Many of us know raccoons to be very disruptive animals, if they are let loose they can go through your garbage, chew through your wires and create nests in your attic.

If the wooden parts of your home seem chewed through, or even eaten, you may be asking yourself: Do raccoons eat wood? This article looks into it

Although raccoons eat a lot of food they do not eat wood, they do however chew through wood in an effort to get into your home, if you’re noticing that wooden parts of your property have been chewed, ripped into, or broken into, you can likely assume raccoons did it

Do raccoons eat wood?

Raccoons can, and usually do, intrude into our homes. These animals have adapted to living with humans and using whatever human items they can find in any way they can. They not only intrude into our spaces, but they do damage as well.

Raccoons may chew through wood in your home but they don’t eat the wood. They chew the wood as a means to an end, they will either chew open or break open areas closed off using wood to get into your home.

How raccoons get into wood:

If your wooden screens have holes in them, raccoons can use this to their advantage, these animals only need a hole that is 3 inches in diameter to get into your home.

They’ll rip into these holes to gain access to your property. To avoid this, close off any holes in your wooden screens using metal mesh or an adequate foam. 

These animals may also be the reason why you have holes in your wooden roof shingles. Raccoons chew through roof shingles to get into your ceiling with all its insulation and warmth.

They can chew through and rip into your roof but they won’t eat the wood, they only chew or rip through it as a means to get inside. 

These animals may also become mischievous and chew on your wood joists with their sharp and strong teeth 

What can raccoons chew through? 

In addition to wood, raccoons can chew through electrical wires, rip up ducts, chew through certain metals with ease, and cause overall damage. The fact that these animals can easily chew through metal shows you how strong their teeth are. 

If raccoons go around chewing through portions of your home, you’d need to get the animal out of your home and clean up once it’s gone.

You can choose to take initiative and clean up after the animals yourself, or you can call professionals to do the job.  

Can raccoons climb plywood? 

Raccoons can climb plywood. These animals are quite strong considering their size.

They use their strong and sharp claws to dig into plywood as they climb, this can result in a lot of damage to your property. These animals can create holes in your plywood fences, walls, and roofs. 

If you realize that raccoons are ripping, climbing, and chewing on plywood on your property it is important to call raccoon removal specialists to safely and effectively remove these animals.

If this is not done as soon as possible, the raccoons will continue to rip through your plywood causing serious damage. 

How do I protect my house from raccoons? 

Make your home unattractive to raccoons:

Raccoons love nesting in human homes, the only way to protect your home from these animals is to make your home less attractive to raccoons in the first place.

One of the main reasons why raccoons choose your home is because your home is a source of food. Keeping raccoons away in this case means securing trash can lids with pressure straps and keeping pet food and bird food locked away.

Deny access into your home:

Your home may also be frequented by raccoons because it is easy to access. If this is the case, you’d need to cut trees back 6 to 8 inches from your home to prevent raccoons from gaining access to your roof through the branches.

You can also install metal flashing on your wooden beams, this will prevent raccoons from climbing on your property.

You’d also need to close up any openings that raccoons can gain access through, raccoons only need a 3-inch opening to rip into your structure 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, no, raccoons do not eat wood, wood is not as nutrient-rich as other foods at their disposal. However, they will chew through and rip open wood on your home in order to get into your property.

If this is what is happening in your home, calling specialist raccoon removers is recommended

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other raccoon related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Do raccoons eat water hyacinth?, Do raccoons eat water lilies?, Do raccoons eat worms?, Do raccoons eat wet cat food?, Do raccoons eat wild mushrooms?