Quick answer
To get rid of raccoons in a Long Island attic, confirm it is a raccoon and not squirrels, check for kits, remove the animals with cage traps set at the entry or a one-way door, and then seal the opening with galvanized wire mesh or metal flashing, in that order. Done right the whole job runs about 1 to 2 weeks. Two rules decide whether it works. First, New York State does not allow you to trap a raccoon and release it somewhere else; the DEC says it is illegal to move or relocate an animal off your property, so hire someone licensed for nuisance wildlife and ask what happens to the animal. Second, never seal an opening in April, May, or June without confirming the attic is empty, because the DEC says raccoon litters are born in April and May and a mother sealed away from her kits will tear a new hole to reach them.
You get raccoons out of an attic in three steps that only work in this order: confirm the species and whether there are young, remove the animals with cage traps at the entry or a one-way door, and close every opening with metal. Trapping without sealing hands the attic to the next raccoon. Sealing without trapping locks one inside, or locks a mother out from her kits, and either way you end up opening a wall.
After thirty five plus years of wildlife calls in Nassau and Suffolk, the raccoon attic call is the one I take most seriously, for two reasons that have nothing to do with the animal's size. One is the law. New York regulates what happens to a trapped raccoon more tightly than most homeowners expect, and the cage trap from the hardware store is the start of a problem, not the end of one. The other is rabies, which came back to Nassau County in 2024 and 2025 after nearly a decade without a case. A raccoon living above your bedroom ceiling is not a weekend project. The sections below cover how to be sure it is a raccoon, how it got in, what the DEC allows, and how we run the job.
The clock and the weight of the noise. Raccoons feed mainly at night, so heavy, slow thumping, dragging, and walking sounds across the ceiling after dark, often right around dusk when they leave and again before dawn when they return, point to a raccoon. The DEC lists an adult raccoon at an average of 15 pounds, and it sounds like it. Gray squirrels are daytime animals: fast scampering and rolling at first light and again in the late afternoon. Mice are light, constant scratching at night in a wall or a ceiling corner.
In spring there is a second sound that settles it. The DEC describes young raccoons announcing themselves with mewing, twittering, or crying sounds, and the University of Nebraska extension lists chirping along with thumping as the signature raccoon noise from a chimney. If you hear what sounds like birds chattering inside the attic in April or May, you have a litter, and nothing should be sealed.
The physical evidence is bigger too. A raccoon opening is a single hole with fur caught on the edges, usually with a torn soffit panel, a pushed-in roof vent, or ripped shingles around it, where a squirrel leaves a chewed hole with fresh light wood at the edge. Raccoons flatten a wide area of insulation and often pick one corner as a latrine, so a pile of droppings in one spot is a raccoon tell. The University of Nebraska notes smudge marks along downspouts where the animal climbs. If you are still unsure, There's a raccoon in my attic, what do I do has the short version, and the squirrels in the attic guide covers the daytime animal.
Through the roofline, and they do not need much. The University of Nebraska extension puts the minimum opening for a raccoon at 4 inches, says raccoons easily enter buildings through unsecured attic vents, and notes they have been known to tear through a shingled roof to establish a den. Despite their weight they are exceptional climbers, scaling trees, chimneys, and downspouts. On the colonials and capes across Nassau and Suffolk, the entries I find most are a rotted soffit corner where two rooflines meet, a plastic or uncapped roof vent, a gable vent with a torn screen, an uncapped chimney, and the gap behind a gutter where the fascia has rotted.
The route is a tree, a fence, or a downspout. Any branch within 8 to 10 feet of the roof is a runway, and a mature oak over a thirty year old roof is a raccoon house whether or not one has moved in yet. The DEC notes raccoon densities in developed parts of the state like Long Island may exceed 100 per square mile, against 20 to 40 in rural areas. That is the honest math: there are more raccoons on your block than you think, and the attic they find first is the one with the softest soffit.
Because the animal may still be inside, and in spring the kits almost certainly are. The DEC's own guidance for homeowners is to place a temporary cover when the raccoons leave on their nightly search for food, make a permanent seal later, and never permanently seal an entrance without first verifying that all animals are out of the den, especially in spring. Their test is simple: sprinkle twigs, grass, or flour in the opening and watch for tracks. The University of Nebraska says the same thing from the other side: to prevent separating a mother from her young, never make repairs unless certain the opening is not still being used.
