This is a pic of one of my wild pet raccoons. It was very hot out and she found her a nice shady area under the truck.

Don't YOU do this. You must know what you are doing.

Mr TreeCat at back porch waiting for treat.

Raccoons wash their food.

This is Miss Coonie.

Wow.. Ms. Coonie is very cute.. I wish I have a raccoon..

rheydickson wrote: Wow.. Ms. Coonie is very cute.. I wish I have a raccoon..

I would like one as well

ewwwww sooooo cute !! now i want one!!!

Their claws are like razor blades, very very sharp.

Also, raccoons are said to get rabies very easily.

I have tree stands and feed them dry dog food. I've been feeding them, about 8 years. I've never seen a rabid one but I do keep it in mind.

Some of them stay skittish and don't come to the house. There are always a few very friendly ones, like Coonie and TreeCat. I named TreeCat his name because he would climb high in a big tree out back of the house, where he could
see inside my kitchen window. I could hold up a marshmallow or slice of cornbread to the window, and down the
tree he would climb, head over to the back porch, wait for me to give him the treat. TreeCat became one of my fav's.
He would lay on the back porch steps, wrap his legs around the banister, play on the steps, waiting patiently for a
treat. It seemed he was always playful and always smiling. I don't know what become of him as I don't see him
any more that I know of. It's almost impossible to tell them apart.

The absolute cutest, is the babies. Once the babies get old enough to walk and leave their nest, mom will bring
them to the tree stands, to show them where they can get food. They gurgle and purr and sound like little birds
cooing and gurgling. They look like little fur balls.

eww they sound soo cute how old are they since u know them for more then 8 years? and how many babies they have? sounds like a wonderful family

I am not sure how old they are. It's very difficult to tell them apart because they all look alike.
Some may look a little darker or little lighter than the others. I think the males for the most part,
stay away and it seems to be mainly the females that are not as skittish. The males seem to be
larger and a tad darker.

They say that raccoons don't have a long life span. Of course, much of that is due to them getting
killed by predators and hunters....also they seem to get run over in the road. However, they do
pretty much stay in their own territory within a few acre area. So if they are in a good area, such
as on my property, they will live longer. They don't have to wonder distances to find food, they have
a nice wooded area and plenty of places to make their dens.

I think some can live as old as 10 to 15 years when they are not hunted or run over. Most live no
longer than 4 or 5 years.

Go to youtube some time and look up 'Willie the Raccoon'. You'll get a big kick out of those videos.

can you tell me more about how you got them or met them

Well, I bought this place 8 years ago. I have almost 8 acres that my home is on. I live in a rural area and I have woods and a pond. One day about 8 years ago, I was sitting out back inside a screened in porch. Something moving caught my right eye and I turned my head to see what it was. It was 'Coonie' (before I named her), eating bird seed that I left on the ground for the birds. I stood up, went over to that side of the screen porch, and watched her. It was late evening but still daylight enough for me to see it was a raccoon. After I watched her for a couple of minutes, I said loudly in a baby type voice 'WHAT YA DOIN' and she ran away. The next evening, there she was again...and again, I said 'WHAT YA DOIN' but she did not run, she turned and looked at me, and stood very still. I said 'GO ON AND EAT, I'M NOT GONNA HURT YA'...and I went back and sat down, I could see her out of the corner of my eye, it was like she understood, she went back to eating the bird seed. Most every evening, I would see her, eating the bird seed, she came to realize, I was not going to hurt her and I did not care if she ate it. One day, I did not put the bird seed out, as the bird feeder was still rather full and I did not think about scattering some on the ground for her. As I was sitting there, that evening, I thought I heard a noise and looked over at the door, and there she was, standing up at the door, peering in. All I could see was her ears and eyes. Since she did not see the bird seed, she had actually came over to the door, and was more or less, telling me to put some bird seed out there for her.

I don't remember what I gave her, but I said 'WAIT A MINUTE COONIE' and I went in the house and grabbed a biscuit or something for her, opened the door, she backed up, and I tossed it out, she grabbed it, sat in the grass and ate it. From that day on, I called her Coonie and she made it a point to come to the back porch door, every evening for food.

One late evening, when she arrived, she had three little baby raccoons with her.

I made three tree stands after that. In other words, I made out of scrap wood, trays, and I put them in three trees. I put dry dog food in each one. They discovered them very quickly. To this day, ever evening, I go out and put dry dog food in each of the three tree stands.

I don't think Coonie is alive any more. She might be but I suspect she is not. However, I suppose her line of generations after her, are here. Some come up to me. Some will even knock on my door by bumping the door several times...they do this if there is no food as some times other raccoons eat the food and none is left...so there may be one or two that knock on my door. I will hand them something. Some times a slice of bread or marshmallows or cookies, or cornbread, etc. They eat anything and they LOVE SWEETS. They especially love marshmallows. I don't give them too many sweets, as I try and give them nourishing foods.

PS. They say that raccoons are nocturnal animals and for the most part they are. However, in the summer, it is very hot here, they come out even during the mornings and afternoons. Just like the raccoon under the truck in the photo...it was very hot that day so she went under the truck for shade to wait for treat.

PSS. Another reason why they come up to the house, is because some times I won't leave any food for them in the tree stands. I don't want them totally dependent on me. They need to keep their forging/hunting skills so they can pass on their food forging skills to their offspring. I won't be around forever, they need to know how to get food on their own.

poor Connie what a lovely story!!! when you call them they come to you!?

Yes they will come to me if they are out there awake, when I call them.

I'm afraid of raccoons.

It might be a good thing that you are afraid of them.

Are raccoons something to be afraid of? Are they really harmful? Sorry for asking this 'coz I really haven't seen one since..

I think they look cute then once you turn your back claws out and running at you

No they are nothing to be afraid of. Unless of course, it's a rabid raccoon. Every rabid animal is dangerous.

Take a look at the pic again of them standing up to take food.

It's advised not to feed them by hand. I do, because I know which ones I can hand food to. If it is a raccoon,
not use to taking food from a human hand, he might cut you not meaning to. He might be nervous because
you are a human and grab the food quickly and slice your hand.

The first time I fed them by hand, I wore welder gloves.

Most of them are skittish and will come not too close and keep their distance of me.

When they get use to you, become not afraid, know you are not going to hurt them, they take the food
from your hand, very slowly, very carefully, they are smart and they know their claws are sharp.

I also have pet woodpeckers and pet squirrels.

Woody, is the main woodpecker that is a wild pet. He follows me from tree to tree when I put the dog
food in the tree stands. Woody grabs the dog crumbs, and flies up the trees and hides the crumbs under
the bark of the tree. Woody is a female and when she has babies, she teaches her baby woodpeckers, to
peck, shows them how to find food behind the bark....which is usually ants and bugs of course but I imagine
the babies have gotten a crumb of dog food too. I don't know if Woody remembers where she places the
crumbs, but the trees must be full of dog crumbs by now. She's been doing it for years.