When you have a beautiful garden, you are faced with a challenge to keep it safe from raccoons. Raccoons are good to keep but they easily destroy your garden while hunting for birds and worms to eat. They can even grow fat on the eggs of your poultry farm. Maybe you lack the courage to kill them then you have an option of trapping them and releasing them far away from your home. Raccoons can get into your house through the chimney and the roof tops by climbing the trees or vines that are near the house. You can prevent them from getting into your house setting traps in their rails. You don’t have to incur expenses buying a trap; you can make your own home made trap and get rid of these raccoons. Here are steps to follow to get them with DIY raccoon traps;
- Baiting
Raccoon’s behavior is easily predictable therefore it can be very easy to bait them. You need to get the bait that has a very strong scent to attract the animal from a far distance. These could be fish, honey covered fruits, peanut butter or jelly. The bait should be kept close to the trigger mechanism for the raccoon to get trapped.
- Barrel Trap
This is a simple homemade trap that requires you to use a barrel or a small drum of about 18 Inches long. Fill it with some water to a level that the animal cannot drown. Place the barrel in a stable place where it cannot be knocked down by the raccoon as it goes for the bait. Then place the bait ahead over the barrel and lay a board that will create a way to pass in the middle of the water barrel. As it heads for the bait, it will not be able to balance hence it will trip into the water. After capturing the animal safely, return the lid of the barrel and take it back to the wild.
- Live cage Trap
This cage commonly has one or two doors. You place food inside the cage in order to trap the victim when it gets inside. It has a trip pan that shuts the door as soon as the animal gets into the cage.
While using these homemade methods to secure your garden from raccoons, you should be careful when dealing with the trapped animal because they can scratch you while trying to escape. Being gentle to the animal will keep it calm and it may not cause you injuries.