How to Keep Raccoons Out From Under a Shed or Porch

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Of course, the most efficient way to keep raccoons from going under your shed, porch or deck is to prevent them from doing so. This means that the area around your porch or shed needs to be secured with strong, quality materials so that the raccoon doesn’t have any access points to go through. Keeping in mind that raccoons, with their sumo-like constitution and primate-like intelligence, are nimble and smart enough to fit through openings as small as four inches in diameter, this is no easy task.



Obstructing their way in may be hard work, but it’s a solution that has been proven to be more effective than all other sorts of bogus repellants. You also want to pay attention to other things that might make raccoons think the crawlspace under your porch or shed is a good home for them. This means cutting any possible food resource, whether that’s fallen fruits or nuts, pet food, bird feeders or accessible garbage cans. In all honesty, even if they can’t get to any food on your property, the common urban raccoon has about 20 different feeding spots across its territory, so if they deem your property to be safe, there’s not much you can really do to prevent them from moving in. They also like eating the worms and insects underneath your lawn. So, yeah, try keeping that food source away from them…

At the cost of some noise pollution that your neighbors might not appreciate, some people say they’ve been successful in keeping raccoons out from their attic or from under their sheds and porches by placing a radio nearby. Just make sure you choose a radio station with more talking and less singing, and that you keep the volume loud. The theory goes that raccoons will think people are around, and won’t want to install themselves in the proximity of human activity. But since urbanized raccoons are becoming more and more indifferent to our presence, I think this idea is becoming less and less valid.

Other raccoon deterrents or home remedies just don’t work, so I wouldn’t waste any money or time on them. If you already have a raccoon living under your shed or porch, it’s most likely a male raccoon, but there’s also a slight chance that it’s a female raccoon with a litter. Female raccoons in the wild like to make their natal den way up in a hollow tree hole, so they will try to mimic their natural circumstances by having their young in the chimney or the attic. Nonetheless, cases where they give birth and nurse their young underneath decks, sheds or porches are not extremely uncommon, so make extra sure there are no baby raccoons before you start securing these spaces. As a general rule, if you are building a fence so that raccoons can’t go underneath your porch or shed, make sure there are no living creatures already in there, infant or otherwise.

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