We’ve all heard of or seen videos where someone leaves coke and a piece of rusted metal overnight. The coca-cola removes the rust and the metal is good as new. The purpose of videos like this is to show how toxic and potent the fizzy drink is. For those who have raccoon problem, this lead to the obvious question, do coke poison raccoons?
The Short Answer…
Similar to chocolate, coke is toxic and poisonous to raccoons, especially if used in large amounts. But do raccoons drink coke? Yes, raccoons drink coke and beverages and even alcohol whenever they find it.
Do Coke Really Poison Raccoons? How?
Unfortunately, coke poisons raccoons due to the caffeine, high sugar, carbon monoxide, and artificial sweeteners. Not only raccoons, but coke is also poisonous for dogs, cats, mice, and birds. It is simply because raccoons and other small animals cannot tolerate and digest coke.
As well as, raccoons can’t burp so the fizz will kill them by exploding their stomach. Making this raccoon poison involves mixing fly bait and coke. So do raccoons drink coke? If so why.
Simple because raccoons are not picky and drink coke without knowing that coke can poison them.
Why Coke Doesn’t Poison Humans But Raccoons?
Well, coke is poisonous to all including humans. The effect is mitigated by body weight and brain size. And so animals with less weight and less brain size are affected more. The smaller the animal, the more effective it does and poisons quicker. And also the amount of the coke it drinks also affects the toxicity.
As a result, although coke is poisonous to all, but it doesn’t poison humans due to their size and digestive system. However, animals with less weight and size cannot digest and tolerate coke.
How Long Does Coke Kill Raccoons?
Depending on the amount of coke ingested, it can take anywhere from 10 mins to 12 hours. Dogs, cats, birds, and raccoons are sensitive to caffeine (an ingredient in coke) that is also found in soda, coffee, tea, chocolate, and other edibles is toxic and may result in poisoning them.
And not only that, coke also comes with ingredients like high sugar, carbon monoxide, and artificial sweeteners which are quite harmful for animals. And the smaller the animal, the more effective and toxic it is. Like it can take less coke to poison birds than raccoons, cats or dogs.
What Are The Risks to Poisoning Raccoons?
The first and most obvious downside to poisoning raccoons is that this form of animal control is illegal in many states. You can’t poison wildlife because of laws protecting them. However, some states do allow killing raccoons in specific method. Find out yours.
If you’re caught trying to poison raccoons in a state where doing so is illegal, you could end up being charged.
Second, the poison could harm other animals. For instance, you could kill cats, dogs, and other wildlife living in your backyard. If some part of the poison got into your pet’s cat food, you could end up hurting her internal organs quite severely.
Third, this method is quite inhumane. The raccoon’s insides blow up, and starts screaming and time taking which is particularly horrible when there are other ways to deal with the issue.
Last but not least, you don’t need to kill raccoons to stop them from living in your backyards. If you’re willing to put in a little more effort, you could relocate them. Set up a bait or trap to catch raccoons and then move them somewhere far away from your house.
How To Poison Raccoons with Coke?
Take a few tablespoons of fly bait and put them in a bowl. You can pick whichever kind you like, but there are some salespeople recommended fly bait. These include the golden marlin fly bait, golden marlin fly bait, and methomyl fly bait granules.
Then measure a cup of coke and mix fly bait into it. You can use a stick or spoon for this part. The end result should be a liquid solution. So depending on whether your mixture is too watery or too pasty, you can add more fly bait or coke.
Set up the poison wherever you have seen evidence of raccoon activity. In a few days, you’ll see dead raccoons in those spots.
Best Way To Get Rid of Raccoons
According to California Pest Management, unfortunately, trapping and releasing into wild is the best way to go.
Don’t try to kill them unless you can do it in a very humane and legal way that they are not going to suffer and they won’t be hurt like carbon monoxide. But unfortunately, raccoons start screaming right before death. And it doesn’t kill right away. It takes time which means it’s not a comfortable way for an animal to die.
Shooting them isn’t an option especially in the suburban areas either. ٍ
If you have to get rid of racccons and do not know how to do it yourself, get a professional pest control company handle and take it way far away from your home and release it back into the wild.
Not many people know how to kill it in a great way.
