Do raccoons climb fences?

If you have a garden that a raccoon has decided would make the ideal location to stop at each night and steal your vegetables and fruits, then you probably have gone out online to try to find different measures that you can employ that you can use to stop these creatures. They are pesky to say the least. They will get into virtually anything that they can, and will find that the crops that you have been laboring over all summer long to produce will make a fantastic meal for them. This will not do however.



You can look for many options out there but one of the most common that is described as a means to stop them from getting into your garden is the use of offense. You were probably told that you needed to take the fence at least a foot below the ground so as to ensure that the animal could not dig its way under. You were also instructed that it needed to be at least 3 feet tall to keep the raccoon from getting in. What you may have left that article wondering was if raccoons are able to climb fences?

While rats have very sharp claws on both their front and hind feet, the fact of the matter is that their claws were never intended to be used for climbing. If they are able to reach the top of the fence with their claws then there is a possibility, although a very slim one, that they may be able to pull themselves up by scratching with their hind paws at the fence to be able to get up and over. Again, it should be reiterated that this is a very slim chance.

The truth is that raccoons are not good at climbing it all. They don’t have the power in their back legs, or in the front months for that matter, to be able to pull himself up and over your fence.

Learn more: Do raccoons attack cats, dogs, or other pets?

At 2 feet, the raccoon may be as tall as the fence and so it has a better opportunity to try to get up and over. However, at 3 feet there are no raccoons that have that kind of height when standing on their back legs. This denies them any opportunity to be able to use this as a means for getting into your garden area.

In fact, if you are looking to keep raccoons out of your yard in general, offense that is at least 3 feet tall all the way around your yard will really do the trick for you. This ensures that these creatures do not have access to be able to get into your yard where they can create a series of health risks to you and your pets, as well as destroy the beauty of your yard. They are dirty creatures that really like to make a mess, and you can limit them from being able to do so by putting up a sturdy fence that is at least a foot deep into the ground so that they cannot get under it. Read more: Raccoon Control, how to get rid of raccoons, Raccoon Feces, How to get raccoons out of the ceiling.