Just had a guest on the deck: a raccoon!
It stopped by around 5:30 this evening.
Protruding nipples. Looks like it’s keeping weight off a rear leg.
Not frothing.
It checked out our grille and the can that holds bird seed.
Last we saw, it’s in the woods next to our house. It can chill there.
Do we have a new mom in the neighborhood or do we think something is up with it? Animal control closed until morning.
And the raccoon just came to our sliding door. This time, it seemed to walk on all fours.
Here!
Yep, definitely a nursing mama, probably her first litter. Puppy Chow is really good for them nutritionally, but obviously they're not very picky eaters. Just avoid chocolate, garlic & anything too salty.
Don't worry about making her fearless of humans. They know individuals & will still avoid anyone who doesn't give them handouts.
If you don't want her around, just ignore her. She's hungry & will keep searching for food.
Thanks, Pete. I was hoping you’d see this.
Pop Tarts. Don't ask.... but I will attest mama raccoons love them so much
Working at St Lucie in FL for a bit. Heard the stories about them at the plant, but had not seen one other trips.
Saw a big 'ol healthy one strolling through the outside parts of the plant today. And i do mean a big 'ol healthy one! He ain't been surviving in the woods like all the others I've seen!
Raccoons do tend to get rabies a bit more often than other mammals, but it's not as common as the internet thinks. The CDC tested a truckload of animals, and 35% of the entire lot tested were positive raccoons. That is not to say that 35% of raccoons have rabies. Their data reporting was a bit confusing and the world suddenly thought that all trash pandas were going to kill you.
They die very shortly after the incubation period, and you can only contract rabies if it bites you, you ingest some of it's saliva (rather unlikely I would think), or you trade blood somehow.
I remember back about 10 years ago, we had a rabid dog pestering the farms around us. Dad shot it and called animal control. A guy came out and picked it up with his bare hands to load it in the truck. He wasn't concerned about it, but he did spray his hands and arms with chlorhexidine when he was done.
Fortunately the vaccines these days are pretty simple. My sister was bitten by a bat when she stepped on it and got the shots. It's no longer something like 7 shots in the stomach, it's two shots and she didn't have any ill effects from it.
TL;DR... it's unlikely it's rabid, even more unlikely that it would carry the pups to term if it were, and it's not easy to get rabies from it... and if you do, the shots are cheap and mostly painless.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
I have no idea what Florida's stats are, but there hasn't been a rabid raccoon identified in MS for over 55-years.
Fwiw I did get bit by one of our kits a year ago & out of an abundance of caution went to get my rabies shot - that E36 M3 is bright fluorescent pink! But there was zero indication she was rabid. She was hungry, stood up to reach for the food bowl, her mouth was open & she happened to contact me just below the knee. It wasn't even enough blood for a bandaid.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:Fortunately the vaccines these days are pretty simple. My sister was bitten by a bat when she stepped on it and got the shots. It's no longer something like 7 shots in the stomach, it's two shots and she didn't have any ill effects from it.
7?
I got 30 shots in the early 80s. I got ripped off.
Just watched the video I shot earlier of it. It’s very cute.
Our neighbor has his cameras set up, too.
We've had recent cases of raccoon rabies here in Florida. They're vectors for a lot of parasites. Major carriers of the cat flea, which is the one that we deal with on our pets. They'll shed flea eggs and feces like a salt and pepper shaker.
I one time left my deck door open. Woke up to a racoon in the kitchen eating the cat food. And the cat just casually watching. I freaked out which freaked out the racoon and he bolted.
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
I have no idea what Florida's stats are, but there hasn't been a rabid raccoon identified in MS for over 55-years.
Fwiw I did get bit by one of our kits a year ago & out of an abundance of caution went to get my rabies shot - that E36 M3 is bright fluorescent pink! But there was zero indication she was rabid. She was hungry, stood up to reach for the food bowl, her mouth was open & she happened to contact me just below the knee. It wasn't even enough blood for a bandaid.
I don't know when PA last documented one, but given the 1-3 day life expectancy after infection, it would be pretty hard to find.
I relocated a whole gaggle (10 -12) of them to a friends place.... Live trap with wonder bread works almost every time.
This all I have on the subject:
Raccoons furthermore are responsible for 60% of the rabies cases in Maryland and can also transmit canine distemper and parvovirus to domestic dogs.
That is from the Maryland DNR website. While I want to like raccoons, no thanks.
camopaint0707 said:I one time left my deck door open. Woke up to a racoon in the kitchen eating the cat food. And the cat just casually watching. I freaked out which freaked out the racoon and he bolted.
I had a whole pack of raccoons sneak into my garage at night while I was working on my bike there. I yelled and ran at them to scare them off but they casually just kept a bare minimum distance from me to avoid being stepped on, they weren't scared at all. They're clearly too used to being yelled at in the suburbs and don't have any experience of being used for target practice in the countryside...
