EPTOn September 18 2012 07:28 EffervescentAureola wrote:
Raccoons have rabies and eat food out of trash cans.
Raccoons have rabies and eat food out of trash cans.
Thats so stereotypical - thats like saying every black person is afraid of water.
Getting a Raccoon as a Pet? - Page 2
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Depetrify
978 Posts
Thats so stereotypical - thats like saying every black person is afraid of water. | ||
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sorrowptoss
Canada1431 Posts
 Yeah, raccoons are bloody awesome, just the spelling of the word is freaking awesome to start with. My brother had a raccoon as a stuffed animal when he was younger (and still has it) and it's just adorable. Also, my family once went camping, and it was pitch black and we were around a campfire, and then suddenly we heard some fumbling noises. My father turned on his flashlight and as he look at the car's trunk, we saw about 5 or 6 tiny baby raccoons on top of one another to form an improvised ladder, with the mother on the top trying to open the trunk! How cute is that?  As soon as they saw us they fled, but it was so adorable... For the record, I prefer the brown raccoons, not the grey ones. | ||
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B.I.G.
3251 Posts
that being said, think about your choice. dont be naive and adopt an animal because "awww its sow cuuuute" because if things go bad you will still have a responsibility over this creature. We once adopted a cat that was senile as fuck and took shits everywhere except for the litter box. when he would go outside he would jump of a wall and couldnt return home. i still remember dragging that cat out from under a car every other week because he was being an idiot again.. | ||
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DoDonPachi
Canada69 Posts
Quite a strange pArt of my family history | ||
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Disregard
China10252 Posts
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Zerg.Zilla
Hungary5029 Posts
On September 18 2012 06:55 PassiveAce wrote: ... That sounds terrible. They are messy and mean and they dont like people. That said they are cute. It will fight with your cat (and dogs if they are smaller) and probably kill it if you arnt careful. So they are bad asses... | ||
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Aerisky
United States12129 Posts
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Cowpieguy
United States97 Posts
Trying to mess with wild animals is just asking for trouble. Some things just aren't good ideas. | ||
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munchmunch
Canada789 Posts
http://voices.yahoo.com/raccoons-as-pets-know-804907.html Some choice quotes: Although they can become aggressive once they have matured, raccoons are known to be very friendly and playful animals in general. For this reason, it is not uncommon for them to scratch and bite. Raccoons are known to be one of the animals that most commonly become rabid... One of the most important things that you should know is that, in some states, it is illegal to have a raccoon as a pet. In other states, you may need to have a permit in order to legally keep a pet raccoon. Before you make the decision to adopt a pet raccoon, you may want to consider finding out what the laws in your state in regards to exotic pets are. Edit: this site seems to have a lot of information. | ||
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Ximeng
China57 Posts
My father owned 5 raccoons throughout his younger years and taught me everything he knew about them. (3 at one time was the max) You can train them. In fact they are one of the most intelligent animals you can own unless you buy yourself a dolphin or a great ape. Their hands are some of the most deft in the animal kingdom and can tie knots, untie knots (wish they could unlearn this one), use simple tools, manipulate zippers, and so forth. They are intelligent enough to decide whether they wish to learn some things or not learn them. You will be hard pressed to make a raccoon fetch for you. They will be able to learn about restricted areas and will respect them given proper training. They are loyal and will stay with you but might roam for a period of several days according to their needs and the season and the availablity of other raccoons in the area, specifically of the opposite sex. You will not make a housepet of a raccoon. These guys need just about as much space as you can provide. If you live in the city forget it. If you live on the outskirts of a small town you might be suitable but chances are you will find your raccoon as a pancake on the road, shot by a neighbour, mauled by a dog, or pissing people off by going through their garbage and scattering offal on their property. Ideally you want to live out in the middle of no where. Occupations on-site like in Northern Canada, oil fields with forest nearby, forestry mills, and so on would employ people suitable for owning raccoons. Provided you live in a suitable area as described above you need provide very little food for a raccoon. They will eat just about anything and are natural foragers and hunters. Most of my father's raccoons enjoyed toads and frogs as a snack of choice. I can't imagine feeding them anything from a pet store. Raccoons are some of the most curious animals and combined with their proficiency and ability with their hands this will make for a colourful life. I'll leave out the anecdotes to keep this post as informative as possible but my god did my father ever have some stories to tell. Anyways, you should seriously consider whether YOU are suitable as an owner of a raccoon rather than considering if a raccoon is suitable for you. | ||
