[1911ShooterTJ]

I go to college in the city, and just last night I noticed some raccoons scurrying in and out of my neighbors house on their roof. I offered to trap them and relocate them to a nice nearby park.

However I have never tried baiting raccoons, so does anyone have any tips on what to use as bait?

Thanks!

[redneckrepairs]

stir up cheap canned tuna fish , or a can of cat food , and peanut butter at about a 50/50 mix , slather it on the " trip plate " of the trap and you should be good .

[308win]

Anything edible should do it. If it is odiferous so much the better. Raccoons are wary and clever so I wouldn't count on catching a lot of them in the same place with the same setup.

[redneckrepairs]

Raccoons are wary and clever so I wouldn't count on catching a lot of them in the same place with the same setup.

True , i tend to trap them with a .22 but assume we are talking live trap here lol .

[1911ShooterTJ]

Yes a live trap.

Unfortunately I see no good way to shoot them. They are camped out in their attic. And even if I got them on the roof, there are neighbors on either side and being in the city - that means about 3 inches between houses. Even with a .22, I'm not keen on that risk. And as for getting them in the attic... I'm not fond of firing guns inside the house unless it's necessary...:what:

[redneckrepairs]

Well the mix provided should do fine for a starter . The catfood/fish is for stink and the peanut butter is for stick , feel free to mod it with jelly , raw hamburger , ect.. basicly anything that will smell good . Coons are smart and tricky , and you need to " stick " the bait to the trigger pan on the trap so they will " play with it " to get the bait , peanut butter they like and does this well without harm to the animal .

I understand your reluctance to shoot anything lol .

[Greybeard]

While other smelly stuff works, I buy El Cheapo cans of sardines.

But, carefull there, because in Tejas anyway, it's illegal to transport 'em without being properly licensed. (Fewer restrictions on trapping and making 'em DRT.)

[Kingcreek]

Be aware, if you trap them and release in a "nearby park" they may soon show up back at the attic.
The regs on trapping nuisance animals here require a release 50 miles from where trapped.
The neighbors should try to determine when the animals are out and then fortify the house to prevent re-entry.
cheap canned cat food always made good bait for me. skunks like it too.

[GCW5]

Sardines work realy well, you'll catch some cats as well as coons, but not many opposums or skunks.

[thirty-thirty]

I've caught dozens of them using sardines. Get the kind labeled "sardines in water".

When you open the can, pour the smelly water in the trap first so you don't get it all over your sleeve. Only open the can 1/4 of the way, this will make it harder for them to try to reach in from the outside.

[EricTheBarbarian]

You know Ive tried just about everything for bait, but nothing works better than peanut butter. Spread some peanut butter on a piece of bread or a biscuit and they will come.

[proud2deviate]

I can't speak from experience, but I've read that raccoons absolutely love marshmallows.

[308win]

Raccoons absolutely love anything that isn't loving them.:D

[jeepmor]

Raccoons are wary and clever so I wouldn't count on catching a lot of them in the same place with the same setup.

Not in my neighborhood. As kids, my brother caught oodles of them and relocated them on the other side of the bay. In one instance, he caught the mom and two kits in the same trap, a 3fer1, quite a deal. He still talks about that one.

Maybe the city raccoons are smarter from eating city garbage instead of rural garbage.

Havahart traps (live traps) work really well and rarely run over $50 for the raccoon sized traps in my neck of the woods.

[sm]

Raccoons ever get thumbs, the human race is in for a thrill.
They can figure out latches, sliding doors, door knobs, stand on each others shoulders to gain access...
Cute buggers and fun to watch.

Check regs and all.
Anything edible works.
We used a Happy Meal to get a couple to enter a homemade wire trap, in the bed of a truck. :p

Happy as could be taking a truck ride down the road, eating a Happy meal and not a fuss when we arrived to buddy's property. Open door, had another order of fries on tail gate...
Put on a show for everyone, and the buddies kids just fascinated, giggling , laughing, carrying on.

Horses and raccoons in the pasture, checking each other out as we could barely see them in the dark with one lone light where they were ...

[EricTheBarbarian]

city coons are alot easier to trap than coons way out in the boonies. City coons just arent afraid of people and the smell of people doesnt bother them. They smell people all the time digging through trash cans and in the city no one starts throwing lead towards them when they see them. coons in the city are stupid and easy to trap, just ask the ones in my freezer.

