Can raccoons climb fences?

Raccoons are medium-sized animals that resemble a dog or bear that belongs to the family of mammals and most of them are located in the area of â€‹â€‹North America. They are 40 to 70 centimeters long and weigh approximately 5 to 9 kilograms and their lifespan is up to 3 years.

Although indivisible, adorable, and fun to watch these animals can cause various kinds of damage to your garden and yard. Their natural habitat is the forest but now raccoons can be found in populated places where people consider them pests. During the day raccoons mostly sleep and at night it's time to feed so we can see them in our yards, mostly when it gets dark. Raccoons enjoy eating fruits and nuts, especially hazelnuts so if you have any of these in the garden, you can expect them.

If you don’t want visits like this in your garden, you’ve probably thought of solving the problem by fencing off the garden, and before you decide to invest money in a new fence you are probably wondering if the fence will really prevent raccoons from entering your yard or will the raccoons be able to climb up the fence? It's time to find out how good are raccoons at climbing.

Can raccoons climb?

Raccoons are excellent at climbing. Raccoon cubs aren’t very good at climbing but adult ones are. They can easily climb a tree, fence, or wall but also they can easily climb uneven and rough structures. Smooth and flat surfaces are a problem for them. If the fence around your garden is made of wood or some other rough material or if it is uneven, even if it is 10 meters high, raccoons will be able to climb but if you have a fence made of glass, sheet metal, or smooth material, we can say in that case you have secured your yard from raccoons.

How to choose a fence that raccoons can't climb?

Fences made of brick or stone will not restrain raccoons with the intention of entering your yard. Therefore you will need a fence against the raccoons that they cannot climb. For example, it may be a fence made of wire and the height of such a fence should be at least 4 meters. If you prefer wooden fences, you can place a wire or some smooth material on top. In that case, the raccoons will have nothing to catch, they fall to the ground and cannot enter your yard. These are fence recommendations if you are fighting raccoons but the choice of the fence should depend on the spinning animal that is causing you problems.

Raccoons are very smart animals. If they notice the weakness of the fence, they will take advantage of it. For example, if they notice that one part of the fence is spaced apart from another they will try to slip through. If you have a section on the front door through which cats and dogs enter, be careful, these pests know how to imitate others, so they could enter your house!

Raccoon behind a fence

How to prevent raccoons from coming into the yard?

In addition to making a fence over which raccoons will not be able to climb into your yard, there are several other ways to prevent their arrival. If raccoons notice that there is food or water in your yard that they can use, they will come all the way while food is available to them.