Heidi Chronicles: Kits On Board

This is the ongoing story of Heidi and friends, raccoons and the occasional opossum who frequent my backyard wildlife buffet.

The 2010 kits are really out and about now. There are kits at the buffet pretty much every day now. Heidi still isn't bringing her kits to dinner, but I suspect that is due more to her reluctance to bring them out in daylight than anything else. Lately I've been trying to feed early and get inside before dark. Still we are seeing lots of kits daily now and some unexpected events.

Prior Thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1109447/
Original Thread in Series: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/603944/

The photo below, taken about a week ago, is of Dennis' kits. Those kits are really getting big now.

Lately, I've been taking a lot of video almost daily, mostly because of Cissy's kit. That kit had been doing such strange things. I tried to keep the camera on him in video mode most of the time just to be ready. I was trying not to miss his next strange behavior. I don't know if I got the part where Heidi was reading him the riot act, but I'm pretty sure I have a 2 video comparison, 1 taken the day before to show his bad behavior and the other taken after Heidi told him to cut it out. I had taken the 1st video, before Heidi had her talk with the kit, to show you guys what poor Cissy had to deal with and how the kit was constantly wandering around near her getting into stuff and all the while trilling loudly and endlessly. Then on the 2nd video, the one taken after his encounter with Heidi, the kit is seen behaving like a 'normal' kit.

I'll have to watch the videos, sometimes quite a few, to find the ones in question, but I'll try to get them posted as soon as possible.

Sounds great! I can't wait to see them, Well,I can because I have to. Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us some of the things you see going on there.

Ditto!

Thank you, Judy & June

And you are very welcome. I'm glad you are here to share it all with me.

I haven't seen a lot of Jerry and her kits lately. Dennis was allowed back at the buffet today. Present at the buffet today were Heidi, Dennis, Cissy, and Heidi's 3 [female] yearlings.

As I told you previously and as we have seen repeatedly in previous years, raccoon Moms do NOT allow their kits to play with other kits, not even in this small and closely related group and not even to accommodate the play needs of 'only kits' who have no sibling playmates. I've seen only kits at the buffet before. Rupert was an only kit as was Cissy's 1st kit and Fraidy's kit and others I don't recall at the moment. Only kits do not get to play with their cousins. I've no idea why this is. I've no idea really. It's just a hard and fast rule, or so it seemed until now.

Likewise, kits stay with their Moms and only their Moms. Other adults will shun them upon approach even nipping at them if the kit does not go away. This, too, is a solid rule, until now.

What I saw tonight could only be viewed as a well thought out community act, a group behavior, a plan, no doubt, put into action by Heidi and intended to resolve some of the problems surrounding, well, the problem kit. What I saw was confusing especially at 1st. I had to watch it for a while to get the gist of what was going, what the game rules were. Here is what I saw:

All of the kits that were present were stashed together under the willow tree. Cissy was at the buffet eating but was alone. Cissy's kit arrived a few minutes later. She was with one of Heidi's yearlings. He was following along on the flank of this other raccoon as though he were hers, and she was treating him like her own. Had it not been for the unusual splotch pattern on the kit's nose which clearly ID'd him as Cissy's, I would have thought he belonged to this other raccoon. He stayed with this other female for the entire time that I was out there. I will call her The Nanny as that seems the position she held at the buffet today.

When I say the kit arrived with The Nanny, I should clarify that the raccoons often hide in the yard in flower beds and behind shrubs. Then after I set up the buffet and sit down, they come out and to the buffet looking as though they have just arrived when, in fact, they have been there all along. It's very likely that both the kit and The Nanny had been there for some time before I even came out. The kit probably arrived earlier with his real mom before being handed off to The Nanny. He and The Nanny came from under the willow tree, one of the favorite hideouts of the group.

While they ate, Cissy's kit stayed with The Nanny and behaved reasonably well. He was not allowed to approach Cissy or any of the other adult raccoons. When he did approach anyone other than The Nanny, he was reprimanded. The other females including Cissy nipped at him telling him to get back when he tried to come near them. The kit was required to either stay with The Nanny or hang out with the group of kits under the willow tree. As long as he did either of these 2 things, everyone treated him good and ate in peace. Any time he attempted to misbehave or approach any of the other females, he was reprimanded.

