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Raccoon Babies

Posted: Jun 10, 2007 8:19 pm
by renaldo75
Last week the neighbor kid brought home 2 raccoon babies. He'd been working for a farmer & a male raccoon had discovered the 4 babies & was trying to kill them or hurt them badly. Zach & the kid he was working with managed to run off the male. No sign of the mother apparently. They each took 2 of the babies home. Sara & I saw them that 1st evening. Both held one of them. Zach's mom was holding the milder of the 2 while we held the other one that was definitely not a happy little camper that nite. But they have mellowed since then & are happier. A kitten they have likes to play with them. They make cute little 'clicking' noises when they're checking things out.

Sara was called into duty to feed them a couple of times today since the family is gonna be gone until evening. Perfect time to get some pics of Sara & the little raccoons. :wink: :cool: They are eating kitten milk [dried that you add water to] that we had & had given them.

This is the female. She's much more inquisitive/less shy than her brother so she's much easier to feed. And as result she's much fatter. :wink:
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A little bit of playtime after lunch.
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Sara was laughing when I took this pic cuz it's little claws were tickling her & it's cold nose was sniffing on her neck. LOL
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The underfed little brother decided that Sara's fingers were pretty tasty & was sucking on them.
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All of these pics show them outside of the cage, but they were both pretty nervous & kept going in & out of their safe place every couple of minutes. Sara said this evening that she thinks the male is teething.

They are adorable... :P Now. :???: I don't know if any thought has been given to what they'll be like when they get bigger. They had given one of them to a friend, but it was returned cuz it was too noisy. More than likely it wasn't happy cuz it was separated from the other one. Can't blame it.

Posted: Jun 11, 2007 7:29 am
by PeggyC
:P Awwww... they are so cute! Lucky Sara for being able to help take care of them. Great photos Reldon... they made me smile!

Posted: Jun 11, 2007 8:10 am
by Annie
Awww cute!!

As for anyone keeping them for pets, I have never seen a "nice" adult raccoon.

I have known several people who try to keep them, but once they grow up they can get mean. Like biting.


I would ask them to find a place if they can, some place that raise wild animals and release them back into the wild. :)
That would be their best bet.

Posted: Jun 11, 2007 11:03 am
by renaldo75
Thanks, ladies. :P

I couldn't agree more, Annie - hopefully they will realize that they can't keep them. :???:

Posted: Jun 11, 2007 12:40 pm
by Linda P
Great pics! They brought back the memories of the raccoon that my brother and I raised one summer. His mom was killed on the road, along with all his siblings. My dad stopped and picked him up and brought him home. We had him for several years. We lived on a farm, with about 9 acres of woods and pasture surrounding our house. We left the cage door open, and he could come and go, but he slept in the cage until he died. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that we were overfeeding him. My younger brothers would give him treats all the time, and he ended up becoming morbidly obese and died of a heart attack. So sad. They are just delightful animals when they are babies, but they do get mean. Ours didn't, for some reason, but he was only 3 or so when he died.
There was another raccoon some years later that my younger brothers rescued. He was free to come and go also, and he moved into a hollow tree. He would come down and play with the big old collie every night for years. Sometimes in the morning they would find him sleeping on top of the dog on the front porch. I think the raccoon was still alive when the collie died, because Mom would hear scrabbling on the porch and she would sometimes be able to see Harry out there running up the tree as soon as she turned the light on.
I hope they find a good place for them to grow up.
I like the t-shirt Sara is wearing. I think I need one of those!
Linda P

Posted: Jun 11, 2007 5:18 pm
by petal*pusher
Such a cutie....and the raccoons are cute too!

Unfortunately, we have a small mama coon and babies living under the deck! :o

I knew a racoon was sneaking over and eating the food we've been putting out for the old ferrel cat that's been here for over a year (Bummer)...but I wasn't aware she was LIVING under there! I thought there were 2 little ones, but the other night, 4 came out! They're so cute....but I sure am waiting until I actually see the old cat before putting any food out there.

How do I get rid of them? I really don't want to hurt 'em....but what happens next?? H-E-L-P!!!!.....p :o

Posted: Jun 11, 2007 5:52 pm
by wishiwere
We had 4 one year that we took to a relocator south of us, b/c they seemingly didn't have a mother. My Betsy (a cocker) was herding them to the back door when we saw them first. Brought her in and they stayed under the deck for 2 nights, till we finally put them a cage and took them to this guy that did for a living.

I've heard they can carry a 'something', can't remember what it was now, but they had us leech the area where the cage had sat for only a few hours. Sorry, can't even remember the whole ordeal now. Something the dogs could have gotten had we not treated the area. Danged if I can remember! :(

They were cute as all get out though. :D

Posted: Jun 11, 2007 6:37 pm
by renaldo75
Thanks everybody. :P I bet you have some neat memories, Linda. :cool:

Petal Pusher - I'd check in your area to see if there are any animal rehabbers & see what they suggest for getting your raccoon family out from under the porch.

Posted: Jun 11, 2007 9:30 pm
by nanny_56
Racoons can carry rabies. The babies are soooo cute though. I put critter food out at night for ours. We get 3- or 4 at least that we know of but haven't seen any real littles ones yet.

A boy in our neighborhood was walking around carrying one the other day. It had to be very young , it was very small, about puppy size. I couldn't help but wonder if he found it while mom was out and now she is wondering what happened to her baby!

Claudia

Posted: Jun 15, 2007 1:41 pm
by Dusty
:D This will be such a life lasting memory for Sara. I am thrilled she gets to expierence this.