I knew we had a raccoon living in a hole in one of our trees because it poked its head out once during the day. It also has walked on our roof right past our bedroom window at night a few times. It looked pretty big.
So tonight there was a tremendous racket from outside. Shrieking sorts of sounds. We got the flashlight and found the hole in the tree. Well, there were two baby (about 3 lbs. I’d guess) raccoons on top of our squirrel feeder about halfway down to the ground from the hole. But they didn’t seem to be the source of the shrieking. Then we looked higher and there was another baby in a fork of the tree about the same distance up from the hole. That baby was shrieking. The mother would go down to the two, we think trying to get them to keep going down to the ground. Then the upper baby would start in shrieking, so she would climb up to it and push it back into the fork and it stopped crying. Then she’d go back down to the two, but before she could do anything the upper baby had poked itself out again and started shrieking. The poor mother kept going back and forth. Finally, she had the upper baby climb down head first as she climbed down backwards right in front of it and it got to the top of the squirrel feeder. Whew!
Then she was trying to convince them to come down from the squirrel feeder. No luck. So she grabbed one and dragged him down and he followed her off somewhere. The next baby wanted to follow so he tried to climb down and fell. He seemed fine though, but it was not really very funny. The mother came back and led the one that had fallen to wherever they were going. Meanwhile we could hear the first one she had dragged off shrieking from another tree. As she led the fallen baby away the one baby on the squirrel feeder started going crazy shrieking and crying. Finally she got them all down and together, presumably, because all crying stopped. What a job!
I really wonder if they were ready to come out. They seemed awfully helpless. I’m not sure how I feel about living with a lot of raccoons. They haven’t caused any problems so far. I wish them the best but I feel a little nervous about the whole thing I guess.
We have tons of them here. At work, which is on a federal wildlife preserve, they are very bold. Any other hospital would trap and remove them, but we have to be very nice to ours. They get into the trash bins at night, dragging everything out onto the lawn. We’re not supposed to feed them, of course, so everyone just drops their offerings in the nearest rubbish bin where it’s convenient for them to find it.
They sleep charmingly in trees outside office windows all day, larger ones by themselves and smaller ones in little heaps draped over the branches. Every now and then, a family of them will shelter in an entranceway where it’s shady and nice, and we have to call the game warden, who comes and shoos them.
If you “clean up” after any raccoon fests, please PLEASE wash your hands really, really well. Raccoons are notorious for carrying various parasites (giardia being a big one). I know this from very, long, sick, personal experience.
We had a family take up residence in our yard, mom and 3 babies. We were sitting in the yard one night, no lights on, and we knew they were all prowling around. We sat quietly, then turned the lights on and caught 2 of the babies up a small dogwood tree. I walked over to the tree, and they climbed UP it, to the top where the branches were young and not strong. I started to have a little fun, moving the tree back and forth. The two of them clung to each other, whipping back and forth, staring at me with HUGE eyes. When I stopped and walked away, they then came down and ran.
We’ve had raccoons destroy numberous bird feeders (even broke the metal pole one was on), get in the garage and spread dog food all over, roll a locked, bungie corded garbage can 200 ft down the road, etc.
Racoons and coyotes are becoming ever more used to our presence and moving into cities with less and less fear or regard for us. Racoons and possums are stowing away in transport trucks and escaping this side of the border. They are cited by wildlife mgmt services as introducing new strains of rabies here.
Its important to note that they are not safe or friendly pets. They are wild animals, often sick, and usually carrying stuff you don’t want to become acquainted with. Leave “cute” on tv with Walt Disney when dealing with real wildlife.
Thanks for the warning about cleaning up after them and parasites. So far we haven’t had any problems and I’m hoping that it will stay that way. The bird feeders and gargage cans have been okay so far. We have a vegetable-yard waste compost pile which a number of critters seem to get into at night, but there haven’t been any real problems with that. I definitely consider them wild animals and plan to view them only from a very good distance. The adults are really quite large! I know of numerous others in town, so moving them would probably not accomplish much. I’m hoping for the best.
No kidding. They also have a catlike ability to compress their bodies. One night while on a walk I watched a fully grown, very big and fat raccoon squeeze itself into the sewer through a cubside storm drain that couldn’t have been more than a five-inch gap. It was amazing to behold. Funny, too.
If you really want to catch them, here’s what we found worked best:
You need the “large size” Havaheart trap. As stated, it’s not unusual to find a “city” raccoon over 20 lbs.
Only raise up ONE side of the trap, have the other end hooked securely.
Place a brick or something on the door you have up, so it will drop down well, and the little buggers tail doesn’t keep the door open.
Smear “chicken liver” spread (locally known as braunschwiger) on the trap plate, then wrap it in plastic. Common - they eat garbage - make it look like garbage.
If you are then going to release the critter, you must take it AT LEAST 5 miles away, or it will just find it’s way back.
You may also get a 'possum and the neighbor’s cat with the above trap…
Yeah, we had two little dogs that periodically dug out of the yard. One got caught in the Havaheart (set for a pesky skunk) & the other obligingly sat down to keep him company. The dogcatcher got a twofer on that one- we had to pay fines for both.
They had racoons at the Bison farm. First time I’d seen one up close. Hell, there’s two, three no five! Once they’re up a tree they are REALLY hard to spot. I’m telling you. Me. That’s seen a racoon once.
But the telling thing, the REALLY telling thing, is that they have gophers and chipmunks and Bison and Owls and all kinds of creatures, behind your regular, ordinary fences and walls.
Aye, they’re ferocious wee beasties, an’ mad fer ta blood. They’d as soon rip ya a new arse as look at yeh. Its nuttin’ fer a ‘coon ta sashay up to a cage wall an’ just tek a great big bite out of it an’ spit it at ye, jus’ to put th’ fear o’ God in ya.
