Female raccoons often pick chimneys as a safe spot to give birth and raise their litter of pups. To them, it’s like a big hollow tree, perfect for raising their babies. More often than not, the baby raccoons are there with their mom who leaves and returns to feed them. So, how do you remove the baby raccoons in your chimney? Here’s some instruction provided by www.raccooncontrol.ca:

Harass them with Noise

First of all, do not start a fire. It’s inhumane to burn animals alive and once you open the damper, the raccoons may jump into your house as they escape. Instead, if you’ve seen the mother raccoon, try to harass her with loud noise such as radio with the volume turned up or by hitting the bottom of the damper with a short stick. Just make sure the damper is closed. She likes the dark quiet space, and disrupting it with noise may cause her to remove her baby raccoons. You may even hear her come and go as she removes them one by one.

Use a Deterrent

The most common type of deterrent is an odor, usually a store-bought raccoon eviction fluid or the urine of a predator. Place it at the bottom of the chimney and this may cause the mother raccoon’s natural instincts to kick in. She’ll consider the chimney unsafe and remove her babies herself.

Removal by Hand

If neither of those work, trap the mother and remove the babies by hand. There are many professionals who do this, but you can safely remove baby raccoons by making sure you evict the adult first. Once the adult leaves the litter, you can reach in with a pair of gloves and a mirror for a better view and remove the raccoon babies one by one. If it doesn’t go according to plan and the raccoon enters your house, do not try to trap it. Open the windows and doors and wait for it to leave.

Use a Snare Pole

Adult raccoons are hard to deal with because they get violent trying to protect themselves. Waiting for the adult to leave is always best. Once gone, use a long chimney snare pole to remove the raccoon babies. If its babies are no longer there, the mother raccoon has no reason to live in your chimney.

Wait them out

If you don’t mind the noises, you can wait out the raccoon babies for between 8 to 10 weeks, after which they will leave on their own.

Always check to make sure you haven’t left any baby raccoons behind once you evict them then find a sturdy chimney cap to prevent it from happening again.