Saturday, September 15, 2007

Baby Raccoons

Here's this year's crop of baby raccoons. That's mom in the back. This was one of their first trips to the cat's dish (in addition to our kittens, we feed a stray cat -- but he's a real coward when it comes to 'coons). I believe there are actually 3 babies, but we only see two here.

[Correction -- there are 4 babies.]


In this picture, mom is planning to run off with the bowl of cat food. These may be her babies, but she has no intention to share with them. Of course with a baby in the bowl, she's not likely to make a clean getaway. You can see where this is heading...


And here's mom on the left and junior on the right, picking up the pieces.

We have a neighbor who really likes having raccoons around -- so we're planning to try to trap these babies and take them over to him. Don't worry -- it's a cage trap, they won't be hurt.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Stormy, that was Liz and Sarge, right?

Sandra said...

Oh don't tell me you named the coons. :) My mom and dad, in Boerne, have a coon that eats on the back deck. My mom gets so mad sometimes if the cats don't eat first and then the coon. They still have fun watching the coon. My bother-n-law just threatens to bring out the 9mm.

Stormy said...

Hi Sandra,

We haven't really named them -- just identified. In fact Marc and I had a discussion over me referring to one as "mom", as our original 'coon is the one we refer to as "Mom" -- this is a second generation mother.

One of the babies has gotten really cheeky -- doesn't even run when we come outside (or at least not for a while). Marc has brought out the shotgun to make loud noises and scare them off. They run, but they're back in a few minutes. ;-)

Stormy said...

OK, I had to go searching. Here's a link to our "Big Momma" -- the original. She's probably the mother of the "mom" raccoon in this post.

http://cabinwood.blogspot.com/2006/06/cave-procyon-lotor.html

Stormy said...

Oops. The link didn't wrap.

http://cabinwood.blogspot.com/
2006/06/cave-procyon-lotor.html

You'll have to cut and paste.

Lee said...

How cute they look! I hope they're not rabid! That's one thing we don't have to worry about here in Aus, rabies...fortunately.

Stormy said...

Hi Lee,

Rabies is always a possibility here, but I'm pretty sure that these little guys are quite healthy.

Unknown said...

Yep, they are getting brave. Two of the Racoon kits came up today at about 3:00 pm and checked me out, sniffed my feet, and then started eating the cat's dinner about 3" away.

I really need to take them over to Cletus' place on Bessies Creek. He wants them!

Sandra, BTW, Liz and Sarge are commenters over at LST( http://lonestartimes.com/ ) they live near us out in the boonies, and I keep threatening to take them our excess critters.

Unknown said...

Lee,
We have very few problems with Rabies around here. The few problems we have seen are with Skunks and Bats. It is pretty obvious when an animal has the disease, as they act completely different from a healthy one.