Raccoon Removal in Dacula, GA

Raccoons in your Dacula home

Raccoons follow water, and Dacula has plenty of it in the right places — the creeks and ponds inside Little Mulberry Park and Harbins Park, the drainages running toward the Apalachee River, and farm ponds left behind when land was subdivided. A raccoon can spend the night working a creek bank and be on your roof before dawn. Houses set far apart, with dark yards and no neighbor's dog barking, make an easy, quiet place to den.

The sound is hard to mistake. Homeowners and pros alike describe it as "like there's a dog in the attic" — heavy, deliberate footsteps, not the quick patter of a squirrel. If you also hear high-pitched chattering, there are babies up there. That one detail changes the whole job, and it's why a raccoon in the attic is not a weekend project.

Georgia law: removal, not relocation

The raccoon is one of Georgia's 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 nearest park and turned loose — and that includes the preserves down the road. The lawful outcome is removal, not relocation. Moving raccoons around spreads rabies and distemper to new areas, which is exactly why the rule exists and why a licensed pro should handle the animal.

Finding the kits with a camera

Georgia raccoons usually have their young from late winter into spring, and a mother in an attic is very often there because she's nursing. Kits tuck into insulation or deep in a wall cavity where you can't see them. Our crew uses cameras to locate them before anything else happens. Then either the whole family comes out together, or the mother is removed first and the young are taken out by hand right after. Sealing the hole with kits still inside guarantees a smell problem in a few weeks.

The latrine is a health problem

Raccoons pick one spot and use it as a toilet over and over. In an attic, that means soaked, packed insulation and stained ceiling drywall. Raccoon droppings can carry Baylisascaris roundworm, whose eggs survive a long time and can make people seriously ill. So raccoon feces needs to be cleaned out properly — removed, the area sanitized — not just swept aside. That cleanup is a real part of the job and part of what you're paying for.

Why big, quiet lots draw them in

On a crowded street, a raccoon has to deal with lights, dogs and people on every side. On a Dacula lot with a long driveway and the next house a good distance off, it doesn't. Open garbage cans at the end of a long walk to the curb, pet food left on a back porch, bird feeders and compost all get found fast. Securing that food is half of keeping raccoons away; the other half is making sure the roof, chimney and crawlspace give them nowhere to go.

Crawlspaces, decks and outbuildings

Many Dacula homes sit on crawlspaces, and a raccoon will tear a vent screen loose to get under a house. Detached garages, sheds and workshops — common on bigger lots — are just as inviting and are rarely built tight. A raccoon that's comfortable under the deck or in the shed often moves into the main house next. A good inspection covers every structure on the lot, not only the attic.

How the job gets done

Our wildlife crew inspects to find the entry and confirm whether young are present, removes the raccoons legally, and then closes the opening with heavy metal — raccoons are strong enough to rip through light screen or a casual patch. Chimneys get a proper cap. Last comes the cleanup: latrine removal, sanitizing and replacing any insulation that's actually ruined. The goal is a repair that lasts the life of the house.