Also a guy I used to work with told me about the Toronto Raccoon Lady. Some woman there has turned her whole backyard into a luxurious raccoon resort, she has a kid's pool there where the raccoons can play and get raccoon baths from her in the summer. And she has a detached garage in her backyard that's unused and the neighbors suspect it's serving as a raccoon hibernaculum.
Noddaz said:This all I have on the subject:
Raccoons furthermore are responsible for 60% of the rabies cases in Maryland and can also transmit canine distemper and parvovirus to domestic dogs.
That is from the Maryland DNR website. While I want to like raccoons, no thanks.
Right, but is that 12 cases since Maryland became a state in 1788, or 500 cases last year?
I don't care if 100% of rabies cases came from Raccoons if the number of total cases is 2.
From years ago at my cabin in Tula, MS:
Notice the pole (was a small tree) just off the end of the porch and if you look close enough you'll see a wood tray at the top. That was my bird and Flying squirrel feeder. Visible in these 2 pics:
Flying squirrel:
One of my many coons raiding the bird feeder:
I could always tell when Fat Boy was coming for a visit because the the pole started swaying. One night I had the door open and no lights on, just enjoying the peace when the pole and feeder started swaying. It was dark, dark. I tiptoed right up to the rail by the feeder and waited. One little coon paw, two little coon paws, big fat coon face. Right before he was going to hoist his fat ass into the feeder I went YAAAAA!!! at the top of my lungs. He just let go. I've rarely laughed that hard. There was a thud, then the sound of running through the leaves.
They go down trees head first like squirrels. FWIW
Bats! Bats are what you need to worry about for rabies. (My wife developed an irrational fear of rabies from bats at some point in medical school and it has not left her.)
I have personally dispatched of one very obviously sick raccoon (I'm in VA). It was pitiful: had gotten stuck in the recently dug turndown for my shop foundation, couldn't hardly stand, much less climb up a 12" dirt incline, had a big spot on a foot it was randomly eating at that looked like it had been trying to eat it's own foot, flies coming in and out of it's mouth, weird noises. Shot it and called public health dept to ask if they wanted to test it's brain. They said unless there's a potential exposure, just throw it away carefully.
I've also let hundreds do their things over the years. My grandad had one he fed by hand in his kitchen for years. "Buttons" or some such. I never made it that far... But I generally find them fun to watch.
"There are zero to two human deaths per year from bat rabies in the United States. A person living in the U.S. is more likely to catch leprosy or the plague than to contract rabies from a bat. Throughout the world 30,000+ people die from the disease each year – 99% of these deaths come from contact with rabid dogs."
We need bats.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Since you asked, here you go. Statistics. I am not here to scare anyone. Just let the wild animals be wild animals.
That being said, don't forget, "and can also transmit canine distemper and parvovirus to domestic dogs. "
I will skip to the end because I don't know how to post a PDF here.
LABORATORY CONFIRMED ANIMAL RABIES IN MARYLAND, 2022
A total of 211 cases in Maryland in 2022, 132 were from raccoons.
NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) said:"There are zero to two human deaths per year from bat rabies in the United States. A person living in the U.S. is more likely to catch leprosy or the plague than to contract rabies from a bat. Throughout the world 30,000+ people die from the disease each year – 99% of these deaths come from contact with rabid dogs."
We need bats.
I said irrational! Haha, preaching to the choir.
Now, we were in Costa Rica, in a house that was open to the outdoors, bathroom firmly located on what I'd call a "portico" and there was a roost (?) of bats under one of the porches and I was telling her she was overreacting (she was wigging), and it didn't take her 10 minutes to pull up an article of a dude who'd died in CR, that year, from rabies, from a bat.
BUT it was like first death in 4 years from rabies in a human, and he was some sort of scientist spending time in caves filled with bats.
So, irrational.
GameboyRMH said:Also a guy I used to work with told me about the Toronto Raccoon Lady. Some woman there has turned her whole backyard into a luxurious raccoon resort, she has a kid's pool there where the raccoons can play and get raccoon baths from her in the summer. And she has a detached garage in her backyard that's unused and the neighbors suspect it's serving as a raccoon hibernaculum.
Yeah, that's totally going to be me in a few more years. We already have a 10x10 enclosure in the back yard that we housed a pair of raccoon rehab patients in a couple years ago. Since then I've added some old blankets, xps insulation sheets & other things to give them shelter. Plus there's the magnolia tree, 3 big live oaks, assorted other smaller trees, and a whole bunch of bamboo/cane. It's really their yard, I just have to go out & yell at them to quiet down occasionally. The neighbors love me.
Edit: Oh, and they've trained me so that when they knock on the back door I'll give them more food. They've knocked 2x in the last hour. I also get up at 5am & when I turn on the patio light there's usually 1/2-dozen or more come running for breakfast.
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