Watch these orphaned baby raccoons grow up at WildCare! These stunning photos and videos and the commentary on their care and development were all shared by their foster care provider, volunteer Raccoon Foster Care Specialist, Shelly Ross.
Newborn (1 or 2 days old)
At 0-2 weeks, baby raccoons are tiny with giant mouths, and their eyes and ears are closed. All they do at this age is eat and sleep, although they react to any sort of touch or temperature change (the incubator door opening will get them moving.) Otherwise they don’t move around at all. For the first week or so they are eating six times a day, every four hours around the clock. Once they are a week old (about 150 grams) that goes to five times so their caretaker can sleep through the night. At this age the babies are not very vocal unless they are being stimulated to urinate or defecate.
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
1 Week Old
The three baby raccoons featured in this story all arrived as tiny neonates (newborns). Two of them were the victims of a botched eviction (someone wanted the mother raccoon and her babies out of their crawlspace and didn’t know how to do it properly.) When the mother raccoon was locked out of her den, these babies were left behind.
[well] Be sure to call WildCare Solutions for help if you want a raccoon off your premises. We have the experience to humanely evict and exclude wildlife and we never orphan babies. Learn more about WildCare Solutions here…
[/well]
The third tiny orphan was found under a bush all alone. Raccoons are excellent mothers, so it must have been a dire circ*mstance that forced her to leave this baby behind. Fortunately WildCare is here to help orphans in this situation. All three of these babies will grow up healthy, fierce, and ready to return to the wild!
Video © Shelly Ross
2 Weeks Old
At 2- 4 weeks old the babies start moving more, but until they are at least three weeks old, their eyes and ears are still closed. Even once they open, the young raccoons don’t really respond to sight or sound. After two weeks, even with their eyes closed, they climb anything they can. Once they reach 250 grams, feedings go to four times a day, although the babies think they’re still hungry.
In foster care, baby raccoons start getting louder once their eyes open.
Video © Shelly Ross
3 Weeks Old
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
4 Weeks Old
At 4-6 weeks old, the babies’ guard hairs (the longer hairs) start to come in. They start exploring their surroundings more and don’t sleep quite as much (they’re awake about one hour of every six). They start trying to walk but they’re really unstable and they look like they’re clinging to the floor/ground as if it’s moving underneath them (like someone who is seasick grabs the floor.)
Between weeks five and six they get a lot more stable, and by six weeks they are very mobile. The changes happen fast now. Every day they advance in development, and sometimes you can see changes just between feedings. They go from wobbly to walking in what seems like an instant!
At this point they are eating four times a day. They are placed on some sort of climbing structure (soft “cat trees” are great playgrounds for baby raccoons in care!) every day to give them exercise and the opportunity to learn the valuable climbing skills they’ll need in the wild. It’s around this time that young raccoons start to realize their back feet invert and they can use them, as well as their front feet, to climb down things. They also learn they can grip with their back feet, hanging upside down and holding on with their hind limbs.
[well] Caring for these young raccoons takes great dedication and a lot of resources! Click here to help us raise these babies to be healthy and wild! [/well]
Video © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
5 Weeks Old
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
6 Weeks Old
At 6-8 weeks old, these babies’ teeth start coming in. At around seven weeks old they will start to chew on the nipple when nursing, which is a good indicator that they’re ready to start trying solid foods. They start getting really curious and inquisitive and start venturing further now. Seven weeks is also when they start to become REALLY fun to observe in care– wrestling, play fighting and chasing. At seven weeks old the weaning process starts and bottles will gradually be reduced over the next week to 10 days until they are eating all solid foods.
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross (the nail polish is a safe, non-toxic way to tell these
babies apart during care).
7 Weeks Old
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
8 Weeks Old
At 8-10 weeks old, weaning is finished and the young raccoons are eating “grown up” food, including mice, chicks and smelt. They are active every moment they aren’t sleeping, and it’s important to constantly be changing out enrichment items. They learn fast and get bored of things even faster. They climb things the way we walk on flat surfaces – vertical, horizontal, it makes no difference to them. It’s really incredible to see! They seem to have no fear whatsoever and have complete confidence that they won’t fall. They are cautious of new things, whether it be a toy or a noise, but, just like a cat, curiosity typically gets the better of them. They will always run for a small dark space if they are startled. At this point they have no interest in their caregiver, other than feeding, and interact almost solely with each other.
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
9 Weeks Old
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
Photo © Shelly Ross
10 Weeks Old
Photo © Shelly Ross
The coming weeks will be dedicated to getting these young raccoons to the point of being totally wild and ready for release. These youngsters will be in care for at least another six weeks!
The next step for their development will be to move them to large outdoor caging with naturalized items for them to continue learning the skills they will need to survive in the wild such as climbing and balancing on tree limbs, foraging in dirt and grass for their food, tearing apart solid foods, etc.
At that point their only human interactions will be unpleasant ones: receiving their vaccines and dewormers, being captured and weighed to be sure everyone is thriving. WildCare could not release a raccoon that is habituated to humans, so these unpleasant medical interactions are a great reinforcement of the need for wariness around people.
The raccoons’ enclosures are cleaned in the morning while they are asleep in their dens, and food is hidden around their cage (for foraging) just before sunset. This is done before raccoons begin to wake up. This feeding schedule is imposed to further limit their association with humans.
Once they are fully self-sufficient, strong acrobats that show the proper fear of humans, these young raccoons will be released back to the wild… follow WildCare on Facebook for glimpses of these and other wildlife patients taking their first steps into their future lives in the wild!
