Searching for HUMANE raccoon removal in Collierville, TN? These cute little rascals will get into your attic, your crawl space, and even in your swimming pool!  Raccoons can cause all kind of problems for homeowners in the Collierville area, and they can do a lot of damage to your home in a very short amount of time.

At Apex Wildlife Control, our technicians are skilled at trapping and removing problem raccoons.  Our goal is to not only remove the animal, but also seal any areas where the raccoons can access your home.  Even a large, fully grown raccoon can squeeze through a space only 4 inches wide!

Wild animals can also smell rotted wood, and that is usually where a raccoon will focus his attention. These are very smart, strong and persistant animals that will stop at nothing to find a warm home for the winter.

The paw prints of raccoons are shaped similarly to a human hand and footprint. They appear to have a “hunched over” posture that is due to their front legs being shorter than their back legs. Their front paw toes are long and flexible. This makes it easy to grab onto, hold, and pull things apart. Raccoons are extremely dexterous but do not have opposing thumbs. They can quickly solve most puzzles from turning doorknobs to open doors, to unscrewing lids off of jars. Impressively, it is possible for raccoons to retain the knowledge of their dexterous deeds for up to 3 years!

The raccoon’s intelligence and natural curiosity make them a fun wildlife species to watch. Their destructive side is generally evident after they have taken up residence or built a nest inside the chimney, attic, or crawl space of a home. This is when conflicts with humans over habitat rise to the surface.

Raccoons will invade homes to nest and have their babies in chimneys, crawl spaces, and attics of homes. In the wild raccoons nest in barns, sheds, hollow trees, piles of brush, caves, culverts, and the dens of woodchucks. It is when raccoons take up residence in a home, cause costly damage, and create health concerns for humans and their pets that the raccoons need to be removed.
Raccoons mate two times during the year - January to March and again from May to June. The period of gestation for raccoons is 63 days. They average 4 kits or cubs per litter and each weighs 2 ounces on average at birth. It is 3 weeks before their eyes open. At 7-8 weeks the cubs become active. After 20 weeks, which works out to be late summer, the cubs are weaned. They continue to live with the family unit until Spring of the following year when they are 9-10 months old.

Pet doors offer raccoons immediate access to the interior of a home. This is vastly different than being separated from humans by an attic wall or the bricks of a chimney. They are, indeed, right up close and person in your kitchen or wherever you have put down pet food for the easy access of your dog or cat. As you can imagine, there is greater potential for damage to the contents of your home in this scenario, not to mention the physical safety and health concerns for you, your family and pets.

Raccoons are omnivores and eat practically anything - squirrels, mice, rats, gophers, baby chicks, and baby rabbits. They have preference for plant-based foods. They favor the delectable offerings found in and around water: frogs, snails, clams, fish, and crayfish. They raid bird nests for tasty eggs, rummage through trash cans for leftovers and will consume roadkill if food becomes scarce.

Ever wonder why raccoons wash their paws in water?  Well, the Latin word for raccoons is lotor and means “the washer”.  Back in the day, raccoons were thought to wash or rinse off their food in water.  What they are actually doing is “dousing” or heightening their sense of touch by stimulating the nerve endings when their paws are wet.  To locate food a raccoon relies strongly on its sense of touch.  Their front paws have four times more sensory receptors than the receptors on their back paws, which is the the same ratio as a human’s hands to feet.

The black color of a raccoon’s mask helps it to better see clearly.  Light is absorbed by the black which reduces glare that might otherwise inhibit their vision during the daytime.  This principle is the same as the black stickers used under the eyes of athletes.  The raccoon’s black mask also helps them see better the dark by making it easier to perceive contrasts in objects on which they are focused.

There are steps that can be taken to prevent raccoons from being attracted to your home or property.  Raccoons target areas where food is abundant and easy to access.  Tightly secure all trash can lids, but do not use bungee cords because a bungee  is easy to chew through.  Rather than placing your trash receptacles out the night before, wait for the morning of your regularly scheduled trash pickup.
If you feed your pets outside you want to pick up any food that goes uneaten at feeding time.  Not leaving pet food or garbage foodstuff out where it is easily accessible is the best advice to heed regardless of the species of wildlife. 

So if you are having problems with a raccoon in Collierville TN, give Apex Wildlife Control a call today!  We specialize in the humane removal of problem raccoons!

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