- May 1, 2014
- 92
- 17
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I used to volunteer for a wild-life rehabilitation clinic, where we raised a lot of orphaned wildlife, including raccoons and opossums. I raised them from just days old orphaned babies into adulthood to be released back into the wild (I live in a suburban area. Many were orphaned due to mothers being hit by cars, or their homes being destroyed). I learned a LOT, especially about how to build something that is a fool proof way to keep them contained! I thought it may help if I share what experience I have with BYCers here, as I completely and totally understand that they are ruthless predators and can demolish chickens (I'm raising my first flock! 3 weeks old, they're so adorable!)
I've seen quite a bit of the information I'm gonna share, but I thought maybe just having some firsthand experience written down might help some people, and show the why/how, since many attacks happen when no one is around.
Okay, so for raccoons, as I'm sure all of you know they have 'hands'. Their hands are their main source of collecting information about the world around them. Humans use eyesight, raccoons use their hands.
Raccoons can break through almost any simple latch. A hook and eye latch can easily be undone by a raccoon as young as a month old, and once one coon figures it out, the rest will also just by watching. The next latch we tried was the kind that you have to push up and over to open/close. It only took them around a week to figure it out. Lobster claw locks were slightly more effective, but we had one figure it out. Padlocks, I know they're annoying, but it's one of the best things we found that they couldn't use their hands to open or chew through.
They have incredible force. If they can push an opening on a cage door even just an inch or two, you can bet a young raccoon can squeeze his way though and get out (or in). We had several escapees this way. Double or even triple locks to prevent any push gaps were what we had to resort to, in order to keep them contained. We also had two that ripped hardware cloth off the window of their enclosure. If it doesn't have a wood frame nailing/screwing down over the edges of the cloth, if they really go at it, they can push their way in/rip it out.
Raccoons, especially mothers, can be active during the day. Mothers are often the ones seen, as they're trying to gather food for babies. Winter may also see more daytime coon activity, due to hunger. So daylight activity doesn't automatically mean rabies! It's almost always a case of an empty tummy.
Raccoons have an extremely massive sweet tooth. Anything with even a hint of sugar, and they will go insane for it and do anything and everything in their power to get it. Marshmallows were always used if we needed to lure them, and make excellent bait for traps. They seriously have a sweet tooth that rules over any common sense they might have. Sweet junk foods left out will attract them like flies.
They have excellent memory, and raccoons can learn from watching others. Once they figure something out, that's it. They'll perfect it to a science, and each subsequent time they will get more and more efficient.
They are drawn to open water sources (such as shallow pools), as they enjoy rolling their food in water to see how that item reacts to liquid (not because they don't have saliva, trust me, I've had enough slobbery raccoon kisses to know!), such as will it dissolve, expand? It's their way of expanding their knowledge.
Raccoons, once they find a place to get an easy meal will set up shop and teach future generations where and how to get the food. They will often hunt as family groups (father excluded), and females have been known to sleep and roam in large groups between mating seasons.
They can reach their hands through incredibly small openings to grab anything that's moving, and with a hard yank can easily dispatch it and pull it though (as was the case with the tail of one of my adolescent squirrels...poor guy.)
Coons will more readily attack than a possum, and they have incredible bite force. They would still rather run than fight though. They are very protective of their young, and of their food.
For possums, the info I have is a lot less, as opossum rehabilitation is very tricky due to the nature of their birth and their extreme dietary requirements.
They love, love, love cat food. If cat food is left out at night, that will surely attract opossums. Their favorite foods are bananas and apples, they'll do anything to get them.
A possum is much more likely to run than fight, or they may 'play' dead (which isn't really playing, more of an involuntary muscle reaction). Possums have extremely short life spans, rarely ever even reaching 5 years of age.
Possums are basically immune to rabies, as their body temperature isn't ideal for the disease.
Opossums prey on small mammals (rats/mice/baby birds/baby squirrels), slugs, snakes, snails, and all manner of icky insects.
Possums have 'thumbs'. They use them primarily for climbing.
Random tidbit is that captive raised possums will have a much shorter, rounder snout, where as wild possums have a longer, sharper snout.
