Raccoon Removal in Braselton, GA

Raccoons in your Braselton home

Raccoons eat almost anything, and Braselton puts a lot of it within easy reach. Grapes ripen in the vineyards in late summer. Amenity lakes and stormwater ponds hold crayfish, frogs and fish. The Mulberry River bottomland gives them a wooded travel route, and every pool house, clubhouse and curbside cart adds leftovers. A raccoon that eats well stays close, and when a female needs a dry, safe place to have her young, a house at the edge of that buffet is the obvious choice.

She doesn't need much of an opening. With strong, hand-like front paws a raccoon can pull a soffit panel down, lift a section of roof edge, or tear a gable-vent screen, and newer construction gives her loose corners to start on. Getting her out is careful work: there may be babies hidden in the insulation, the raccoon is a rabies-vector species in Georgia, and the latrine she leaves behind is a health hazard. Here's how the licensed Jackson County pro handles it.

Georgia law: removal, not relocation

Georgia lists 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 be driven out to the river bottoms and turned loose; the lawful path is removal, not relocation. The rule exists because moving raccoons moves rabies and distemper with them. Handling a rabies-vector animal correctly is one of the main reasons this is a job for a licensed operator.

Finding the babies before anything is sealed

Raccoon kits are usually born from late winter into spring, often three to five at a time, and they stay tucked deep in the insulation for weeks. You may hear a high, steady chattering when they're hungry. Pros commonly use a camera to find the litter before deciding how to proceed — removing the mother first and then the kits, or all of them together. Sealing the entry without finding them leaves the mother tearing at the roof to get back in, or kits dying where no one can reach them.

The latrine and roundworm risk

Raccoons pick one spot and use it as a toilet over and over. In an attic that means a pile of droppings soaking into the insulation and staining the ceiling below. Raccoon droppings can carry Baylisascaris roundworm, whose eggs are hardy and dangerous to people and pets. The latrine area should be removed and cleaned properly by someone with the right protective gear — not swept up with a shop vac.

Grapes, lakes and the Braselton food supply

What brings raccoons to a Braselton street is food: fruit in the vineyards and in backyard plantings, shorelines to forage, and trash and pet food outside the houses. You can't do anything about the vineyard or the lake, but you can take away what's at your house — bring pet bowls in at night, keep trash carts closed, and pick up fallen fruit. Less food at your back door makes your attic less attractive than the woods.

A seal strong enough for a raccoon

A raccoon will test a repair with its full weight, so the closure has to be tougher than a squirrel patch: heavy-gauge steel mesh screwed to framing, reinforced soffit corners, a sturdy vent guard over the gable vent, and a proper cap if there's a chimney or chase. Done right, the repair should last as long as the house. Many Braselton HOAs review exterior changes, so ask the pro to use paintable or color-matched metal where it shows.

Under the deck or the crawlspace

Not every raccoon goes for the attic. Plenty of Braselton calls start with one denning under a deck, a porch or in the crawlspace on a lot backing to a pond or the common woods. Deal with it early — a mother getting ready for kits often moves up into the house. The pro removes the animal and any young, then closes the space with buried or anchored metal screening so it can't be dug back open.