Raccoon Removal in Perry, GA

Raccoons in your Perry home

Raccoons have it easy around Perry. Big Indian Creek and the farm ponds and wooded drainages around town give them water and cover. Barns and feed rooms offer spilled grain and pet food. The restaurants and fuel stops along I-75 put out dumpsters every night. With that much food nearby, raccoons stay close to homes, and when a female needs a safe place to have her young, a Perry attic or crawlspace is the obvious choice.

Homeowners describe the sound the same way: like a dog is walking around in the attic. If there are young, you may also hear chattering. Raccoons are strong enough to rip open a soffit, peel back shingles or tear a crawlspace vent off its frame, and they leave a pile of droppings that needs proper cleanup. They are also a rabies-vector species under Georgia law, which limits what anyone can do with a trapped one. Here's how a licensed Houston County pro handles it.

Georgia law: no catch-and-release

Georgia names five rabies-vector species: raccoon, skunk, fox, bobcat and coyote. Under O.C.G.A. 27-2-10 a trapped raccoon cannot legally be driven somewhere else and let go; it has to be removed, not relocated. Moving raccoons around spreads disease, and relocated animals usually don't survive anyway. A licensed operator knows the lawful handling for a rabies-vector animal, which is a big reason this job shouldn't be done with a rented trap and a pickup.

Finding the kits first

Raccoon young are usually born from late winter into spring. They stay hidden deep in insulation or a wall cavity for weeks and can't leave on their own. If the mother is trapped or shut out and the hole closed, the kits die inside, and the smell and flies follow. Pros often use cameras to locate the litter before anything else happens. Where possible, the mother and kits come out together; otherwise the mother is removed first and the kits are collected by hand.

The latrine and Baylisascaris

Raccoons use the same spot as a toilet every night, and in an attic that means a soaked, concentrated pile in the insulation. Raccoon droppings can carry Baylisascaris roundworm, whose eggs are long-lived and dangerous to people, especially children who might come into contact with them. The latrine needs to be removed and the area disinfected. That cleanup is part of why raccoon jobs take more work than a squirrel job.

How raccoons get into Perry homes

Raccoons pull and pry rather than chew a neat hole. On older downtown houses the weak spots are rotted soffits and fascia, open chimneys and loose roof vents. Many Perry homes sit on crawlspaces, and a torn vent screen or broken access door lets a raccoon den under the floor. On properties with barns or sheds, a raccoon living in the outbuilding often moves into the house when it's time to have young.

What the pro does

The pro inspects to find the entry and checks for kits, then removes the family — trapping, one-way doors, or hand-removing young as the situation calls for. Once the space is empty, the entry gets a seal strong enough for an animal that pulls things apart: heavy-gauge metal, reinforced vent covers, a proper chimney cap. Last comes the cleanup — the latrine, the soiled insulation and the nest. Ask for that scope in writing so you know exactly what's included.

Cutting off the food

Around Perry, raccoons stay where food is easy. Feed left in open bins, pet bowls left outside overnight, unlatched garbage cans and compost piles all keep them coming back. Storing feed in metal cans with locking lids, bringing pet food in at night and securing trash makes the property less attractive. Together with a sealed house, that is what keeps the next raccoon from settling in.