Raccoons don’t announce themselves during the day. Most homeowners find out they have one the same way: scratching overhead after dark, sometimes heavier footsteps than a squirrel or rat would make. By the time you hear it, she’s usually already settled in.
Female raccoons specifically seek out attics this time of year to den and raise young, and Florida’s mild winters mean litters can show up anywhere from December through spring. One raccoon in your attic can become four or five within a matter of weeks once the kits are born. Every night she’s up there, she’s tearing up insulation, chewing wiring, and widening whatever gap got her in to begin with, usually a lifted soffit, a broken roof vent, or a gap where two rooflines meet.
This isn’t something to handle with a box trap from the hardware store. Florida classifies raccoons as a rabies vector species, which limits what a homeowner is legally allowed to do with one they catch, and getting it wrong can mean a fine or an animal released right back into your neighborhood. Removal also has to account for the kits. Trap the mother without finding them first and you’re left with a den of raccoons that starve in your attic instead of one that leaves.
PRO TIP
Before you call anyone, check the attic hatch for a sharp, musky smell. Raccoons use one corner as a communal bathroom, called a latrine, and finding it tells you roughly how long she’s been up there and where to start looking.
Removal is only half the job. Whatever gap let her in has to be sealed the same visit, or the next raccoon, or a squirrel, finds the exact same opening within a season. Torn insulation usually needs replacing too, both for the smell and because compressed or soiled insulation stops doing its job.
Our wildlife removal program handles raccoons the way Florida law actually requires, kits included and entry points sealed, not just a trap-and-hope approach. If you’re hearing movement overhead, schedule a free estimate before it turns into a family of them.