During the time I was out there he mostly vacillated between his two options. Sometimes grabbing one of the animal cookies I tossed him and running back to the willow to eat it. Sometimes hanging out with his new, assigned Mom The Nanny. If he tried to go anywhere else, he was reprimanded by the group - not Cissy. For the most part the little kit behaved well. Any time he uttered even the slightest peep, Heidi fussed at him in the tone one would expect from that harsh, no nonsense grandmother mentioned earlier.

On this particular day, the other kits which had been hanging out under the willow tree were not allowed at the buffet. They came out onto the lawn in the area between buffet and willow but were not allowed to come any closer. I tossed them some kibble and some broken animal cookies. They ate there as a group.

It was as thought this group of 3 sibling kits plus Cissy's kit had been placed at the willow like kids at a daycare center and, except for Cissy's kit, the kits were not allowed at the grownup table (at the buffet). Ever use this approach at a family dinner? Kids in one area, adults another? Kids at a separate table? That's what it reminded me of - except, of course, that Cissy's kit was allowed to come to the buffet with the adults but ONLY as long as he stayed with The Nanny and behaved himself.

Of course, I can only guess at the plan and the reason for what I was seeing. It seemed as though The Nanny had been chosen to take care of Cissy's kit, at least part of the time, at least while they were at the buffet. The Nanny wasn't reprimanding the kit when it misbehaved, so it wasn't as if the kit had been taken from Cissy due to her inability to control it. Perhaps due to her injury it had been decided that she needed help with the kit? Running behind a toddler has to be tough on her with only 3 legs. I don't know. That is just a guess, but it was quite clear that the kit was with The Nanny for dinner tonight.

We had feared the group might push the unruly kit out to die alone or perhaps send him and his injured mother away where the two would struggle alone for survival, but it now seemed as though the group, acting as a community, was trying to both relieve the stress on Cissy and find a way to teach and alter the behavior of the unruly kit. They weren't throwing the kit away 'like animals' as we had feared. They were trying to work with him just as we work with our problem children.

It was all quite amazing. It certainly seemed to refute the idea of raccoons as lone wolves with no sense of community. The thing is, I can't be certain this sort of thing hasn't happened before. In fact, there have been a few rare instances in the past when it seemed like kits were with the wrong Mom and I was confused, but I would always shake my head and ignore it thinking I must be wrong. This time, because both the kit and Cissy are so unique in markings, there is no denying what I saw. (The kit, as previously mentioned, has a very unusual 'birthmark', a pattern of dark splotches on his nose not seen on any raccoon to date. In addition to her unusual salt and pepper face, Cissy has a large, dark pattern on her fur on either hind quarter, probably where hair was removed around an injury and is now growing back in, lower, dark layer 1st. No other raccoon has this exact wound pattern.)

Every time I think I've seen everything there is to see, something even more unbelievable happens out there.


edited heavily for clarification. I read this a few minutes ago and found it most confusing, so I redid most of it.

This message was edited Jul 16, 2010 2:35 AM

Maybe they know that 'it takes a village..." Wow!

That's a fascinating new development: raccoon daycare?? Sure what it sounds like, and it's a really clever approach to handling the problem child.

Hi Ruth,

When I read the above post, I found it difficult to follow, so I edited it, largely rewriting the middle portion. It did look like raccoon daycare with all of the kits stashed under the tree that way. It also looked as though Cissy's kit had been assigned to stay with The Nanny at least during dinner. Not sure why, perhaps to take some of the stress off of Cissy who has to follow the unruly toddler around on 3 feet. It was incredible to see all of this though. Incredible.

I started writing a response to your post earlier today but did not finish. Sorry. I will get it posted today/Friday.

KyWoods,

Very good caption for the raccoon daycare center.

Well, if you're going to have a daycare center, I guess you need an assigned nanny. I'm sure Heidi's age and status will exempt her from taking a turn, but boy those kits would learn a lot on her assigned day! And you're right, it may well have happened before; it's rare to have a mom and kit so easy to identify visually in the crowd. Really fascinating development.

