The fastest way to get a raccoon out of your garage is to clear a path to an open door, then leave the area and wait. Raccoons are nocturnal, so if you discover one during the day, it’s likely hiding and will leave on its own once it gets dark and feels safe enough to move. The key is removing yourself from the equation and giving the animal a clear, quiet exit.
Open the Door and Back Off
Start by opening your garage door or any exterior door as wide as possible. Turn off overhead lights and minimize noise. If there are cars, bikes, or clutter between the raccoon and the exit, try to shift things out of the way before the raccoon retreats deeper into hiding. Then leave the garage entirely and close any interior doors that connect to your house.
Come back and check after dark. Most raccoons will simply walk out once the garage is quiet and dim. If the raccoon is still there the next morning, you can encourage it to leave by placing a bowl of strong-smelling deterrent near its hiding spot. A rag soaked in apple cider vinegar, or a small dish of ammonia, can make the space less appealing. A battery-powered radio tuned to a talk station and set at moderate volume also works. The goal is to make your garage an uncomfortable place to stay while keeping the exit wide open.
Check for Babies Before Doing Anything Else
If it’s spring or early summer, there’s a real chance the raccoon in your garage is a mother with a litter. Look (from a safe distance) for small, furry bodies huddled together in a corner, behind shelving, or inside stored boxes. Baby raccoons are vocal and will chirp or whine, especially when their mother is away foraging.
If you find kits, do not remove them and do not seal up the garage. Raccoons are attentive mothers and will come back for their young if given the chance. Open the garage door, leave the area, and wait at least one full overnight period. The mother will almost always return after dark to move her babies to a new den site one by one.
If you’ve already moved the babies, they aren’t automatically orphaned. Place them in a small cardboard box lined with a soft towel and add a heat source: a sock filled with dry rice and microwaved for one minute, or a plastic bottle filled with hot tap water wrapped in a cloth. Set the box as close to the original den spot as possible, or right next to the entry point the mother was using. Don’t feed the babies anything. Hungry kits cry louder, and those cries are what guides the mother back to them. Give her at least one full night to retrieve them before assuming they’ve been abandoned.
What Not to Do
Don’t try to grab, corner, or chase a raccoon. A frightened raccoon can bite and scratch, and raccoons are a primary carrier of rabies in many parts of North America. If you’re bitten, the animal needs to be tested for rabies, and you’ll need immediate medical attention. Rabies is fatal in humans once symptoms appear, so this isn’t something to gamble on.
Don’t attempt to trap and relocate the raccoon yourself. In many states and provinces, it’s illegal to trap a raccoon and release it anywhere other than the property where it was caught. New York, for example, explicitly prohibits moving a trapped animal off your property. Relocating wildlife can spread diseases like rabies and causes significant stress to the animal. If the situation calls for trapping, that’s a job for a licensed nuisance wildlife control operator.
Avoid trapping during spring and early summer entirely if you can help it. Removing an adult raccoon during breeding season can orphan young animals hidden somewhere in the garage. Dead kits in a wall void or ceiling space create a whole new set of problems as they decay.
When to Call a Professional
If the raccoon won’t leave after two nights of open doors and deterrents, it’s time to call a licensed wildlife control operator. The same goes if the raccoon is behaving strangely: stumbling, circling, showing no fear of people, or being active in broad daylight with no apparent reason. These can be signs of rabies or canine distemper.
A mother raccoon that hasn’t retrieved her kits after a full overnight period may also warrant a call, this time to a local wildlife rehabilitation center. They can assess whether the babies are truly orphaned and provide care if needed.
Clean Up Raccoon Droppings Carefully
Once the raccoon is gone, don’t just sweep up after it. Raccoon feces can contain the eggs of a parasitic roundworm called Baylisascaris. A high percentage of raccoons carry this parasite, and they shed millions of eggs in their droppings. The eggs aren’t infectious right away, but after two to four weeks in the environment they become dangerous, and they can survive in soil for years. If ingested, the larvae migrate through the liver, brain, and spinal cord. Infection can cause seizures, blindness, loss of coordination, and can be fatal.
To clean up safely:
- Wear protection. Disposable rubber or latex gloves, rubber boots or disposable shoe covers, and an N95 particle mask, especially in a confined or dusty space.
- Mist the area first. Lightly spray the droppings with water from a spray bottle to keep dust and eggs from becoming airborne.
- Scoop, don’t vacuum. Never use a leaf blower or vacuum cleaner on raccoon droppings. That launches eggs into the air where you can inhale them. Use a shovel or metal scoop and place everything in heavy-duty plastic garbage bags.
- Disinfect with heat. Standard chemical disinfectants don’t reliably kill roundworm eggs. Boiling water poured over the contaminated area works on concrete or metal surfaces. A portable propane torch can be used on concrete pads, brick, or metal tools without damage. Don’t flame anything that could melt or catch fire.
- Wash everything. Wipe residual material with hot soapy water and a damp sponge. Flush dirty rinse water down the toilet. Bag and discard the sponge. Launder your clothes in hot water with detergent immediately after cleanup.
Seal Entry Points to Prevent a Return
Raccoons can squeeze through openings as small as 3.5 inches in diameter. Once your garage is clear and cleaned, inspect it thoroughly for entry points. Common weak spots include gaps where different building materials meet, deteriorating trim board, vinyl soffits that have warped or pulled away, and vents without secure covers. Look for oily smudge marks, tracks, or tufts of fur caught on edges near the roofline or at ground level.
Seal any openings with 16-gauge wire mesh or metal flashing. Standard window screen and lightweight chicken wire aren’t strong enough. Raccoons have surprisingly dexterous front paws and can pull apart flimsy barriers. If the raccoon came in through a pet door, replace it with a locking or microchip-activated model.
Remove attractants from around the garage, too. Secure garbage cans with bungee cords or locking lids. Pick up pet food left in or near the garage. If you store birdseed inside, keep it in a sealed metal or heavy plastic container. Raccoons have excellent memories and will return to a food source for months. Making your garage boring and inaccessible is the most reliable long-term fix.