I guess we’d probably have to have someone trap them if it came down to that, as long as I was sure they would be re-located and not killed. I just feel like that might be a little out of our league. A 20 lb. upset animal with little hands sounds scary to me. We do have wandering cats (not mine) and possums around here too.
Some people in the country do shoot them, but that would be illegal in town, not to mention that we don’t know the first thing about guns and that we do basically like the raccoons. I’m just hoping we can live side by side. I think we can. I did used to love Davy Crockett though.
The hole in the tree is very small. I would never have believed a raccoon could have gotten in there if I hadn’t seen its face looking out one day about a month ago. Even then, I wondered if I was seeing things.
I’ll keep the electric fence in mind. Interesting idea there. Are there no raccoons in England? No wild ones?
I’d never thought of raccoons as unique animals until this thread. Now I’m gonna have to go look it up.
I hope ya’ll can co-exist. I think it would be entertaining to have such a family to watch. I guess it would be like us trying to keep up with 2 1/2 year old triplets. Whew!
If you do have to get someone to trap them, be sure it’s not a coon hunter. Do you have them in your area? They love to trap them to use as bait/training for their hounds.
Just found this-
There are three species of raccoon. The most widespread is the common raccoon (P. lotor), which has a natural range of North America and Central America, and has been introduced to Continental Europe.
I hope we can coexist too. The parents have surely been out and about and there seem to have been no problems, so I think it will be okay. The workman cleaning our gutters said there were a couple of small holes in the garage roof, but that could be squirrels. No animals seem to be getting in but we do need to have that roof fixed.
My husband says that there are people that hunt raccoons for sport around here. I didn’t know that! Yes, I would be really concerned that someone that trapped raccoons wouldn’t release them safely. Even a company I would worry they might not want to take the trouble to drive well away from town. I think we’d best learn to get along no matter what it takes!
We are waiting to see if they will come out again tonight. It was at about 10PM last night so it may be in about an hour. We are puzzled that our two cats showed no interest in the sounds the raccoons made last night. I found a website for raccoon lovers which I need to find again. It had lots of information and I’m sure it will talk about how to avoid problems, etc.
Read somewhere that the mortality rate for relocating animals is around 60%. If you release them where there’s no food, they die. If you release them near a food source, then there is already a resident population - and the territory may not support a newcomer. (Let alone the dynamics of introducing a new animal into someone else’s territory!) We were told by a pest control company that regulations require them to either kill any animal they capture, or else release it within 100 yards of where it was trapped.
We’ve watch at least two generations of racoons raise young’uns in our hollow tree. Each time I see them, I tell them to stay out of the garbage, or I’ll make a hat out of them! They usually listen, although my wife cleaned up an overturned garbage can this morning. (The current racoon mother has five kits - she gets a little slack!!) We’ve managed to coexist for 6 or 7 years now.
I’ll tell the raccoons what the deal is the next time I see them. I hadn’t thought about relocating animals being a problem for them, but it certainly makes sense now that you mention it. I don’t know why they haven’t gone after the garbage can yet. Maybe the compost pile, although it is just vegetable waste, keeps them happy? I’m convinced by everything people have said that we can solve any problems.
One thing that I was a little scared about was since our bedroom window is upstairs and the porch roof is right under it, is there any reason to fear the raccoons breaking in through the screen? I know they could if they wanted to, but if there isn’t food there is there any reason for me to feel nervous? I have seen the parent walking on that roof so I know they go there but they showed no interest in approaching me or the screen. We were away for a few days and I wanted to leave that window open for the cats to sit in, but finally decided to close it because I thought maybe something weird could happen. One cat really growled when she saw the raccoon but the raccoon just walked away, neither scared nor aggressive.
Cynth, I’m sure you’ve been coexisting peacefully with those raccoons for years! Which is why your cats showed no interest in the sounds . . .
Just enjoy them from a distance. They won’t bother you, I’m sure. As long as they’re not living IN your house, it’s fine.
We have tons of them here. Possum, too. They cruise around at night, only becoming a problem if you have a pet door or leave your trash can lid loose.
It’s a question of what you’re used to. Your perspective plays a large part in this.
Right now, the concept of having wild animals is looming in your mind. If you lived here, though, you wouldn’t be concerned about a few raccoons. Just about anything becomes a delight when you consider that you could have a 6 to 14-foot carnivorous reptile instead. Or two.
Oh dear, just the thought of alligators. Actually, I’m sure you are right that we have had all these little critters around all along but I just hadn’t seen them. And if not in that particular tree, well then in one farther back in the yard where we never looked at night. We have no pet doors (I have heard stories about those!) so I think we’ll be fine. I’m going to check right now to see if there is any activity. Definitely no noises tonight like last night so far—which is probably good since they were unhappy baby noises.
FWIW: You should also check your own local laws. In some communities, (mine for instance) it’s against the law to trap and move wild animals. It has to be done by a professional. (for the above stated reasons I guess.)
As far as I know, Raccoons are native to North and Central America. Wikipedia says they’ve been introduced to mainland Europe as well.
I’ve seen raccoons twice in my life, both times while I was living in downstate NY. One was on top of our birdfeeder at night, and we have a flash photo of him looking at us with bright red-eye. The other was at a friend’s back yard, but in daytime. He was obviously rabid, and animal control had to be called to shoot him.
I’ll tell the raccoons what the deal is the next time I see them. I hadn’t thought about relocating animals being a problem for them, but it certainly makes sense now that you mention it. I don’t know why they haven’t gone after the garbage can yet. Maybe the compost pile, although it is just vegetable waste, keeps them happy? I’m convinced by everything people have said that we can solve any problems.
