How To Keep Raccoons Out Of Swimming Pools

Noticing raccoons on or around your property is never a pleasant experience. They often startle humans and most of us are aware that they can carry some pretty serious diseases. If you are not aware, keeping your distance from raccoons and other species of wildlife is recommended, even if you need to remove them from your property. Raccoons can be complicated to remove and many homeowners are unsure of what to do. You can contact Mighty Men Pest Control to find out more useful information on removal and prevention.

Raccoons can easily find their way into your home if you have foundational issues and they may decide to make a shed or deck the place where they eat, sleep, and defecate. These are common areas that homeowners will often find raccoons, but one additional spot on your property that raccoons utilize if they have access to? Your pool.

Your pool is a large source of water. One of the main needs of raccoons and many other animals. Your pool could potentially become a source of water for them, despite the chlorine or other cleaning chemicals, but it could also be something they use to wash their food or themselves.

Raccoons like familiar areas. If they know a certain spot is safe, such as your pool, they may keep coming back to that particular area. If they have been able to utilize your pool for multiple reasons without a hassle, they may end up coming back and using it for other reasons. One common use? A toilet.

Finding raccoon feces in your pool is not an uncommon occurrence if you have noticed the animals around your property. If they use your pool to relieve themselves, you will likely have a combination of raccoon urine mixed in with the water and droppings left on certain areas of the pool. Raccoons will often defecate in shallow areas of your pool like the steps. It is vital for your health and the health of your family that you make removing the feces and sterilizing the pool a priority immediately. The feces can carry the eggs of a worm called Baylisascaris procyonis. It can affect humans and cause severe neurological damage.

So, how do you keep raccoons out of your pool? The first step is easy. Keep them completely off of your property. The easiest way to do that is to make your yard or property as unattractive to raccoons as possible. Do not leave any sources of food out and available. Make sure all trash bins are secure and animals are not able to access the inside. Do not leave dog food or other pet food in the yard or outside of the home. For more tips and guidance on how to prevent raccoons and other animals from occupying your pools, visit pestwildlife.org.

If you've done all of that and your pool happens to be the attractive part of your property, you may need to keep a fence or screen around your pool. If your pool is what has been attracting them and you leave access to it, they will likely continue to access it. Putting up a screen, fence, or high border around your pool is worth the investment of time and money. Your pool needs to be completely sterilized if raccoon feces are found in it. Having to repeat that process over and over again becomes pricey and having a secure perimeter around the pool prevents you from having to do so. Some homeowners may opt to cover the pool when it is not being used. That can be useful as well as long as you are consistent with covering it when the family is not using the pool.

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