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One of my sisters fosters abandoned baby raccoons. She brings them to the family cabin in the summer and other family members (like me) get to spend a lot of time with these fascinating animals. I thought some of you folks would enjoy seeing a few pictures.
In this one, my dog, a Jack Russel, doesn't know quite what to make of this critter. (They later learned to get along reasonably well together.)
They like to play, including wrestling.
They like to climb - on anything and everything.
They're marvelous animals - intelligent, curious and playful. We've successfully released several in the wild over the years. A couple have returned periodically to visit and one even brought her kits.
Unfortunately, they may undergo a temperament change when they hit puberty. So be alert to this fact. Right now they are totally adorable. Thanks for the pictures.
oh I just love them and we used to feed them when our dad would let us on the back 40 as my dad says . some of them have come back to visit from time to time and I loved that . Yes just be careful with them because at times they can become wretched and mean . so please be careful .
So far, so good, in the "mean" department. Perhaps the ones that totally revert to their wild ways are the ones we don't get visits from. The raccoons are released as adulthood approaches. During the summer, we teach them to hunt minnows and crayfish. After release, we augment with dry cat food set some distance from the cabin. By the time the snow flies in November, they're on their own again until the following spring.
Location: Los Angeles>Little Rock>Houston>Little Rock
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Recently we have had some raccoons coming to eat the food we put out for the neighborhood stray cats. I love watching them, but hubby is freaked out about it so now I have to bring the food in at night.
Raccoons also love black oily sunflower seeds – straight out of our “squirrel proof” bird feeders. They also have a sweet tooth for marshmallows.
Several years ago we put out squirrel proof bird feeders. They were fine at first. Then we started to notice that the bird seed was down in the morning and that the feeders had been turned. Bear will just wreck the feeders and bend the mounting poles. This was a case of the feeder turned so that an animal could eat out of it better. My wife thought that it was a nocturnal squirrel – I know that the only nocturnal squirrels are our flying squirrels. To catch the culprit/s we set up our security alarm on the bird feeders. It is amazing how many nocturnal animals enjoy black oily sunflower seed. Of course; raccoons are the usually customers.
We never made physical contact with the raccoons. Yes; they are very cute, playful and curious. But you have to worry about rabies, the raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris infection) and Leptospirosis. As more raccoons started to frequented our feeders; we finally took them down. At one time we could identify nine different raccoons visiting our feeders.
Baby Raccoons are cute, as these photos attest, but they are not to be kept as pets. Recently, a family in Michigan had been keeping a Raccoon as a pet--until it ate their baby's nose off. Actually, the damage to their child was more extensive, but I'll leave it at that.
In high school my best friend got a baby raccoon for a pet. It was a really cute little thing, but it got into everything. They are so curious and can easily get into most everything. As someone mentioned they change when they reach puberty. It went froma tame play kit to a very very nasty adult. It had to be caged and there was no way you could handle it anymore.
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