Baby Raccoons

by **Marinepits** » June 9th, 2008, 2:53 pm

These little guys stayed overnight with me last night. Their mom hadn't been seen in about 10 days and they managed to crawl out of the nest on their own at the tender age of 8 weeks. They should have stayed in their den for another two weeks or so, but their survival instinct took over and they were out scrounging for food. How they survived on the edge of the busiest street in town is beyond me. Thankfully, the neighbors called as soon as they saw them.

The two staring at the camera are feisty little buggers. The other three are rather docile. I had to use Kevlar gauntlets to pick up the feisty ones and they were chewing on the gloves like madmen, LOL. They growl like dogs when they're angry, too. They are small enough that I can get my hand around their middles.

Once again, Wildlife in Crisis took them in and are caring for them until they are old enough to fend for themselves. They'll be released in a few months. That makes 21 baby raccoons that they have right now. :shock:

by **TheRedQueen** » June 9th, 2008, 3:00 pm

So someone took them? You'll all primed for a field spaniel now? Great!

Raccoons are so cute...looks are so deceiving!

by **Marinepits** » June 9th, 2008, 3:11 pm

Send him over!

by **Jenn** » June 9th, 2008, 3:13 pm

They all so precious, I love when a new one is around the house.

by **iluvk9** » June 9th, 2008, 3:14 pm

Keep them, Jen!! We can help you name them!!

by **Marinepits** » June 9th, 2008, 3:16 pm

Oh, yeah. So NOT happening, LOL. :lol3:

They're easy to handle now, but wait until they are 40 pounds of pissed off wild animal. No thank you.

by **iluvk9** » June 9th, 2008, 3:18 pm

The stable I rode at had two as "pets". Rac and Coon. They were very cute until they became teenagers.

by **Malli** » June 9th, 2008, 3:39 pm

oh I love the coonies! Poor little guys must be dehydrated! And you can bet they'll scream for their sub Q fluids! :lol3:

by **Marinepits** » June 9th, 2008, 3:46 pm

I put a BIG bowl of water in with them last night and it was almost completely gone this morning. They also ate the whole pie plate of yogurt and granola, LOL. Little piglets. :giggle:

Hopefully they won't have to have subQ.

As soon as WIC took them in, they had a bath to get rid of the mites and fleas, plus they got dewormed. They screamed like banshees for the bath, LOL.

by **pitbullmamaliz** » June 9th, 2008, 3:49 pm

They get up to 40 lbs???

by **CinderDee** » June 9th, 2008, 4:03 pm

They're so cute!

by **Jenn** » June 9th, 2008, 4:36 pm

pitbullmamaliz wrote:They get up to 40 lbs???

I'd say most in general are a tad smaller, but yes they can.

by **Marinepits** » June 9th, 2008, 4:45 pm

pitbullmamaliz wrote:They get up to 40 lbs???

When I've taken them out of dumpsters, they definitely weigh more than a bag of dog food, LOL. Plus, they're spitting and fighting the whole way out. :shock:

The adults are urban raccoons, not strictly wild ones. They get to eat LOTS of fattening food out of garbage cans and dumpsters, plus people deliberately feed them. They also are not strictly nocturnal -- they've adapted to the point that they will follow human behaviours such as sleeping through the night. So, if you live in a city and see a raccoon during the day, don't assume it has rabies and you need to kill it. Often times the 'coon will be completely healthy and is out foraging for food for the babies or itself. If it's acting "drunk", it's usually either rabies or distemper, both fatal in wildlife, and the animal should be humanely destroyed.

ETA

Jenn is correct. Truly wild raccoons are smaller than the urban ones.

by **Asta** » June 12th, 2008, 5:29 am

Aawww i just find them so adorable :heartbeat:

But then again i have never encountered any real ones...Poor babies though, trying to fend for themselves

by **SLS61185** » July 11th, 2008, 3:24 am

Mike went out to the shed the other day to get the mower and heard something moving around in there... There's a huge hole on the side of it that's been there forever. He got to lookin' around, pulled open the drawer to an old dresser... And what did he find?! A racoon. He apparently had got in there, climbed in the dresser and went to sleep. :shock:

He made some noise so he'd go away... He just stood up and looked at Mike like "Uh, excuse me, wtf do you want? I'm trying to sleep here :cuss:

" Then he laid back down and went back to sleep. Mike poked him with a stick so he'd leave, he stood up, walked around... Gave Mike some looks

Laid back down went back to sleep. Finally, Mike managed to get him to wake up again.. He got up for the last time, went out through the hole and over the fence and hasn't been back since. :wave2:

We didn't want him in there because of Patch. Oh and this one was an adult, I think.

by **Malli** » July 11th, 2008, 5:57 am

Racoon safety alert!
careful handling racoons or what they've been in contact with! They can give people Racoon Roundworm, wich is little "bugs" that migrate to the tissues of your eyes and your brain! There is no cure!

by **demolitionic** » July 11th, 2008, 5:24 pm

oh

my

smurfing

god

by **Marinepits** » July 11th, 2008, 5:48 pm

Yeah, it's like an old-school Star Trek episode. :shock:

by **Malli** » July 11th, 2008, 5:56 pm

umm, its no joke

by **BigDogBuford** » July 11th, 2008, 6:03 pm

Yeah, raccoon roundworms are nasty. Pretty they'd survive the end of the world with the cockroaches.

Baby Raccoons

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