It makes me think that raccoons have to have a much more complex form of communication than even your interactions with Heidi have led us to believe. That's lot of adults and kits to communicate the rather comlicated plan to, yet they all seemed to be following orders to a "T". You have to wonder if Heidi just talked to Cissy and then had her talk to the other mothers and then they each talked to their kits or was it a big family meeting? We need a hidden video in the woods to see what happens when they are out of sight!

Amazing!
For sure rght up there with Jane Goodal & Diane Fossey!
Your book is gonna be a certain hit!! When the time comes that you can both financially and safely publish it!

Who made up the name, "Screech" for our short-bus kit? LOL, it's perfect!

I think Screech's grandperson & diner owner did ^_^

Yeah, it was me. I took Stretch and made it into Screech - to match the sound the little guy makes.

To bad I didn't take the camera out today. Once again I fell asleep and forgot all about the raccoons. Screech woke me up whaling a the top of his lungs. He was on the patio. He doesn't trill anymore. Now he screams like a banshee. You would think someone was killing him. My neighbors must surely wonder what the heck I'm up to over here. I just hope the police don't ring the doorbell saying they have a complaint of animal cruelty.

I didn't take the camera because I ran out in a hurry. The sun was already going down, so there was little time to spare. I wish I had taken it though. The sounds and scene were unbelievable. I hate to ask this but, "Is there any chance the kit could have rabies when the parent doesn't?"

Heidi wasn't wasn't there, and without her the others are largely powerless to control the kit. Today the kit seemed worse than ever, like it's totally crazy - hence the rabies question. It does not seem at all physically ill, however. It was very close to me at times, so I got a good look at it. It is adorable, cute, and cuddly - but scary.

It's scary because it keeps running up to the adult raccoons and sort of attacking them. One minute all will be well, the kit will come up to a spot of kibble and sit and eat quietly. Then all of a sudden and for no apparent reason it will run toward one of the adult screaming, "Eeeeeeeiiiieeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" and attack biting them in the side repeatedly. The adults either hunker down, belly to the ground and wait for him to quit or run from him. He actually managed to chase Dennis off before she could get her 1st cookie. He kept coming at her and on about the 3rd 'attack', she left the yard entirely.

Dennis was right up beside me. I was a bit scared because the kit was so close to me when it came after Dennis. It even sat on the instep of my boot at one point. Another time it sat under my arm and looked up at me. Frightened after seeing the little guy attack the raccoons, I lifted my arm into the air trying to stay clear of it, but at no time did it ever try to attack me. That time when I lifted my arm away from it, it looked up at me and then ran away - quietly. Screech only seems to act crazy when dealing with the raccoons.

Again tonight, Screech was with his Nanny. The Nanny was one of Heidi's 3 yearlings, but I can't say for sure if it was the same one from yesterday. The kit only tried to approach Cissy once but ran back to the Nanny when she bit at him driving him back. The only other kit I saw today was one that was probably Dennis'. It was on the lower trunk of the cherry tree just over the fence watching the going on. At one point the kit got onto the fence and walked along the top to the post. You could see that the kit wanted to come to the buffet, but it never did. Then when Dennis left the kit left, too. I think the other kits may actually be afraid to come to the buffet with Screech running around screaming and attacking.

I wasn't out there long, maybe 15-20 min. While I was there the kit continued the same pattern one minute eating and behaving, the next minute running around screaming at the top of his lungs and attacking others. When attacking he looked enraged to me. That's what 1st made me question if he might be rabid. Then he would settle down and eat a cookie quietly, looking cute and cuddly. Just when you would think he was going to behave now, something would set him off again and the whole thing would repeat. Yet he seemed to know what he was doing because even though he was near me frequently, at no time did he attack me, only the raccoons. Very strange.

So what gives? Is he a spoiled brat? Rabid? Brain damaged?

Oppositional Defiante Disorder? Bipolar?