[fmnnc]

HoneyBuns! Don't laugh...they work, and will keep working. They can't resist them!

[308win]

Neither can I so buy a BIG trap. :D

[ADKWOODSMAN]

Don't forget twinkies.

[sm]

Have-a-Heart Traps

True happening.

In the Big city there is a wooden area behind some apartments, where critters, including raccoons lived.
BBQ joint opened up that the back of the property butted up to the parking lot of apartment complex.

Raccoons used to come to the apts, downstairs most times, though have been known to climb trees and be looking inside 2nd and 3rd story apts. They even knocked "hey guys, it is us, got anything to eat?"
More than once someone would have the patio open, doing something and turn around the raccoons would be sitting there on haunches looking cute with the "I look cute for food" look.

BBQ joint was a magnet!
Wooden privacy fence with wooden gate - with a simple wooden "latch" - just to keep door shut.

Momma raccoon, and young just casually walked the apt sidewalk, walked up to gate, looked and one raccoon got on the "shoulders" of another, flipped the latch and had a ball getting into trash cans.

Dumpster replaced trash cans. No problem- again atop one another they slid the door open, and would get inside and flip the plastic lid open.
Raccoons just "took over the dumpster.

Owner got a metal latch, instead of the wooden one. It took 3 seconds for the raccoons to figure this out.
Owner added a "door knob" with latch, about 4 seconds and the raccoons figured out how to turn it.
He put a deadbolt on it.
No problem, dig under the fence "over there" come around and turn the handle and open the gate for the others...

Now one could stand there on the 2nd or 3rd floor and watch this, with binoculars, really a great show.

We kept thinking the Owner was not really serious about keeping them out, instead of fun game.
Nope , someone asked him and he was really trying.

Have-a-Hearts were set out and "plate lunches" set into traps.
These were let loose about a 1/2 mile down the way in another area with woods, creek and ...
They were back the next night.

He finally added a taller fence, key on both sides of deadbolt and the raccoons said to heck with coming through the back, they just walked around front with nothing to keep them out.

BBQ joint went out of business. A Sandwich shop opened in its place.
Well all that stuff out back was a pain to deal with and new owners removed most of it, getting back to the simple latch and door knob.

Raccoons thought this was great!
Granted they missed the BBQ, but the sandwich shop had good eats too.

Last I heard, the raccoons are still doing this, Apt dwellers have inexpensive entertainment, and still a scream is heard when a lady turns around and there is a cute raccoon in her apt ( ground, 2nd or 3rd floor).
Oh, these critters do not care about Daylight Savings Time, they still knock on patio doors and "don't care what the clocks say, you are supposed to feed up about this time".
Quite a few actually feed the critters... critters show up on "time".

Every once in awhile one of them $5 Pizzas is bought and left out on purpose.
Grandkids visit grandparents that are tenants and the grandkids watch the raccoons eat the Pizza bought for them.
:D

[Charshooter]

Trapped coons for years back when, my wife made a pet out of one and he lived with us for eight years!

[one-shot-one]

sardines or tuna will work but you had better make sure the only way for then to get at it is to go into the trap. if they can they will turn the trap on its side and pull the food out from between the bars!
also had a coon as a pet, it was born in an attic and fell between the walls of a friend of my uncle. we bottle fed it till it was weaned to gains burger dog food and the crawdads it could catch in the back yard after a rain. it would ride on my shoulder but woe be to the stranger that tried to pet it. when we visited the vet he used the same gloves he used for large dogs to do the exam.
wild coons can be mean and from personel expearance i can tell you i'd rather fight a doberman than an angery coon.

[IThunter]

fly bait and pepsi...in a sauser...the fly bait kills them pepsi is sweet enough to keep them there...cats and the like wont mess with it. It has worked in our barns for years...

[Bigjake]

I hear that new-fangled http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-petfoods20mar20,0,6543583.story?coll=la-home-nation is all the rage with coons.

[Clipper]

I once had a pest control business and a nuisance animal permit. I was reluctant to use fish, catfood and other odiforous baits in a client's attic, and started simply laying a piece of bread with strawberry jam on it on the trip pan of Have a Heart traps. Worked like a charm and didn't stink up the house. However I once had a run-in with an educated raccoon who knew about live traps, and would stand outside the trap and reach inside to take the bait out in pieces...So I set a leg-hold trap next to the Have a Heart, and caught her that way.