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There was a nest of four of these critters in the big Oak tree I cut down in the other thread. The mom ran off when the tree fell and someone else shot her. They can be quite a nuisance here on the camp grounds. I found the babies while cutting the tree up. Lets just say that three didn't survive, but this one was untouched. I'm guessing he's 5-6 weeks old. I haven't decided what to do with him yet. My nine year old daughter and I are bottle feeding it. He's absolutely adorable and cuddly right now, but I don't think I'll feel that way when he grows up and destroys everything. We may raise and release it ourselves at about 16-20 weeks, or give it to someone else that will. I'm just scared the if we do it ourselves, we'll become attached to it and not want to release it. Then he'll get big and obnoxious. On the other hand, my daughter's always said she wanted to be a vet and this might be a real good experience for her. It was her that had to show Lisa and myself how to bottle feed it. She was better than either one of us.

Petrified right after getting caught.
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It's old home.
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Anna's already named him!
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Cute lil' feller.....Just be aware that when he grows up? He can be a tad on the "snippy" side.

+1 My only advice, BE VERY CAREFUL, they can be meaner than a left at the alter bride when they grow up. May want to get it checked by a vet-highest incidence of rabies is among racoons and skunks.
 
Cool! Glad you were able to save the little boy. I have to agree with releasing him when he's old enough.

Kudos to your daughter, too! :cheers:


But who's that ugly fella in the last picture? :dizzy:


:greenchainsaw:
 
He was like a rabid vicious little beast when I first caught him. He was scared to death. Screaming, growling, biting, clawing like nothing you've ever seen before. Within one hour, you could handle him without gloves. It was absolutley amazing the transformation! Every now and then he'll still nip at me, but his teeth are tiny and dull. He can't hurt a thing...YET!
 
Racoons are cute when little but turn into a formidable critter when older. Had an 80 lb. boxer get into it with one that was about 20 lbs.. The racoon got in some good bites before the dog got po'ed , all you saw was blood flying and heard bones breaking. After the one you have can fend for itself let it go.
 
My dad used to raise those sometimes when he'd find the babies. Moms run over by cars, or just run off and he would take them home and raise them and let them go. he had one named rosco that would come in through his dog door and eat dog food, and sleep on the couch or whatever, and then leave. came up in bed with me a couple times and scared the life right out of me, but he was very nice.

ended up giving one to my little sister, and found out from the vet that they can't be kept as house pets, and the vet won't vaccinate them. something about a disease they can transfer to humans that affects the brain. honestly don't remember too much, was a while ago but they are sure cute.
 
have fun

Had 2 or 3 at different times as a kid.Always provided water when fed and was amazed how they washed their food.Would usally get 4,5 months till we left them go,start to get alittle nasty.Have some fun get a pan ours like 2x3 feet and 2 to 3 inches water in and went to creek and got minnows and crawfish and put in for the coon got a lot'a laughs.
 
I had a friend in Iowa that wound up with one in some similar fashion. I think her dad mowed over a group of them in a ditch or something. Anyway she bottle fed it as a baby but it turned mean as it got older and she had to get rid of it. Had to take it and leave it somewhere because it kept trying to get back in the house.
 
cute now, PITA later.....sounds almost like women LOL

when my dad was in his early 20's one of his friends had a pet skunk (scent glands removed) and a pet coon. my dad ended up havin to "baby sit" these two critters. they would crawl all over you and both were very protective over my dad and his friend. dad was milkin cows w/ the coon on his shoulder and the skunk walkin around behind him lickin up milk. sure enough either the milk inspector or a salesmen arrived (cant remember which he said) and flipped sh!t when he saw the coon and skunk-mostly the skunk but didnt realize it was de-scented.
 
They are cute when they are little, but coons get pretty nasty when they get bigger. I know from first hand experience......careful.
 
wild animals belong in the wild , take it to your local DNR office and let them deal with it , some areas will not let you keep wild animals .
please don't fall ill with the walt disney syndrome (oh they're so cuuttee ...):D
 
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