So there's a raccoon outside on my porch eating dinner.

[crispini]

I've been putting out catfood for this Siamese stray and boy, does that cat seem to be eating a lot! Well, I knew the squirrels were getting into it but that's been kind of amusing for my housecats to try and kill the little rodent on the other side of a glass door, so I didn't begrudge it to them. But tonight while I'm hanging out watching the tube, here comes this crunch crunch crunch from outside and there's this fairly large raccoon out there snacking away!

I guess I'd better move up the timeline to catch that Siamese-y kitty and see if he's got a chip. I'm sure he's someone's cat, he's just so skittish I haven't been able to catch him and haven't quite gotten a trap borrowed yet. It's on the to-do list, though. Then I can stop feeding everything in the hood.

Dollars to doughnuts the raccoon winds up in the trap. :crazy:

[Mugu]

1. Then you take the trap 10 miles down the road

and make him/her somebody else's problem.

Regards, Mugu

[crispini]

3. Indeed!

:thumbsup:

[Kutjara]

2. You realize, of course, once you stop putting the food out...

...you'll get a knock at the door from an indignant raccoon, who'll want to know why the hell the soup kitchen's closed.

[crispini]

4. LOL! nt

[pitohui]

21. you may think you are kidding

this is pretty much what happened to one lady i knew, when she cut back on the feeding for awhile, the vengeful raccoon first ate all of her chickens, and then he actually started to try entering her house

give 'em an inch...!

[driver8]

22. Ha Ha -- how true! We had a raccoon come through our doggy door

and he tried to drag a whole bag of dog food back out with him. The bag got stuck so the raccoon left it there.

The reason I knew it was a raccoon was because he had eaten all the food in the dog's bowl and had washed it all in the water bowl before he ate it.

They are funny animals...and not afraid of much.

[Suich]

5. The racoons come in through the cat door

at my neighbor's and help themselves!

:)

[orleans]

16. oh god--i can't imagine waking up in the night and going into the

kitchen to find an uninvited guest like that!

do they let themselves out as well?

[Suich]

25. They come in, eat all the dry food, and leave the same way

they got in. Their 2 dogs sleep in the bedroom with them, but they keep the door closed. Since the dogs will bark at a piece of paper blowing down the sidewalk, it's a mystery why they don't hear the raccoons!

:)

[Hand]

6. We've got one, too.

I think it's a female who had babies last year. Anyway, she was going after the stuff in our municipal composting bin (besides wet paper, mostly bones and fats--we compost our green scraps) last night--flipping the hinged lid up and letting it drop back down. Clunk, clunk, clunk, CLUNK! :banghead:

[badgerpup]

7. When younger and stupider...

I fed raccoons...wild baby raccoons from my hands.

Stuck my hand out through the sliding glass door with food in it, and the babies would come and take it out of my hand with their little fingers. Mama would watch...and growl.
She'd never take food from me, but if I put it on the porch, she'd come get it.

It was rather humbling...Mama Raccoon trusting me enough to allow her babies to take food from me.
And yes, I was quite aware that if I made ONE WRONG MOVE I'd have some really interesting scars for braggin' rights...as well as "I'm stupider than you!" one-upsmanship story.

[crispini]

10. Quite a story!

Wow. They have TEETH. I wouldn't do that!

[hippywife]

23. Not only the scars...

but rabies shots, too. Not a good idea to feed wild animals at all, but by hand is really not a good idea. :hi:

[fudge stripe cookays]

26. My brother used to do that....

He lived in Austin in an apartment complex built above a ravine. There were raccoons in the ravine. People would put cat food out on their balconies for their cats, and the raccoons would come get it.

One day my brother left his glass door open, and the screen door ajar, and they came in to visit him.

My brother had a special lifelong fondness for Chips Ahoy cookies, and would sit on the couch watching TV. He'd leave the door open and raccoons would wander in from time to time.

"Ya wanna cookie? Here ya go!" The raccoons would take their little prize and try to wash it off in the water dish outside before heading back down the hill. It was hilarious.

[Mugu]

8. This guy has been coming around and helping her/himself to the cat food.

I noticed some time back that the cats were eating an amazing amount. I suspected that they were inviting friends over for dinner. It costs a little extra, but I just can't find it in myself to get very angry at a hungry creature during the winter when food is scarce. Once it gets warm, other arrangements are going to be made. But, till then, as long as s/he remains polite everybody eats.

Regards, Mugu

[crispini]

9. I do like possums!

They are cute!

It's warm here now, so raccoon will be on his own shortly. :D

[Mugu]

11. I don't generally think of possums as cute.

But, they are generally well behaved unless cornered. This one was leery of a camera being shoved in its face, but didn't become unpleasant. Everybody is welcome to eat tonight.

Regards, Mugu

[jobycom]

14. That is the only time I've ever seen an opossum look cute!

Usually they fall into the "They're so ugly they're adorable" category.

Great camera work!

[Mugu]

15. I just crawled on my belly under a brush pile

and shoved a camera w/flash in the poor creature's face. S/he did all the rest.

Thank you, Mugu

[fudge stripe cookays]

27. Especially the Skeletor fingers!

:scared:

[yardwork]

12. I love this heartwarming thread!

[TreasonousBastard]

13. I had a "pet" raccoon two winters ago when...

a "summer cat" came around begging.

Summer cats, btw, are those left by the summer people who can't be bothered to take them along when they go back home after the season. There is this assumption that little Muffin, being a cat, can take care of itself through the winter. There are summer dogs, too, usually tied to phone poles along the main road in September. Some people might best be ground up and used as food in no-kill shelters, but I digress...

Anyway, there were half a dozen cats that came around to the food bowl, but the little gray one was the only one who came every day, and set up housekeeping in the garage. Wasn't long before the raccoon hit the food bowl every morning at about three AM, when there was usually some left over from the day.

The little gray one is now a very content housecat, so the raccoon looks elsewhere.

[hfojvt]

17. that reminds me of a Newhart episode

The Tom Poston character complained that there was a squirrel in his bird feeder. He said "I'll let you in on one of nature's secrets. Squirrels - don't like to share." So he built a squirrel feeder and then later came in complaining, there's a raccoon in the squirrel feeder!

[applegrove]

18. I saw a raccoon near my house last night. Didn't know there was wildlife

out there as I am living near the downtown core.

[littlebit]

19. A few years ago

I started putting out cat food for a little stray that I had seen. The only animal I ever saw eating out of that bowl was a possum. Which didn't really bother me. We have possum,raccoons, lizards, and even one little black bear that I saw roaming around out here.

[siligut]

20. Crash and Eddy from Ice Age 2, are opossums and they make the movie.

The second video is of stunts that didn't make the final cut, but the two brothers were rough necks and funny as hell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn83mdsmFfc Video of baby opossum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VegR--ipIsI Crash and Eddy from Ice Age 2

[hedgehog]

24. We had a mama racoon move into our barn with her babies

following a late Spring snow storm. My husband had to do some work inhis shop, and as soon as he fired up the radial arm saw, she moved her babies out one by one!

[derby378]

28. ginbarn's father lives just down the road from you...

...and he's visited on a regular basis by raccoons. I saw them, myself - they just melted out of the night like Navy SEALs on patrol, carefully making their way up to the bowls of food that her dad leaves out for them.

[GoneOffShore]

29. When we were trying to trap the feral cat who provided us with multiple litters of kittens last year

we managed to trap both an opossum and a raccoon.

Kind of bizarre as we live in the city and not on the edge. Came down to the trap in the morning to find a highly agitated raccoon in the cage.