Raccoon Removal in Centerville, GA

Raccoons in your Centerville home

Raccoons do well in Centerville for one simple reason: there's a lot of food within a short walk. On a street of close-set houses, one raccoon can make a nightly round of garbage cans, pet bowls on the porch, bird feeders and grills, crossing from yard to yard on fence tops and through gaps in the hedges. The low, wooded Ocmulgee River country on Houston County's eastern side keeps the wider area supplied, and the suburb itself does the rest. When a female needs a place to raise her young, a house on her route is the obvious choice.

She doesn't need an existing hole. Raccoons are strong and use their front paws like hands to pull back soffit, lift shingles, bend vents and pry chimney caps. Homeowners usually describe the sound as "like a dog in the attic," heavy and deliberate. Once babies are born you may also hear a high chattering. That combination of a mother, hidden young, a rabies-vector species and a latrine is why raccoon removal needs a licensed pro.

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 cannot simply be driven out of town and released. The legal outcome is removal, not relocation. The rule exists because moving raccoons spreads rabies and other diseases into new areas. A licensed pro knows how to handle the animal within the law. A homeowner with a rented trap usually doesn't.

Why one raccoon becomes the whole street's problem

In a compact suburb, raccoons don't stick to one yard. A single animal may den under one deck, eat out of three trash cans and try four rooflines in a night. That's why you can do everything right and still get a raccoon: it's coming from the block, not from your yard. What you control is what your house offers. Lids on cans, pet food brought in at night, and a roofline and crawlspace with no weak spots give it a reason to choose someone else's house.

Finding the babies first

Raccoon babies are usually born late winter into spring. They're helpless for weeks and stay hidden deep in the insulation or a wall cavity. If the mother is shut out before they're found, they die inside, and you trade a noise problem for a smell problem. Pros often use cameras to locate the litter. The usual approach is to remove the mother first and then the young, or all of them at once when that's possible, so the attic is empty before it's sealed.

The latrine is a health hazard

Raccoons use the same spot as a toilet again and again. In an attic that means a pile of droppings soaking into the insulation and the drywall below. Those droppings can carry Baylisascaris roundworm, whose eggs are long-lasting and dangerous to people, especially children. Don't sweep it up or vacuum it with a household vacuum. Cleaning out a raccoon latrine is part of the job, and the soiled material has to go.

Where raccoons break into a Centerville house

The usual entry points are the roof edges and gable vents a raccoon can pull loose, uncapped chimneys, and crawlspace and foundation vents. Many Middle Georgia homes are built on crawlspaces, and an open vent at ground level is an easy den. A raccoon living under the house or a deck will often move up into the attic next, especially when she's ready to have young. Because a raccoon got in by force, the repair has to be stronger than one meant for squirrels.

What the pro does

The pro inspects to find the break-in point and to check for young. Then the family is removed lawfully, adults and kits together, using one-way doors, traps or hand removal depending on the setup. Once the space is confirmed empty, the entry is closed with heavy-gauge metal and a proper chimney cap, and crawlspace vents are screened. The latrine and the soiled insulation are cleaned out. Finally, the pro points out what on your property is feeding raccoons so the next one has less reason to stop.