Raccoon Removal in Commerce, GA

Raccoons in your Commerce home

A raccoon in the attic is hard to mistake. Our crew describes it as sounding like a dog in your attic: heavy steps, thumps, things being dragged. If there are young, you may also hear a high chattering. Raccoons live along the creeks, wood lines and farm edges around Commerce and come into town at night for trash cans, pet food and fallen fruit. When a female is ready to have her kits, she looks for a dry, high spot, and an older house is often the easiest one to break into.

Raccoons don't squeeze through small holes like squirrels do. They pull things open with their front paws: a soft corner of soffit, a loose vent, shingles at the roof edge, or the top of an old chimney with no cap. On a mill-era house they also start low, under the porch or through a gap in the skirting around the crawlspace, and later climb up. The trash and food waste around restaurants and stores near the I-85 exits give them one more reason to stay close. Here is what a licensed Jackson County pro does about it.

They start under the house and work up

Many Commerce raccoon jobs begin under the floor. A raised mill house with loose lattice or a missing skirting panel gives a raccoon a dry, hidden den right under the living room. From there it often finds its way into a wall or up to the attic, especially a female getting ready to have kits. If you see a raccoon going under your porch or hear thumping under the floor, it's a good time to call, before it moves higher.

Georgia law: they can't be moved somewhere else

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 legally be driven out to the country and let go. The legal outcome is removal, not relocation. The rule exists because moving raccoons spreads rabies and other diseases to new areas. A licensed pro knows how to handle a trapped raccoon within the law; a homeowner with a rented trap usually doesn't.

Finding the kits with a camera

In Georgia, raccoons usually have their young from late winter into spring. The kits can't leave the den on their own for weeks, so if the mother is trapped or shut out and they're left behind, they die in the attic or wall. To avoid that, pros often put a camera in the attic or crawlspace to find the den and count the young. The usual approach is to remove the mother first and then the kits, or take them all together if that's possible, so none are left behind.

The latrine is a health hazard

Raccoons go to the bathroom in the same spot over and over, called a latrine. In an attic that means soaked, packed-down insulation and stained ceiling boards. Raccoon droppings can carry Baylisascaris roundworm, whose eggs are dangerous to people and can survive for a long time. Don't sweep it up yourself. The droppings and soiled insulation should be removed carefully and the area cleaned, which is part of why raccoon jobs take longer than squirrel jobs.

Cut off the food before it brings the next one

Raccoons stay where they eat well. Around Commerce that can mean trash cans left open, dog and cat food left on the porch, bird feeders, compost and fallen fruit. Lids that latch, feeding pets indoors, and keeping trash in the shed or garage until pickup all make your property less interesting. It won't get rid of a raccoon that's already living in your attic, but it lowers the chance of another one choosing your house after the first is gone.

A seal strong enough for a raccoon

Because a raccoon can tear open what a squirrel can't, the repair has to be stronger. After the animals are out and the pro has confirmed there are no kits left, the openings are closed with heavy metal: thick steel mesh, sturdy flashing, and a proper chimney cap if the chimney was the way in. If the raccoon was under the house, the skirting is closed with metal and fastened so it can't be pulled back. Then the latrine and damaged insulation are cleaned up.