The timing comes from the DEC's raccoon biology. Females look for den sites in late winter, litters of one to seven young are born in April and May, the young nurse for about six weeks, and they follow the mother until September or early October before dispersing. So the attic that was quiet in February is a nursery by late April, and the kits cannot leave on their own until roughly June. Seal the hole in May and one of two things happens. The mother tears a second hole into your roof to get back to them, or the kits die in the attic and you find out by smell in July. I have opened ceilings in Suffolk County for exactly that, and the dead animal problem, the drywall problem, and the original hole problem all arrive at once.
Outside the spring window, or once the attic is confirmed empty, the opening gets closed the same day the last animal comes out. In the birthing window, the job is slower by design: traps or a one-way door, time for the mother to move the litter, then the metal goes on. Spray foam and caulk alone never hold. A 15 pound animal with hands pulls them out in a night.
Trapping, sometimes. Relocating, no. The DEC's nuisance wildlife rules draw the line on what the raccoon is doing. If a raccoon is only a nuisance, the DEC table says a DEC permit is needed to take it. If it is damaging property, which a raccoon living in your attic is, the law allows an unlicensed homeowner to take it, and Environmental Conservation Law section 11-0523 is the statute behind that. If the taking happens during the closed hunting or trapping season, the DEC's note is that the animal must be buried or cremated immediately.
Relocation is where every well meaning homeowner goes wrong. The DEC states that it is illegal for you to move or relocate an animal off your property; you cannot live trap an animal and release it in a park, on state land, or anywhere other than the property where it was captured. The reasons they give are that relocation can create problems for neighbors, can move diseases like rabies or Lyme, and stresses the animal. The picture in most people's heads, the cage trap in the trunk and a drive to a preserve, is a violation in New York.
Doing any of this for a fee requires a New York State nuisance wildlife control operator license under Environmental Conservation Law section 11-0524, which says no person may charge a fee to take, possess, transport, or release nuisance wildlife without one. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice; it is how we run every job so you never have to think about it. If you hire anyone for a raccoon, ask two questions: are you licensed by New York State for nuisance wildlife, and what happens to the animal after capture. Hesitation on either answer is your answer.
Yes, for two reasons that are both worse on Long Island than they were ten years ago. The first is rabies. The DEC notes raccoon rabies reached New York in 1990 and has become widespread. Nassau County, which had declared rabies eradicated locally in 2016, confirmed 25 rabid animals between July 2024 and July 2025, 22 of them raccoons, and the county health department declared an imminent public health threat in July 2025. Suffolk County reported rabid raccoons in the Amityville area the same year. The New York State Department of Health lists raccoons among the wild animals in which rabies is most often seen. A raccoon that is active in daylight, staggering, unusually tame, or aggressive should be reported to the county health department, not approached.
The second is roundworm. The DEC says roundworm infects most raccoons in New York at some point, and that the animals pass large numbers of eggs into the environment, where eggs ingested by another animal can hatch and cause nerve damage. That is why the latrine corner in the attic matters. Insulation soaked in raccoon droppings is not something to sweep up with a dust mask, and it is why the cleanup after removal is part of the job, not an afterthought.
The practical rules while the raccoon is still up there: do not go into the attic to look, do not try to corner it, keep pets away from the entry area at night, and do not put out poison. There is no rodenticide labeled for raccoons, and using one that way is both illegal and a good way to poison a pet or a hawk.
Take away the food, the route, and the door, which is the DEC's own list. Do not leave pet food outside; feed only what the pet eats at once and bring the rest in. Keep garbage in a metal can in a garage or entryway, with the lid strapped down, or hang or rack the can so it cannot be tipped. Cap the chimney, put metal covers on roof and gable vents, replace rotted fascia and soffit, and screen the gap behind the gutter. Trim branches back 8 to 10 feet from the roofline.