Rabies is unlikely since (a) Cissy appears well and (b) the kit himself doesn't look sick; rabid animals almost always look very ill. Can't rule it out altogether, but it's quite unlikely. And nothing about Cissy's behavior toward Screech suggests that he could be a spoiled brat. I'm guessing brain-damaged, possibly in utero if Cissy was injured while pregnant; but it's purely a guess. And Screech is a perfect name for him; the screaming sounds even worse than the mega-loud trilling.

Susan,

So the acronym for would be 'ODD' right? LOL. Well, that definitely fits.

I saw part of a program about children born with schizophrenia. Much of Screech's behavior reminds me of some of the children in that program. But 'odd' still seems a viable diagnosis.

thanks for the nudge Cheryl... i had not seen the link... guess i was looking for the "the end" butt.

Interesting about The Nanny.... and bizarre behavior by Screetch.

Ruth,

While I realize there is no guarantee, that is good to hear, nonetheless. I don't really think he has rabies either, but thought I should bring it up just to see what others thought. He seems quite healthy (physically), so much so that I would love to pick him up and hold him if he weren't wild.

Some other options come to mind, options which are not incompatible with brain damage. For instance, he could be screaming and carrying on because of pain, pain which may be due to some damage due either to birth defect(s) or which may be the result of his own behavior, as in those belly flops off the fence (he no longer does those BTW). Persistent pain would also explain the periods of anger and other behavior that may make him look dumb even if he isn't.

As to brain damage, I probably mentioned this before, but my mother had Alzheimer's, a truly horrible disease which robs one of his/her very identity. Alzheimer's damages areas of the brain, so in essence the resultant behavior which we associate with Alzheimer's is due to a form of brain damage. Memory loss is but the 1st and most well known symptom of Alzheimer's. There are numerous other and even more problematic symptoms.

In the later stages of the disease, my mother was prone to vacillate, often quite quickly, between a variety of very different personality states including but not limited to: fear and anger. She could be the sweetest, calmest person one minute and be cursing like a sailor the next. A few minutes later still she might be terrified. I mention this not because I think the kit may have Alzheimer's but rather to substantiate the possible diagnosis of brain damage and to show that brain damage may result in the kind of behavior the kit displays, particularly that of eating calmly one minute and attacking the others violently the next and shifting back and forth between these very different states for no apparent reason.

In the latest stage of the disease, my mother screamed more or less constantly. You would have thought she was in great pain, but her doctors and nurses all insisted that this was not the case but that the screaming was a symptom of her disease. Here again, I offer this information as further evidence that brain damage may cause the symptoms seen in the kit, in this case the screaming.

As to Cissy, I should mention that her first kit Mink was a very sweet and well behaved kit. Mink would take a cookie from my hand so gently, perhaps more gently and sweetly than any of the others to date. Even though Mink was an 'only kit' she seemed quite well adjusted and happy. Cissy used to play with Mink a lot in the moonlight after they had finished eating, as though to make up for the lack of sibling playmates. I enjoyed watching them play that way.

That the group is trying so hard to deal with the kit's problems says a great deal about them. For starters it says they are much different than we have been led to believe - but that seems to be true of most animals to one extent or other. The sad thing is, all their best efforts not withstanding, if the problem is brain damage, the kit has about a -3% chance of survival - as in no chance at all. That being the case, it's sad really, to see them all endure the screaming and biting and everything for naught. Already the presence of the damaged kit is effecting even the other healthy kits as the latter can't come to the buffet and eat in peace for fear of being attacked and bitten repeatedly by Screech. Her very presence has altered things for everyone, and yet ultimately she isn't going to make it anyhow, but I guess they can't know that yet, so they are forced to try to do what they can for her (or him).

Oh, well. We were never promised that every moment in Heidi Land would be happy and bright, were we?

Terese,

Yeah, those 'the end' butt pics are all on my other computer. Also, I don't have good photo editing software on this one. I need to move some over here. I miss them, too. I think they really did help to make the last post easier to spot. Hopefully, I'll get that done before the end of this thread.

It is incredible about the Nanny. And like I mentioned, this may not be the 1st incident of that. In the past, I was usually out there at night when it was difficult to see very well to start with, and at that age most kits look almost identical except for the occasional color difference (gold vs brown) but even that doesn't show up dependably in the dark. This is the 1st time I've ever had kits at the buffet in broad daylight. Good light plus Screech's very rare nose markings have allowed me to see the nanny behavior clearly where I may have missed it in prior years.

