How to keep raccoons off your balcony
Is it a raccoon?
Raccoons work at night and leave a mess: pots tipped over, soil dug into small holes, bin lids pried off. Droppings piled in the same spot again and again are a raccoon latrine. Squirrels dig too, but by day, and they rarely knock heavy pots over.
1. Nothing to eat after dark
In cities, raccoons follow garbage, bird feeders and pet food. Bring the cat’s bowl in at night, take the feeder down or switch to one raccoons can’t open, and keep compost and garbage in bins with locking lids. If your bins go out for collection, put them out in the morning, not the night before.
2. No place to sleep
A storage box, the gap under a deck or a quiet corner behind stacked furniture can become a den. Close those spaces off, but check first that nothing is inside. In spring, a mother may have young with her. Ontario advises patience: after eight to ten weeks, the family leaves on its own and doesn’t return.
3. Planters they can’t dig
Raccoons dig through fresh soil for grubs and worms. Lay wire mesh or a layer of large stones over the soil around your plants. It takes ten minutes and holds up better than any spray.
Do lights, noise and repellents work?
For a while. Ontario lists motion-activated lights and sprinklers as ways to scare small animals off. Québec is blunter: repellents are generally ineffective, except to get a raccoon out of an enclosed space before you close it off. A light that flicks on every night and leads to nothing soon becomes part of the scenery.
Don’t trap and move them
If the food and shelter are still there, the next raccoon finds them. Moving one is also regulated. In Ontario, an animal caught to protect your property has to be released within one kilometre and within 24 hours. In parts of Québec where raccoon rabies has been found, moving raccoons at all is prohibited. If one is inside your home, call a licensed wildlife control service.
Cleaning up droppings
Raccoon droppings can carry roundworm eggs, which become infectious after two to four weeks. Clean them up promptly: wear gloves, bag everything and put it in the garbage. Keep kids and pets away from the spot until it’s done. Never touch a raccoon that looks sick, disoriented or unusually bold, and report it to your city or province.
What to buy
| Item | What it’s for | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Locking bin straps | Keeping lids shut on garbage and compost bins | Adjustable straps that fit your city’s bin model |
| Hardware cloth | Over planter soil, and to close gaps under decks | Galvanized metal, about 1 cm openings, cut with tin snips |
| Raccoon-proof bird feeder | If you keep a feeder at all | A metal feeder on a pole with a baffle, away from railings |
Sources
- Gouvernement du Québec: raccoon (French) notes that raccoons are mostly nocturnal, are drawn to garbage, bird feeders and pet food, that repellents are generally ineffective, and that moving raccoons is prohibited around known rabies cases.
- Ontario: preventing and managing conflicts with small animals covers removing food, motion-activated scare devices and waiting out a den.
- Ontario: wild animals damaging private property sets the one-kilometre, 24-hour release rule.
- City of Toronto: feeding wildlife explains how feeding makes wild animals linger near homes.
- CDC: about raccoon roundworm describes how infection happens and how to clean up a latrine.
Rules differ by province, city and building. This guide is general information, not legal advice.