Raccoon Removal in Auburn, GA

Raccoons in your Auburn home

Raccoons do well along Auburn's county line because it offers the two things they need side by side. The Barrow side has farm ponds, creek draws and fencerows for water, cover and travel. The newer streets have garbage cans, pet bowls on the porch, bird feeders and compost. A raccoon can spend the evening along a pond bank and be going through a subdivision trash can an hour later. The old core gets its share too, mostly through older chimneys and crawlspaces.

When a raccoon wants into a house, it forces its way in. It pulls up a soffit corner, bends a gable vent, lifts a loose roof edge or climbs down an uncapped chimney. The ones that get into attics are usually females looking for a safe place to have kits. That makes the job more than catching one animal: there may be babies to find, there's a state law on what can be done with a raccoon, and there's usually a latrine to clean up. Here's how a licensed Barrow County pro handles it.

Georgia law: removal, not relocation

Georgia classifies the raccoon as a rabies-vector species, along with the skunk, fox, bobcat and coyote. Under O.C.G.A. 27-2-10, a trapped raccoon can't simply be driven out to the country and let go. The legal outcome is removal, not relocation. That rule exists because moving raccoons spreads rabies and distemper into new areas. It's one of the main reasons a raccoon job belongs with a licensed pro rather than a homeowner with a rented trap.

Why raccoons pick homes on the county line

The houses that get raccoons most often in Auburn are the ones closest to cover: a newer home whose back fence meets a pasture or wooded draw, or an older core house near overgrown lots. The raccoon travels the field edge, finds food at the house, and then looks for a den close by. A deck with open sides, a crawlspace vent with a torn screen, or a chimney without a cap will do. Getting garbage, pet food and bird seed out of reach is part of the fix, not an extra.

Finding the kits before anything gets sealed

Raccoon kits are usually born from late winter into spring, and for weeks they can't leave the nest. When they're there, you may hear a high chattering along with the mother's heavy steps. Seal the mother out and the kits die in the attic, which turns a raccoon problem into a dead-animal problem. Pros often use cameras to find exactly where the kits are tucked in. Removing the mother first is the usual approach, then the kits are removed by hand, unless the whole family can be taken out together.

The latrine is the health hazard

Raccoons use the same spot over and over as a toilet, and in an attic that means a pile of droppings soaking into the insulation. Those droppings can carry Baylisascaris roundworm, whose eggs are hardy and dangerous to people, especially children who might touch contaminated material. Cleaning out a raccoon latrine is real work: the soiled material comes out, the area is sanitized, and only the insulation that's actually ruined needs replacing.

From under the deck to inside the attic

Plenty of Auburn raccoon calls start low, with a raccoon living under a new deck or inside a crawlspace whose vent screen has given way. It doesn't stay there. A female getting ready to have kits will often move up into the attic. Dealing with it while it's still under the house is easier and usually less costly. The animal comes out, any young are found, and the opening is closed with heavy wire mesh dug into the ground so it can't be reopened.

How a pro clears and seals

After the inspection finds the entry and settles the kit question, the family is removed. The seal has to be stronger than for a squirrel, because a raccoon will pull on the repair the same way it pulled on the original opening. That means heavy-gauge steel over vents and gaps, reinforced roof edges, and a proper chimney cap where the flue was open. Then the latrine and soiled insulation are cleaned out. Ask for the warranty in writing.