What Are Albany Raccoons Scared Of?

Albany raccoons, sometimes lovingly known as trash pandas, can be a nuisance and sometimes aggressive. They can also cause a significant amount of damage and bring diseases along with them, especially if they get into your home. When that happens, then you need a professional at times to get rid of them. However, there are some things that can be done before that happens in order to prevent them from becoming a problem at your home.



Lights Activated with Motion Sensing
New York raccoons are nocturnal and do their bidding at night time. They tend to stay away from well-lit areas. If you have lights that are sensitive and activated by motion, whenever they are near the property they will make a fast retreat if the flood lights come on. While it can be a pain in the home as well (light sleepers affected by light) you can most certainly get black out curtains to keep the light out. And if neighbors complain you can also advise them that you are helping them out as well.

Sprinklers Activated with Motion Sensing
This is the same principle. Albany raccoons aren’t the fondest of water, and if you have a system that can be activated to turn on when someone moves past it (obviously not when the family is walking around), it can help to deter them away from your yard and home to find somewhere dry to search for their food and shelter.

Get a Large Dog (Or Play Dogs Barking)
First, don’t send your dog outside to hunt them. That could be dangerous. However, New York raccoons are scared by the deep barks of larger dogs and will run. You can easily keep a light on in the yard (soft light) so that your dog can see and when they notice something they can bark at it. Another more high-tech solution could be a motion activated noise player. Kind of like the ones you see in the Halloween stores, where someone walks by and it makes a witch cackle, you can have one that plays the deep barking of a dog.

Final Thoughts
Using these methods provide hands-off ways of deterring them and scaring them away from your property. Something to keep in mind is if you go out to scare them, do not corner them. When they are cornered they may attack. Also, if they have babies, let your presence be known, scare them and give them about two days to move their family to a new home. In addition to these scare tactics, it’s recommended to ensure that there is no food left outside and that trashcans are covered with a tight lid or put into one of those trash can sheds. You can use one of these tricks or multiple depending on the size of the problem. However, if they don’t work it’s time to call in the professionals to help you out.

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