Raccoon Happenings

Who's cuter, Her Royal Highness Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, or little baby raccoon here? Just kidding...baby Charlotte is a gorgeous baby! Congratulations to my UK readers. The news is so often horrifying, and baby news was a welcome respite as we welcomed Charlotte.

Hubby and Momma Raccoon went a few more rounds this weekend. Peter got some good pictures during the "battle". This is one persistent raccoon!

Pictured above is one of her babies, left behind and discovered behind the shed door, shaking with fright. Hubby used a dustpan to scoop her up, then placed her in a storage box and set it at the corner of our yard, next to the fence Momma Raccoon uses to get in and out of our yard. Our hope was that Momma would hear the baby and come for it. Raccoons make a unique call, which is a cross between a bird and tree frog sound.

My own and several neighbor kids oohed and awed over baby, and all wanted to keep her and raise her, as you might expect. :) We had our hands full watching over the kids, making sure they didn't get their hands too close to the baby. It certainly made their Saturday very exciting, to say the least. All they had on their agenda together was baseball, prior to the baby's arrival on the scene.

Momma Raccoon did indeed come for her missing baby, but it took about five hours, during which baby raccoon burrowed in some insulation to keep warm and comforted. As soon as we spotted the Momma, we placed the box over the fence on its side, which almost scared her away. But then she heard her baby's tree-frog-like calls, noticed it in the box and quickly grabbed baby by mouth. Momma was so frightened at us watching her, that at first she didn't grab the baby correctly, and baby growled at her. Then, Momma adjusted her baby better, and took off down into the nearby gutter.

 

We thought that would be the end of it, so hubby did more construction on the shed Saturday afternoon and evening, intent on keeping the raccoon family out (but he left the greenhouse part of the shed intact). He also chopped some branches off the pear tree which Momma Raccoon climbs to get on our shed roof.

No sign of Momma on Sunday, but on Monday she came back, snooping around. She couldn't, or didn't try, jumping from the tree to the roof, so that was victory one. After circling the shed, she couldn't quickly find another way in, so victory number 2. If she gets desperate enough, she could do serious damage to the siding in other places, but we hope that doesn't happen. We made some noise and chased her away, in case her memory is too short.

Snooping around on Monday.

More snooping around on Monday.

Looking straight at Peter. She has a healthy fear and doesn't ever get too close to us, though she thinks nothing of coming into the yard when my kids are hosting neighbor kids for baseball. When we spot her, I send everyone home.

How was your weekend, friends? How's your new garden coming along? We're having a heat wave so Peter is putting our garden in slowly.