Raccoon Removal in Suwanee, GA

Raccoons in your Suwanee home

Raccoons like to live near water, and Suwanee has plenty of it in protected form: Suwanee Creek and the streams feeding it, the floodplain woods along the greenway, and ponds inside many subdivisions. Those corridors let a raccoon travel through town without ever crossing an open street, and every house along the way is a possible den. Homeowners usually describe the noise the same way: heavy thumping in the attic, like a dog walking around up there.

In an attic, the raccoon is almost always a female looking for a safe place to have kits. She's strong enough to pull back a soffit panel or lift a roof edge, and she'll use a high deck on a walkout lot to reach the roof. Removing her involves three separate things: Georgia's rules for a rabies-vector species, finding the kits, and cleaning up the latrine she leaves. Here's how a licensed pro handles each.

The law: removed, not relocated

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 just be driven to the far side of the greenway and let go. Removal, not relocation, is the legal outcome. The rule exists because moving raccoons spreads rabies and distemper to new areas. It's one of the main reasons raccoon trapping belongs with a licensed operator.

Finding the kits before anything is closed

Raccoons usually have kits from late winter into spring, often hidden deep in the insulation or tucked against a far wall. Before the entry is sealed, they have to be found. Pros often use cameras to locate kits in a big attic. Then either the mother is removed first and the kits are taken out by hand, or the whole family is removed together. Sealing a mother out with kits inside means she tears the house open to reach them, or they die where nobody can reach them.

The latrine is the part people underestimate

Raccoons pick one spot to use as a toilet and go back to it every night. In an attic that means a soaked, packed area of insulation and possibly stained drywall underneath. The bigger concern is Baylisascaris, a raccoon roundworm whose eggs survive a long time and can make people seriously ill. Latrine cleanup is part of the job, not an extra. That said, not every raccoon job needs all the insulation replaced. A good pro removes what's actually contaminated and explains why.

How Suwanee homes give them a way up

On sloped lots with walkout basements, decks often sit high, and a deck railing or post next to the house gives a raccoon a short climb to the lower roof. From there it goes for a soffit return, a roof vent or the joint where a lower roof meets a wall, and pries it loose. Garbage cans left out, pet food on the deck, and fallen birdseed keep a raccoon interested in your yard. Fixing those along with the roof keeps the next one moving along the creek instead of stopping at your house.

What the pro does, start to finish

An inspection finds the entry and confirms whether kits are inside. The pro removes the mother and young legally and humanely, confirms the space is empty, then repairs the entry with heavy-gauge metal and solid fastening, because a raccoon will pull on any repair that feels weak. Chimneys get a proper cap. Finally the latrine and contaminated material are removed and the area is sanitized. Ask what the warranty covers and get it in writing.

Under the deck now, in the attic later

Lots of raccoon calls in Suwanee start under a deck or shed backing onto the woods. Handle it early. A raccoon comfortable under the deck often moves up into the attic, especially a female ready to have kits. The pro removes the animal and any young, then screens the space under the deck with buried wire so it can't be dug back into.