woah!
Its a shame he can't get food somehow.
I was worried about you feeding him at first but he seems tame already.
I people have raccoons as pets where you live!
not here in NJ. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
that is actually really cool.
I'm sure most cats cause just as much trouble as raccoons!

rainwalker: I remember you saying your pets were disappearing.
Ever think the raccoons and got em?
I know cats and raccoons fight a lot.

BTW Andy, he looks pretty big. Maybe around 25 or so pounds?

My Aunt used to have a pet coon, and she was a wildlife rehabilitator for a while, and had a couple dozen coons at once. We might just leave him be, and leave him some dog food every now and then so he doesn’t starve. Last night I caught a big grasshopper/leaf lookin’ bug (can’t remember what they’re called) and threw it down in front of him and he ate it. So, he might catch some bugs and such to eat. We put out a cut off milk jug with water for him so he could have something to drink.

A little bit ago, Dad came home from work with some fried chicken from KFC and I went out to help him carry it. When I went out, the coon was still out there. He was on the porch and followed me to the truck. He smelled the fried chicken, and got up on his hind legs, leaning on my leg with his front legs sniffing. That made me nervous, because I was wearing shorts and didn’t want him to climb me like a tree. I said “NO.” and pulled the sack away from him and he got back on all fours and followed me back to the porch. Dad gave him some more dog food.

A couple years ago, several of our neighbors had pet coons, but he couldn’t be one of them because he’s too small.

Great pics! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Awesome pics.

Normally I'd say to skin it, but the tameness currys my favor.

Very cool pics... I guess he is not-so-wild life...

everybody/everything loves some good apples

Nice. I would guess he was probably somebody's pet and either wandered off and got lost, or was abandoned.

So Andy, has the family shown up yet?

http://video.yahoo.com/network/100000086?v=3579597&l=100000085

No, not yet. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I got some more good pics of him a few days ago I need to get posted soon...

Now that's very cool <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

I never got around to posting this other batch of pics, which were taken almost a year ago, so now that I’m on high speed net I thought I’d uploaded them. This batch is more of a “close encounter”. These were taken a couple days after the first batch of pics. I went outside and saw he was on the porch, so I grabbed my camera and a handful of dog food. I took all these pics myself with the camera aimed backwards, hoping to get everything in frame, so I think I got some pretty good shots for shooting in the near dark not quite sure where I was aiming.

Anyway, so I go out with some dog food and my camera. I sit in the rocking chair on the porch, and he’s at my feet, and I drop pieces of food to him to eat one at a time. Being the smart little coon that he is, he figures the food is coming from somewhere higher above the ground, and gets on his back legs to investigate. He grabs my leg with his front feet, then proceeds to climb my leg! This was an Oh $h!t moment. I wasn’t sure how tame he was, and if he might bite me, flip out, or whatever. I froze, because I didn’t want to startle him.

So, he climbs up into my lap, and decides he wants to eat directly out of my hand. I wasn’t in a position to argue. I’m thinking of razor sharp teeth and claws inches from my “equipment” with only PJs for protection.








Then he decides to see what’s making that bright flash.


“Hmmm…what’s this camera strap thing?”


Then…he decides to climb higher. Crap. Again, I don’t think he’s inclined to debate the merits of this particular endeavor, so I just hold still. Careful with that jugular little dude…PLEASE.


No, please, not the ears! I wear glasses and my eyes are too squinty for contacts! If you eat my ear, I’ll have to wear a monocle, and when I carry my walking stick people will say I look like Mr. Peanut!


Sorry Ricky, no bugs in my hair for you to eat. Wait…why’s he sniffing…oh no! I used apple scented shampoo! Nooooo! Sharp claws in the jugular…please don’t eat my brains Ricky…




Oh no…he’s circling back for the ears!
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2514/3926889605_2f33c92f8d_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2613/3927672858_59d5229577_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3530/3927674822_10588d4e8e_b.jpg[/img]

Don’t bite my ear… Don’t bite my ear… Don’t bite my ear…
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2468/3927676414_07263eff3d_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2474/3927677990_e57e91452f_b.jpg[/img]

Ah! He bit my ear! Luckily, not too hard, he was just playing with it…with his TEETH. What hurt worse was him playing with my ears with his paws. With those claws, my ears were all red and hot when he was done.
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2449/3926901547_8f28c54b6b_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3521/3926904925_ea0cf65d33_b.jpg[/img]

*Yawn* “Bored…coming down.”
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2656/3927687894_70c70e43f5_b.jpg[/img]

I was trying to get him to hold a knife and my challenge coin for a pic. Wouldn’t that have been COOL?! Unfortunately, he wouldn’t pose.

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2431/3927691566_c9b25e14ef_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2446/3926911661_439b26ed8c_b.jpg[/img]

On the ground looking for bugs.
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3459/3927696584_f04fbcb582_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2670/3926920407_c8ff27d4a0_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2668/3927705240_04a26287c1_b.jpg[/img]

“Ah, that’s the spot…I can never scratch there.”
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2496/3927714518_72245f9e2c_b.jpg[/img]

“Hmmm…a tree. I like to climb!”
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3526/3926934831_8b239d90c5_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2556/3926936831_e15f9d8a1e_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2466/3926938851_63ab3b7026_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2620/3926940625_c832f97022_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3469/3927723998_9fb142ca50_b.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2591/3927725938_c2929e6503_b.jpg[/img]

And, here’s a nice spider web I took a pic of.
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3427/3926947651_69a38c2c4b_b.jpg[/img]

You can see more pics of him I didn’t post, and larger versions of these pics HERE.

You can also see more/larger pics from the first set of photos HERE.

I only saw him a couple more days after that. I would walk around the yard, and he’d follow me. We’d hunt bugs together. I’d catch him grasshoppers, and hold them out and he’d take them from me and eat them. I later found out what happened to him. Our next door neighbor said he had been getting into his chickens. He found out someone had given him to his brother, who lives a little farther down the road. He told his brother that if he saw him after his chickens, he’d shoot him. After that, he kept him caged, so we didn’t see him any more after that.

I hope you guys enjoyed the pics. Sorry it took me a year to post them. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Several people in my family have had pet raccoons. My Aunt was a wildlife rehabilitator, and had over 30 baby ones at once. My Great Aunt used to have one as a pet too. Here’s a pic of my Great Grandma with a raccoon. This pic is from the late 70’s.

[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3503/3703437304_045112a40a.jpg[/img]

Great pics. Really nice.