Pet Raccoon?

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by LiteFeather09, Nov 11, 2019.

  1. LiteFeather09 Registered Member

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    13
    I've always been curious about "unusual" pets and how their pet owners take care of them. For example, I think while other people would not want to have a pet snake, they know that it's possible and quite a lot of people actually have snakes as pets. Which led me to think about otters, skunks, and "friendlier-looking" (i guess? friendly looking, but not exactly friendly, lol) animals like racoons. Just wondering if anyone here has experience having raccoons as pets (ik they're illegal in some places) or what your thoughts are about it?
     
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  3. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    Rabies, strong claws and little fear of man come to mind. I'm sure some do have raccoons as pets however. Feed one everyday and you too will have one as a pet.
     
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  5. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    Not to mention that they're clever and easily bored. Having a bored racoon in your house is never a good idea.
     
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  7. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    Raccoons would be easy enough to tame and vaccinate at a young age: they're intelligent and adaptable. Later on, they do become less sociable, and ^^^ I wouldn't keep one inside a house either. But I knew a long-distance trucker once who took his 30lb masked sidekick on the road and had no trouble.
    Skunks would be pretty easy to tame, as well. I've got one coming regularly to the back porch that shows very little fear (thank the ancestors!) and gets along fine with the feral cats. Just don't startle him!
    I've raised squirrels, a jackrabbit and 2 crows successfully. Wouldn't go out of my way to capture a wild pet: orphans just turn up.
     
  8. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    8,466
    nigh onto 50 years ago
    I was cruising a back road where people normally put their foot to the floorboards
    when I saw something in the road ahead
    so I slowed down
    cresting the next rise
    i saw that it was a raccoon standing in the middle of the road
    and stopped
    He just stood there on his hind lags staring at me and I at him
    I opened the door preparing to get out and shoo him off the road
    as soon as I opened the door, he dropped down onto all fours and
    came around to the side of the car and climbed in
    ok
    curious that
    so. we went home together
    My wife of the time named him rocky
    (she had a habit of naming animals based on popular songs of the time)
     
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  9. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    5,089
    He was probably somebody's pet that they decided to set free.
     
  10. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    8,466
    yeh
    that was my guess too
     
  11. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    There is a large gulf between a docile wild animal and a pet.

    Just because an animal isn't afraid of you, and will take food from your hand doesn't mean it's a pet - or will ever be a pet.
     
  12. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    5,089
    Maybe so, but getting into a car is somewhat indicative of previous pet status.
    I knew a hunting dog one time who didn't like hunting. She'd break off from the pack, go out to the road and hitch rides. She had a collar and tag; somebody would usually take her home. Other species are a lot smarter than we we give them credit for.
     
  13. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    18,935
    OK, but that's a dog.
    Dogs are domesticated; not wild.
     
  14. kx000 Valued Senior Member

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    I want a jack rabbit.
     
  15. Stoniphi obscurely fossiliferous Valued Senior Member

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    I had a pet skunk for a while. He was smart and fun, we got along quite well. I thought he was de-scented, but one day a nasty kid from down the street poked at him through his cage screen while I was gone and got sprayed in the face from a couple of feet. Told his parents so I had to take him (my skunk) in for another gland removal. He was an adult by then so it was a much bigger surgery and he died on the table.

    Raccoons are very smart and can get into a lot of trouble. They are also very much more dangerous than they appear, can and will kill a dog sikked on them by ripping out the dogs guts. Neither skunks or raccoons make good pets for most folks.
     
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  16. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    54,036
    Raccoons aren't good pets, but people can bond with them. My friend raised one that he rescued from a chimney. He was the only one who interacted with it.
     
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  17. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    21,635
    [QUOTE="LiteFeather09, post: 3606954, member: 288808"Just wondering if anyone here has experience having raccoons as pets (ik they're illegal in some places) or what your thoughts are about it?[/QUOTE]
    Wild animals make very poor pets.
     
  18. RainbowSingularity Valued Senior Member

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    7,447
    probably what drives them to be able to adapt so well.
    i wonder if they can be trained or if their frontal lobes and reasoning part of their brains may be dominated by their lower brain to much.
    like big cats in zoos etc, they will suddenly kill a human that has been their feeder for many years and has never mistreated them.
    like a switch in their head flips and they kill.
    Racoons likely have a similar type of lower brain function that drives them
     
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  19. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    5,089
    Exactly. Which is why we may surmise that a raccoon that behaves like a dog is also domesticated - or at least considers himself so.
    You can't have one. Apparently:
    I wouldn't know this from experience, since all my rescues have been fine - but then, they're not captives; they come and go as they please.
     
  20. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    21,635
    But in that case, the animal is, in fact, not domesticated. Despite what he "considers." Compare a wolf to a beagle for a good example of that.
     
  21. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    5,089
    What the animal considers himself is, in fact, all that counts: he's the only one who knows.
    No two species are interchangeable, though many have similar behaviours, thought-process and emotions (which is why interspecies communication is not merely possible but common). People sometimes domesticate wolves. They don't turn into beagles, obviously - but then, neither do huskies or chihuahuas turn into beagles and rats are different from squirrels.
    Wolves have to be handled differently from dogs: you have to accept their social protocols, whereas dogs have been bred over thousands of generations to accept human protocols.
     
  22. RainbowSingularity Valued Senior Member

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    7,447
    animals psychologists inferring at the mental health issues around captive animals tends to hold quite a bit of weight.
    it only takes 1 rampaging elephant down a busy street to make people suddenly adopt a more scientific perspective.

    and even then on occasion ...they will shred a small child or weak person if the mood takes them
    admittedly 99.99% is mental illness in the animal or poor/abusive rearing/parenting by the owner
    and 99.99% of the time horse play baiting & use of pain to inflict physical predator prey domination has been used by the most often male owner or female owner behavioral reinforcing horse play normalization of the fight or flight predator domination behavior model....
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2019
  23. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    Not really pet. House lizard

    Comes sometimes when I having breakfast

    Has a share in cap of small bottle of mints

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