I don't know how much of this is helpful to anyone, but I thought maybe some perspective from someone who raised adolescent raccoons and had to keep them from destroying everything might help someone trying to protect their flock and shed a bit of light on them.
I'm not condemning anyone who dispatches/relocates these animals as I understand they are destructive, ruthless, intelligent animals that can wreak havoc on a flock.
I've seen quite a bit of the information I'm gonna share, but I thought maybe just having some firsthand experience written down might help some people, and show the why/how, since many attacks happen when no one is around.
Okay, so for raccoons, as I'm sure all of you know they have 'hands'. Their hands are their main source of collecting information about the world around them. Humans use eyesight, raccoons use their hands.
Raccoons can break through almost any simple latch. A hook and eye latch can easily be undone by a raccoon as young as a month old, and once one coon figures it out, the rest will also just by watching. The next latch we tried was the kind that you have to push up and over to open/close. It only took them around a week to figure it out. Lobster claw locks were slightly more effective, but we had one figure it out. Padlocks, I know they're annoying, but it's one of the best things we found that they couldn't use their hands to open or chew through.
They have incredible force. If they can push an opening on a cage door even just an inch or two, you can bet a young raccoon can squeeze his way though and get out (or in). We had several escapees this way. Double or even triple locks to prevent any push gaps were what we had to resort to, in order to keep them contained. We also had two that ripped hardware cloth off the window of their enclosure. If it doesn't have a wood frame nailing/screwing down over the edges of the cloth, if they really go at it, they can push their way in/rip it out.
Raccoons, especially mothers, can be active during the day. Mothers are often the ones seen, as they're trying to gather food for babies. Winter may also see more daytime coon activity, due to hunger. So daylight activity doesn't automatically mean rabies! It's almost always a case of an empty tummy.
Raccoons have an extremely massive sweet tooth. Anything with even a hint of sugar, and they will go insane for it and do anything and everything in their power to get it. Marshmallows were always used if we needed to lure them, and make excellent bait for traps. They seriously have a sweet tooth that rules over any common sense they might have. Sweet junk foods left out will attract them like flies.
They have excellent memory, and raccoons can learn from watching others. Once they figure something out, that's it. They'll perfect it to a science, and each subsequent time they will get more and more efficient.
They are drawn to open water sources (such as shallow pools), as they enjoy rolling their food in water to see how that item reacts to liquid (not because they don't have saliva, trust me, I've had enough slobbery raccoon kisses to know!), such as will it dissolve, expand? It's their way of expanding their knowledge.
Raccoons, once they find a place to get an easy meal will set up shop and teach future generations where and how to get the food. They will often hunt as family groups (father excluded), and females have been known to sleep and roam in large groups between mating seasons.
They can reach their hands through incredibly small openings to grab anything that's moving, and with a hard yank can easily dispatch it and pull it though (as was the case with the tail of one of my adolescent squirrels...poor guy.)
Coons will more readily attack than a possum, and they have incredible bite force. They would still rather run than fight though. They are very protective of their young, and of their food.
For possums, the info I have is a lot less, as opossum rehabilitation is very tricky due to the nature of their birth and their extreme dietary requirements.
They love, love, love cat food. If cat food is left out at night, that will surely attract opossums. Their favorite foods are bananas and apples, they'll do anything to get them.
A possum is much more likely to run than fight, or they may 'play' dead (which isn't really playing, more of an involuntary muscle reaction). Possums have extremely short life spans, rarely ever even reaching 5 years of age.
Possums are basically immune to rabies, as their body temperature isn't ideal for the disease.
Opossums prey on small mammals (rats/mice/baby birds/baby squirrels), slugs, snakes, snails, and all manner of icky insects.
Possums have 'thumbs'. They use them primarily for climbing.
Random tidbit is that captive raised possums will have a much shorter, rounder snout, where as wild possums have a longer, sharper snout.
I don't know how much of this is helpful to anyone, but I thought maybe some perspective from someone who raised adolescent raccoons and had to keep them from destroying everything might help someone trying to protect their flock and shed a bit of light on them.
I'm not condemning anyone who dispatches/relocates these animals as I understand they are destructive, ruthless, intelligent animals that can wreak havoc on a flock.
