Although they sometimes have rabies, insectivorous bats should not be controlled by indiscriminate killing. Unwanted colonies of bats should be excluded from buildings by screening or sealing all openings during twilight hours while the bats are out feeding at the end of the summer when the young are able to fly. As a general rule, testing of rodents and rabbits that bite humans is not indicated. Small animals such as squirrels, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chipmunks, rats, mice, gophers, moles, rabbits, and hares seldom survive an attack by a rabid animal and are not normal reservoirs for rabies. People are usually bitten while trying to rescue these small animals from a cat or dog, or while trying to catch, feed, pet or otherwise handle them.
Large rodents are more apt to survive an attack by a rabid animal and do sometimes develop rabies.
Rabies has been documented in woodchucks and groundhogs from the northeastern United States and in at least one otter tested in Georgia. Experimentally infected rodents generally excrete little or no virus in their saliva, making transmission of rabies from rodents very unlikely. Worldwide, tens of thousands of rodent bites occur annually that are not treated for rabies, suggesting that the likelihood for transmission of rabies by these animals is negligible. Since 1977, small rodents have only rarely been accepted for examination by the State Public Health Laboratory. Approval must be obtained from the State Public Health Laboratory or the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch , Georgia Division of Public Health prior to submitting a rodent for rabies testing.