Then do the October walk. Every fall, walk the outside of the house with binoculars and look at the roofline for a pushed vent, a torn soffit, a dark smudge on a downspout, or fur on a corner. Fixing that in October is a ladder and a piece of hardware cloth. Finding out in April is a trapping job with a litter upstairs. The bird feeder belongs in this list too, because the DEC's own prevention advice starts with not supplying food, and a feeder keeps a dozen animals on the property year round.
How many openings the roofline has, how much fascia, soffit, or vent repair the sealing needs, whether there is a litter in the attic, whether a chimney is involved, and whether the animals are inside the house or living outside under a deck or shed. Bobby Bugs gives a free written estimate before any work begins, the invoice matches the estimate, and attic wildlife jobs carry a 6 month written guarantee.
The spread between wildlife quotes on Long Island is almost entirely whether sealing is included. Be careful with two kinds of pricing: a low per-animal trapping fee that does not include closing the hole, which is the cheapest way to pay for the same raccoon twice, and an open-ended per-visit charge with no written scope. Ask one question of any quote: does this include sealing every opening with metal, and is it guaranteed? And if the noise is light scratching at night rather than heavy thumping, you are more likely dealing with mice in the attic, which is a rodent job with a different plan and a 60 day guarantee.
Most Long Island raccoon jobs are functionally done in about 1 to 2 weeks. Trapping or a one-way door usually clears the animal within a few nights, and sealing follows the same day or on a scheduled return. Jobs in April, May, and June take longer because the kits have to be out before anything is sealed.
Not while it is dry, warm, and open. A raccoon leaves to feed at night and comes back before dawn. A mother with a litter stays until the young can travel, which the DEC puts at about six weeks of nursing and then months of following her. Even when they do leave, the hole is still there, and the attic is reoccupied the next winter.
Heavy walking, thumping, and dragging across the ceiling after dark, often around dusk and again before dawn. In April and May, add chirping, mewing, or crying from the kits. Fast scampering in daylight is squirrels, and light constant scratching at night is mice.
A homeowner may take a raccoon that is damaging property under Environmental Conservation Law section 11-0523, but a raccoon that is only a nuisance needs a DEC permit, and you cannot relocate a trapped raccoon off your property under any circumstances. Given rabies and the kit problem in spring, a licensed nuisance wildlife control operator is the practical answer.
No. New York State does not allow nuisance wildlife to be moved off the property where it was caught, and the DEC cautions that relocation spreads disease and creates problems for neighbors. Bobby Bugs follows the current state rules on every job and explains exactly what happens to the animal before work starts.
Leave them alone and do not seal anything. The DEC says injured and "orphaned" raccoons should be left alone, and that animals actually in need of help go to licensed wildlife rehabilitators, which a DEC regional office can refer you to. The mother is almost always nearby and will move them if given a one-way door and a few nights. Call us and we will set it up so the whole family leaves together.
Not for long. The DEC's advice is to remove food and shelter, not to repel the animal, and the National Pesticide Information Center says using mothballs in any way the label does not specify is illegal and can harm people and pets. A raccoon that has a den and a food source tolerates a radio and a light. Removal plus metal is the only fix that holds.
Same animal, different exit. A raccoon in the chimney is usually a mother denning on the smoke shelf above the damper in spring, and the kits chirp up the flue. Never light a fire or run the damper. The fix is a one-way door or trap at the top and a chimney cap afterward, and it is the same free estimate.
Related reading
Sources: NYSDEC, Raccoon; NYSDEC, Remove or Take Nuisance Animals Legally; NYSDEC, Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator License; NYS Environmental Conservation Law 11-0523; NYS Environmental Conservation Law 11-0524; University of Nebraska Extension, Managing Raccoon and Opossum Damage; NYS Department of Health, Rabies Fact Sheet; NBC New York, Nassau County rabies public health threat, July 2025; News 12, Imminent public health threat for rabies issued in Nassau County; NPIC, Mothball Regulation.
Still not sure? Call (516) 509-6001 and we'll tell you what you're dealing with.
This article is general pest information for Long Island homeowners, not a diagnosis of your specific situation. Pest behavior varies by home, season, and species, and every job is quoted in writing before any work begins. Pesticide applications are performed by licensed New York State applicators in accordance with label requirements.