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fire_brand
Canada1123 Posts
Raccoon's do not take to being pets well at all. After the release of some anime back in the 70s or something there was a craze in Japan, people wanted pet raccoons. Hundreds of thousands of people. And they tried for several years to domesticate them, and had very little success. They were too wild, too vicious, too destructive. Even the ones who 'succeeded' at taming them were all too happy to tell tales of their raccoons biting them or destroying their furniture. It's their nature after all. Once the craze died down and people realized they weren't as cuddly and cute as they were in the animes they sort of gave up. Raccoons all over japan were released into the wild. They were not native to Japan and were imported in. Unfortunately for japan, they don't really have any natural predators or anything similar to control their population and have spread rapidly over the country. They're also doing what they do best as they spread, destroy human work. Ancient japanese temples all over the country are being destroyed by the foreign interlopers. It's become a huge problem and there is work in the country to get rid of them. Don't get a raccoon. You don't want the same thing that happened to Japan to happen to you. | ||
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Depetrify
978 Posts
On September 19 2012 04:57 fire_brand wrote: Do not get a raccoon as a pet, get the raccoon dog. Raccoon's do not take to being pets well at all. After the release of some anime back in the 70s or something there was a craze in Japan, people wanted pet raccoons. Hundreds of thousands of people. And they tried for several years to domesticate them, and had very little success. They were too wild, too vicious, too destructive. Even the ones who 'succeeded' at taming them were all too happy to tell tales of their raccoons biting them or destroying their furniture. It's their nature after all. Once the craze died down and people realized they weren't as cuddly and cute as they were in the animes they sort of gave up. Raccoons all over japan were released into the wild. They were not native to Japan and were imported in. Unfortunately for japan, they don't really have any natural predators or anything similar to control their population and have spread rapidly over the country. They're also doing what they do best as they spread, destroy human work. Ancient japanese temples all over the country are being destroyed by the foreign interlopers. It's become a huge problem and there is work in the country to get rid of them. Don't get a raccoon. You don't want the same thing that happened to Japan to happen to you. Well thats a convincing argument.. hmmm | ||
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Jayme
United States5866 Posts
On September 20 2012 14:51 Depetrify wrote: Well thats a convincing argument.. hmmm So I have owned a bunch of exotic pets. The only one I have retained is my Savannah cat...who is technically owned illegally now because for SOME REASOM she's banned where I moved to. Thing is your house won't get raided for a domestic animal as long as you don't go walking around with it. Oh right don't do illegal things...right that's the message here. (No just don't get caught in this case.) Anyway I have owned a raccoon before. It was an interesting experience....I love my raccoon and I miss him quite a lot actually (he's still with my parents) but it was a CHORE to own him. I don't reccomend a raccoon. In theory they are awesome animals but they have several issues. I'll go through a few and at the end just summarize it. Let's start with some important things first. Care and training. First if you must get one get one EARLY...pre weened even. You need to bond with one very early. Everything I say from here will assume you got one between six-eight weeks old or so. You CAN train a raccoon and they are smart as all hell. The problem is that they do what they want. Basically they are a really good mesh between a cat and a dog. Trainable, but they learn what they want to. Training them is...difficult in the sense that it takes a lot of time. Early on don't be surprised if you have to spend 3 to 4 hours a day on the raccoon. They will respond to their name nine times out of ten. Sometimes they don't care enough to respond...but they know their name. They have extremely deft use of their hands. Anything from untying knots to opening windows is not out of their reach. They can also open your damn closet. They will OPEN DOORS (if they can get to the doorknob) and turn off light switches. They are also, as said before, insanely intelligent. You need to account for this. It's more like having a two year old than a small animal. If you have a kid that can get into it and mess shit up...your raccoon can too. Their diet is a bit more expensive