If you are dealing with a raccoon indoors, you can set your trap near entry points in the garage, attic, or basement.

Once you are satisfied with your trap placement, you can bait and arm it. Check your trap twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.

Once you have captured a raccoon in your live trap, place a towel over the cage to avoid frightening the animal. Be sure to contact local authorities like animal control to confirm laws in your area about animal trapping and make sure you are correctly relocating the animal. Travel to your release location, which should be more than 20 miles away. Place the trap on the ground facing away from you, and open the trap.

After you’ve successfully used your live trap, there are a few preventative measures you can take to make sure you do not have another animal problem.

Maintaining a clean area indoors and outdoors is an important step to take. Keep trash outdoors and in sealed containers. Remove any clutter or debris from your property, as this could be used by animals for nests or burrows. Regularly check the property for spots that retain water. Any potential food sources such as pet food should be properly sealed in a container and stored away.

Prevent raccoons from entering your property by sealing any openings you may have found along the perimeter or foundation.

Be sure to visit our website for an in-depth guide and access to each of our products. We guarantee that these live traps and tips will help catch raccoons around your property, and we offer same day shipping to help you get control quickly.

Solutions is a small family owned business, and we rely on referrals from customers like you. So if you liked this how-to guide and when the products work for you, please share and tell your friends and family about us.

Thanks for watching!

[xzhurdv]

After you trap the raccoon a .22 works great.

[jasonblodgett]

We know what a raccoon looks like bro 🤣

[feathercatcher]

I've been using tuna fish and apples and I've caught three this week😂 I have more raccoons then chickens left

[MrUnit]

22 miles in gas or 1 .22 round

Hmmm

[markj]

I've caught several....we live WA state in the city 4 blocks from a creek so they work their way into the neighborhood. The problem with the standard metal cage is they need to make the space LONGER from the trigger plate to the back of the cage. We have raccoons reaching over the plate to grab the food (they get smart, especially if they've seen their sibling get caught). It becomes almost impossible to get them to step on the trigger plate. So I've been backing the cage up to a building so they can't get behind it and I literally cut a 3" x 3" door in the back of the cage for easy food placement (I cut 3 sides, bent it up then use a copper wire to close it back up). Then I use the bottom section of a clear plastic water bottle (makes a small dish) and zip tie it to the back of the cage. They can see the food but they have to reach down inside a couple inches to get it so it forces them onto the plate. But if it were me, I would redesign the cage. They don't like to see wire, I would like to try the plastic cages.

[backwoods]

Raccoons love fish so sardines or tuna fish works great

[peytoniglehart]

Caught one this weekend that actually got out of the same kind of trap over night. Smart buggers they are.

[matthewwollyung]

I think I've gotten more using sardines. They like the fatty foods

[doctaber]

The raccoon I'm trying to trap is smarter than that trap. He reaches through the cage opposite the entrance and takes the food. He never trips it. I have it on video.

[roz]

I have a big ole booger in the attic, what size trap for a large hell Rat?

[tdhpwildlife]

Raccoons are notorious for reaching through cages that aren't cross meshed and stealing bait. Piece of pvc pipe with a hole drilled in it threaded with a piece of trapping wire or any wire suspended in the rear of the cage will improve treadle triggering as they will work the bait. Important to just wrap the wire around the mesh to ensure they can pull it down . The pvc pipe serves as an occupier and bait holder. Very effective method for baiting live traps.

[Milwaukee]

I put my traps in the corner of two objects so that the back and one side is completely blocked off. I use canned sardines as bait. I place the bait in the back closest to the blocked off side. I try to cover up the top and remaining open side of the trap with miscellaneous items like feed bags or a plastic sled I have. I always place something really heavy on top such as a cinder block. I have caught and euthanized 4 raccoons in the last week because they killed one of my chickens. If you don’t block off the back and sides they will just reach through and steal the bait. Hope this helps somebody. They do get really smart and if you don’t switch up the location or disguise it well enough, they will not go into the trap after watching their buddies get caught.

[dylanschill]

Thanks, I’m trying to catch the raccoon family that killed all my chickens

[jazmyngantt]

How do you get your scent off the trap?

[psychopathicunity]

Lmfao my release location is my shotgun

[ajcivicracer]

Mine likes the combination of little bits and pieces of fried chicken and cookies.

[littlesofty]

yeah we had one traped and we went to get something to put the trap with him in it, in and he was gone when we came back

[domoetker]

Would a Pistol Crossbow Horizone Redback kill a Raccoon?

[aidenwetz]

Old shrimp and dog food work great I’ve caught all my coons with it also you can use a dog proof trap and fish oil

[eze]

I relocate the raccoons I trap to the county dumpster. Somehow they all died from lead poisoning