It is very weird though. That 1st day it took me a while to figure out just what the heck was going on out there. Suddenly Screech was with The Nanny instead of his mother and everyone was acting like this was normal, everyone including even Screech and The Nanny. And when Screech tried to approach Cissy she barred her teeth and nipped at him acting just like a raccoon who was not his mother would be expected to act. It was pretty surreal to watch.

Maybe Cissy got smart and gave him up for adoption? Does the Nanny have kits of her own?

Afraid poor Screech does fit the description of ODD:
"ODD is a condition in which a child displays an ongoing pattern of uncooperative, defiant, hostile, and annoying behavior toward people in authority." but brain damage of some sort does sound like a real likely hood. Hopefully it is something he will outgrow.

This message was edited Jul 17, 2010 10:09 AM

Susan,

Oh. I didn't realize that 'odd' was a real condition. I thought perhaps you had made it up because the letters spell out 'odd', and without a doubt Screech is odd.

I don't know if the Nanny has kits of her own or not. I haven't seen her bring any to the buffet, but she may have any number of reasons for not doing so. They may not be old enough yet or, like Heidi, she may not wish to bring them in daylight. Bast, for instance, had kits, but I never saw them.

Oops. gotta go upstairs. Sounds like an elephant fight up there.

Edited to add: None of the 3 yearlings that are out there have brought kits to the buffet yet, at least not that I've noticed. It seems most unlikely that none of them have kits. Now that I think of it, I believe I did see a kit leaving with one of the yearlings 1 day. Don't know which yearling though. It's also possible that one of the kits running around in the trees or on the fence may have been hers and I didn't know.

This message was edited Jul 17, 2010 4:49 PM

"Oppositional Defiance Disorder", right? Wow, so there's "ADD" and "ODD".

When I got to the top of the stairs, there was just sweet little Cocoa sitting there looking at me like, "Is anything wrong?" I didn't see where he had damaged anything. He must just be playing 'hard'. Hard to believe such a small, light cat can make it sound like it is thundering up there. At the very least he sounds like 2 very large dogs up there playing leap frog.

I don't know if this matters, but when Screech has his angry outbursts the adults are not interacting with him in any way. They are not giving him orders, for instance. They, including the Nanny, are just eating and minding their own business.

As for The Nanny:

(1) She may not be keeping the kit all of the time. She may just be taking him off Cissy's hands while they are at the buffet or maybe for the evening while they are out eating. Cissy has a bum hind leg. She is hopping around on 3 legs which has to get tiring. When she had Screech, she felt compelled to run after him to try to stop him from attacking other (and them from retaliating). She reminded me of one of those mothers running behind a bad kid going, "Excuse me. I'm sorry. Excuse me, Ma'am. Sorry. " (etc) She would wear herself out hopping around after him and end up leaving early in apparent frustration. With The Nanny taking care of Screech (at the buffet), poor Cissy can eat in peace, staying in one place.

(2) I can't imagine anyone would adopt him because they wanted a kit, not with all of his problems. The Nanny must be a saint even to take care of him at the buffet. In fact, I was thinking just the other day how, for a raccoon other than his Mom to be willing to deal with that screaming, biting child while trying to eat her dinner, would seem to indicate that raccoons must have a much greater sense of family and community than even I had imagined. To take care of such a child seems a true act of altruism. Either that or Cissy must have promised her something huge in return.

LOL Maybe Cissy is one of those wonderful respite volunteers who watch the disabled while the family enjoys some peace. Yep, a saint in a raccoon suit!

>>Hard to believe such a small, light cat can make it sound like it is thundering up there.

we dont call Charlie 'thunder paws' for nothing.... he does that too, he's usually flying around the house... up and down the stairs, across the back of the sofa [funny story there... ] into the dining room, then sliding across a table into the blinds in the living room.

we got some new family room furniture back in June... the couch used to have more of a flat back, where the top was 'not as cushy' -- the new stuff is 'over stuff' so the back is more rounded... the very first time he came flying down the stairs, across the back, which was not what he was expecting... he literally fell off at about 20mph... DH and I just bust out laughing... poor thing, he just looked at us and walked away.