than your usual cat and dog. Either you're using VERY high quality dog food or you're feeding it a mix of fruits/vegetables/lean chicken/fish. This is far more pricey than your typical dog food. Also they have a more cyclical diet...or should if you're trying to keep the raccoon healthy. They don't really want to eat during the winter but you have to encourage them to eat at least a little bit during this period to prevent possible organ damage. This is due to the fact that most raccoons simply live off their fat stores in the winter(consequently wild raccoons only live to like 6-7...mine is 13) As such their fall diet is RAVENOUS and they eat a shit ton more to prepare for it. You have to account for this. Uh let's see. They bite. They bite hard. Very hard. The good thing is that they will typically give you a warning before impending doom is about to strike...usually through a nip or a look that tells you to fuck off(It's obvious). If they do bite a natural reaction is to hit back...don't do that unless you like to be attacked. They respond to words like "No" but sometimes they're in a no fucks given kinda of mood and you can't do anything about it. Again, kind of like a misbehaving child. Actually going back to this biting thing, Raccoons have a reputation for being vicious animals sometimes. More often than not this is during mating season. There is no easy way to put this...Raccoons are always fucking pissed off during mating season. For males this is December to March. Males will be a lot more active in terms of running around all over the place and generally being a nuisance. Just...bare with it. Male raccoons don't want you to touch them at ALL during this phase. The only time you should ever even entertain the notion of touching a raccoon in this phase is if they come to you. That's it...just leave him alone. For females it's usually heat in January...then a PISSED THE FUCK OFF period for two-three weeks in feburary. If you're having an unlucky year females sometimes hit a second heat in april usually... though it's typically nowhere near as bad. Females are very prone to biting after their heat is over...like...you will get bit for no apparent reason. It will happen. Mine is a very loving animal...he cuddles, goes to bed with you, never bites...except for those three months in winter. Just stay away. For this reason I reccomend a male if you must get a raccoon. The females have a far more aggressive reaction to their mating cycle and though it's shorter in terms of full length the chances of getting a bite are much higher than a Male over all. The behavorial change is often very sudden but they do go back to normal. It's really not as bad as I make it sound (for a male anyway...) but it's something you have to realize. If you want cuddle time in January...you won't get it. You really want a big house if you have a raccoon. This last part here ties a few things together, namely how prone to tearing your shit up they are and how you can prevent it. A raccoon needs a santurary. While they are sociable in general and like attention they do need alone time. Mine tends to go into his room from like 4pm to 5 pm every day and does...whatever the hell he does...mostly climbing his custom built scratching post. This is where you will keep the litter box that they can be trained for. Mine uses his almost all the time...sometimes he just doesn't give a rats ass and goes where he wants. Thankfully this tends to be a rare occurance. You want to keep a bed in the room too...a small one for cats and the like with a pillow and a blanket as they like to burrow. As a matter of fact you want it fully furnished in all honesty. No reason to waste the room all together and from my experience a raccoon likes to climb. Just make sure the fabric on that furniture is durable...Most important of all this room shall contain...TOYS. You want LOTS OF TOYS. I mean A LOT. The toys are the only things standing between the raccoon and your destroyed furntiure. You have to start with them young but you can instill in them that they play with the toys first before ripping your shit up. Raccoons have sharp ass claws and teeth and they go through toys quickly...so you want a lot and you want a large variety. You also want to keep that shit replaced. Everything from fluffy balls with some sort of bell in it to teddy bears and the like. They really like stuffed bears, rubber chewing toys, anything that they can manipulate their hands with. Basically any small childs toy is fair game. You want to keep this shit around the house in general but have a large portion of it in that room. Anyway...a bit daunting? That's all basic. There is still vet care and insurance care ( required because they are so prone to biting...unless you only EVER have family in your house). They are amazing pets if you're willing to put in the effort. They are lovable (most of the time), extremely intelligent, and more often than not a joy. The thing is, they are not an easy pet to own. They take a lot of maintanence and require constant upkeep. I personally find them worth it but I just can't in good conscience reccomend them to other people. It's just a lot of work and unless it's been your child hood dream to own one...stay the hell away. | ||
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