Raising Raccoons (birds, look, dog, cold)

[BlackShoe]

As other posters have mentioned, racoons are cute, playful, and highly intelligent. However, they can also be vicious and very destructive. A couple I know spent over $5000 in exterminator and repair bills to rid and fix their house after a family of racoons moved in. A big male can back off a bobcat or coyote and kill cats or small dogs, and are not to be messed with. With few exceptions, wild animals just are not good pets, in spite of well intentioned humans lavishing care and affection on them.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

We found an orphaned one and fed it so it wouldn't die. It was really docile and ended up wandering over to a neighbor's place that had better food than we did I guess. He would jump on you for a ride but eventually got so big we had to put stuff over his favorite launching spots because he was so fat he would knock you down. He specialized if finding food in your truck or car. I expected this one to turn mean but since it was raised with cats and dogs it never turned nasty.

[TroutDude]

Always interesting and educational to hear the experiences of others. Thanks to all for their input.

[Versatile]

Those things can turn on you in a minute for no reason at all. YMMV

[schmink]

Back in the day when it was legal to have raccoons as pets a vet told me that if you got them fixed most of them would make good pets if handled properly. They will even use a litter box.

[Kracer]

Raised a raccoon that I got from an animal shelter. Two kits were taken from someone's attic, eyes were still closed. Shelter put them in with a nursing cat who accepted them. When the cat dried up I was given one male raccoon. Bottle fed it until it got on solid food. Fed it dog food. Lived for 11 years, suddenly died.

Loved iced tea, pennies, oyster crackers from restaurants, snagged afew starlings through his cage floor. When small he would follow me around on my heels and would climb my pants when I washed dishes to play in the sink.

He was great with a torque wrench and helped me rebuild chevy engines for the vette. Here he asks about torque sequence and double checks the ft pounds on a small block chevy. He loved to check for loose valves and make sure no crayfish were hiding in the exhaust ports.

I let the state know but back then word of mouth was all that was required. Took it to a vet for shots.

Super nice to me didn't like strangers. Would woop if a somebody came into the yard. Loved to play with the german shepherd, would stand up grab the dog around the neck and fall over pinning the dog. Nooc was 48 pounds at one point.

When I worked in the yard on cars, I'd stick him in the big sycamore tree for the day where he would stay until evening when he'd come down and climb onto my shoulder and go back in the cage.

For the first few months he lived in the house, paper trained himself and slept when we slept. Then he turned nocturnal and wreaked havoc on the medicine chest, plants, curtains, jewelry box, etc.

Nipped my sister-in-law...no bleeding. She goes to hospital, cops show upo 2am. humane society girl shows up in the am and tries to hug him. All is well.

One day he was on my shoulder and my bro in law shows up and scares the raccoon who did a hurt dance on my face.

We were real tight until i moved from home. He took to my dad and turned on me. Short memory span.
Got the raccoon clan scars on both thumb bases where his eye tooth sank deep into my flesh.

I accepted his harsh behavior toward me as he was a wild critter. He was as nice to my dad as was aggressive to me. I could hold a glass of iced tea for him to drink and he would hold my hand and make cooing sounds as he drank. Ahhh he loves me! The instant he was finished he attacked.

Wild raccoons often carry rabies. You get rabies you die. Not a good idea these days as the state agencies and humaniac societies will fine, sue and imprison you for looking at a wild animal.

[no kudzu]

A few years ago I had a friend who kept a pet racoon in a run in her back yard. Everyday she baked 2 boxes of Jiffy Mix corn bread for him. I'm sure she fed him something else too. he grew quite large.

One day her friend came by to help around the house and garden because my friend was exhausted after caring for her husband who was recovering from serious back surgery. No bedrooms on the ground floor so husband was put in a hospital bed in the den.

The friend went out to feed the racoon which she had done many times before. But something went terribly wrong and it attacked her. She screamed and screamed but could not get away from the animal. The husband heard the screams, jumped up from his hospital bed and ran to help her but ran head first into a door way and was knocked out and damaged his back even worse. The lady got out of the pen but was badly injured. My friend called for 2 ambulances and almost had a stroke herself.

The lady lost an eye and was badly scared and it changed her life forever and certainly not in a good way. She did not sue but many told her she should have. The husband, who just happened to be a surgeon, had to have additional surgery but he never fully recovered and he had to retire as he could not stand for more than 20 minutes at a time.

My friend was consumed with grief and guilt. For years she ignored everybody who told her she had no business keeping a wild animal. She is a stubborn woman and that ignorance and stubborness caused so many people irreparable damage.

[124c41]

Seeing this thread brought back memories for me. My step-father found a nest of raccoons that the mother apparently died, or had abandoned them. There were two babies, and I was allowed to keep one that I had picked out, in my room in a cage. I would take it out, and play with it, and even took it hunting, and exploring with me. I was a sight in the woods. Had a half-grown 'coon on my shoulder, and a Dachshund walking beside me. I named it "Rocky", and trained it to come to me with certain sounds. I caught crawfish, and bugs for it, and even shad minnows from the pond. But the funniest thing was to feed it saltines. 'Coons wash everything they eat, and the saltine would dissolve in it's hands. The puzzled critter would look up at me as if to say, " WHAT!" However, as it grew, it became unmanageable, and being as there was a lady down the road that fed them in her yard, I decided that it was best to take it there. It was an experience, though.

C:\Users\Owner\Me...early years\image1CATQDZ2P.jpg

[TroutDude]

As some of the above tales attest, it's hardly ever a good idea to make a pet out of a wild animal.

[gouligann]

Our son and his GF found a five week old coon on the side of the road, abandoned, and brought it home. At first they bottle fed it, then fed him cat food. They named him Ronnie. We don't have rabies up in this area (too cold), they kept him with them in their room with them. Slept like a baby on their bed with their cats. He either used a news paper to go on, or they took him outside to do his business, but one day toilet trained himself to urinate in the toilet after watching our son using the toilet one day. Unbelievable how smart they are. He rode with them in the car and looked out the window like a dog. They even took him camping and he would scamper around, but rarely wandered far from them.

Once he was older, we fixed up a stall in our barn for him, kept him in there for his own safety for 6 months and slowly released him to the wild. He never turned mean and bit anyone, but he would warn you if he was eating, and you learned to listen and respect.

He thrived in the wild, but came almost every day up onto our deck to eat our leftovers, cat food and black sunflower seeds. He also loved hotdogs. He started showing up with a female and one baby. (maybe it was his?) One day when he was 23, he just stopped coming, and we don't know if he was killed by something, or someone, or wandered away. We miss him a lot, but we now have other wild coons coming up onto our deck for their evening treats.