KyWoods,

Cissy is the Mom. I think maybe you mean the yearling who is The Nanny, right? (I know, sometimes I have trouble keeping them straight, too, esp when the names change every year.) Yes, she must be a saint, that one.

Terese,

Thunder Paws. That's cute. ROTF at Charlie's flying trick. I can just see the wounded pride on his face - and you guys laughing at him. Poor fella.

The 1st thing I noticed tonight, noticed from inside the house, was the absence of that screaming sound. I took my camera out anyhow even though the silence seemed ominous. The entire current group was there: Heidi, Heidi's 3 female yearlings, Dennis, and Cissy. I still can't figure out the angle that permits Dennis to stay. Maybe Heidi has an irrational, soft spot for her, too. But she was there.

There were no kits anywhere, none visible, none audible. Of course, I knew with the normal kits this didn't mean much as they had fooled me before. They could hide well. I also knew there was no way even Heidi could keep that little 'crazy' one totally quiet. There was no way that one was hiding in a tree somewhere.

The group ate in semi-relaxed silence. Then I heard a noise, something banging on something else, back by the house that clued me in that some other creature was in the yard with us. I knew Kitty and Cocoa were both inside, so I wondered what this creature might be. Moments later I saw the shadowy figures of 3 small kits creeping quietly along nose to tail in a straight line behind the shrubs. They were on their way from the house and headed to the willow tree (in the yard beside the buffet). They were very quiet, there feet barely visible at the bottom of the shrubs. There was no way that Screech could be with them.

Screech was not there, not with the kits, not with Cissy, not with The Nanny. It was the 1st quiet, sane, normal dinner at the buffet since Screech had 1st arrived on the scene.

Yep, I got them confused, lol. Hmmm...maybe they found a way to tie him to a tree??

I doubt that tying him to a tree would be enough to silence Screech, Ky; he'd probably need to be both bound and gagged. And if they had opposable thumbs, I suspect the ladies would be sorely tempted. Wonder why he was absent, though.

Alzheimer's is a horrid disease, and I'm so sorry you had to go through that with your mother, Cheryl. And yes, brain damage definitely can cause sudden and dramatic mood swings. Like you, I think that Screech has minimal to nil chance of surviving...whatever the nature of his problem is, but particularly if he has brain damage. I suspect that the raccoons also know this; after all, they know intimately what it takes to survive in their world, and the kit just doesn't have the skills or the self-control. There seems to be a hard-wired taboo, at least among the females, against violence toward the young-even someone else's kits. That's a lovely thing but, as you say, everyone is paying a price for his presence, especially the other kits and Cissy. This will sound really hard-hearted, and isn't meant that way, but I almost hope he doesn't make it to adolescence. His behavior has the potential to be really harmful to the others if he acquires size and muscle mass.

I agree, it must have been very stressful and heartbreaking to care for your mother, Cheryl. I sometimes think mine is starting down that path, but she's acted bipolar as long as I can remember (refuses psych. help, so not diagnosed). In fact, tonight she's on a rampage because I threw some spoiled strawberries out in the woods instead of putting them in the garbage. I almost always do that with fruits and veggies if we have any that we can't eat. She insisted that the cats would find them and eat them and get sick.
What say you, resident rehabbers here?

cats are primarily carnivores. Spoiled strawberries would doubtfully attract them

That was my thinking, too.

I've hardly ever met a cat who would eat fruit, Ky. Many love to play with grapes, but they then leave them somewhere squashed for me to step on, lol. And raccoon stomachs can definitely handle overripe fruit; probably the same with squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, etc. Not to worry.

Thanks for confirming that for me! They have eaten bread that I put out for the coons, but it was 'used' hamburger buns that had hamburger juice on them.
Shhh, don't tell Mom, but I threw some spoiled cabbage out there today...lol.

What your mom doesn't know won't worry her...the motto of teenagers everywhere, but in this case it's true.