How to Get Rid of Raccoons without Poisoning?
If you don’t want to use fly bait products and coke to kill raccoons and would rather use another more humane method, we have several options for you to choose from.
There are different techniques that change depending on where you think the raccoons are. For instance, if you believe raccoons are living in your attic, you might not want to take the same course of action as you would if the raccoons were under your house. Let’s take a look at the most humane and effective way forward depending on which part of your property the raccoon is in.
First: How To Find Raccoons
In case you aren’t sure if the raccoons live in your attic, deck, or garden, keep an eye out for the following things to figure it out.
-
Signs Of Raccoons Eating
As raccoons come out at night, it’s difficult to find in the day. If you have a security camera or any other camera, you may check and might have found it by now. If you don’t, there are signs which you can find with.
One of the most common signs is the trash bin is opened and messed up every night or some nights a week. From plants to fruits, vegetables like carrots to meat, raccoons eat almost anything they get including chickens, rabbits, and even squirrels. But that doesn’t mean raccoons can eat everything. Here’s what raccoons cannot eat and why.
If you find garbage bins, compost bins open and messed up, fruits stolen like carrots, food waste, and pet food wiped out, chances are raccoons are near around. Not to forget, raccoons like shiny things so if you have a shiny thing outside, you may find it stolen by raccoons. Raccoons are very agile and can jump very high without a problem.
Raccoons eat a lot and make little effort to hide this habit. So one of the easiest ways to tell if you’re dealing with a raccoon problem is to look for signs of them feeding.
You’ll see similar signs if the raccoon is living under your house. If there are enough food sources for raccoons, they will likely be living in your attic or anywhere in the house. And once they settled, they will start breeding in which case raccoons won’t leave the house at least for a year until their babies matures. If you attempt to do so, you will face aggressive behavior and may likely attack if you try to remove it.
However, they’ll be closer to your house. The raccoon will choose to look through the trash can nearest to your house so it can quickly run under the deck if it senses any danger.
Raccoons living in attics will try to find alternative sources for food. These may include trying to eat from a pet’s food bowl.
-
Tracks
Another way to tell if you’re dealing with a raccoon problem is by identifying their tracks. Possums and raccoons have similar tracks. The difference is that raccoons move in diagonal track patterns like deer do.
-
Droppings
Raccoon droppings are cylindrical with rounded or broken ends. They are typically quite dark, but the colour can change if the animal’s diet changes.
-
Strange Sounds
Raccoons have a range of sounds. If there’s a raccoon on your property, you might hear growling, whistling, or mewing.
In The Attic
If there’s a raccoon in your attic, then it is very likely that it is a female looking to give birth. They’ll try to rip off boards, vents, etc. to find a super-secure spot for their child.
You could leave the raccoon alone because it is very likely that it will leave after giving birth. However, there is a chance that that might not happen. In such a situation, you can follow these steps to get rid of the raccoon:
-
Set live raccoon traps
Buy some traps and catch the raccoons. Then empty the traps somewhere far away from your home.
-
Close All gaps
Seal all seals and vents that open into your attic. The best way to do this is with a galvanized hardwire wire mesh.
-
Remove All Food Sources
Get rid of all sources of food, water, and comfort from the attic. This includes leftover food including chocolate even (Here are the photos), accumulating water, and any bedding material.
Under The House
Female raccoons with babies also like hiding under houses because it seems like a safe place to stay. Poisoning them with the intention of killing them is inhumane because they’re just children.
Humanely remove the family with live traps.
Then clean the area and remove all bedding materials. Close up all points of access and set up floodlights to lighten up the area.
In The Yard
Use natural deterrents like dirty cat litter, blood meal, or cayenne pepper to keep raccoons away from your yard. In addition to this, invest in grub treatment and use light/sound deterrents.
Motion sensored deterrents are best. They sprinkle water, turn on lights, or make loud noises as soon as they detect movement which will keep raccoons away.
Conclusion
Killing raccoons by mixing fly bait and coke is super easy and straightforward. However, it is not the best way forward since poisoning wildlife is often illegal and there are several non-lethal ways to get rid of raccoons.
Use live traps, seal up holes, and use sound/light deterrents to keep the animals away from your house.