Heidi: Now Where The Heck Are Those Kids?

One of the babies with a nut. Karen

So sorry to hear about your hospital adventure, Karen, but congratulations on the new additions: they're beautiful!

This one if very fuzzy, but hard to take during the night light isn't very good on the eyes. Karen

Hi, Karen,

Very, very sorry that you are having such health problems lately. I do hope that you will be feeling better soon. Maggie's babies are just adorable. Feeding them peanuts and having them so close to you must have been a wonderful experience. The little ones are just so magical to see.

Please do take good care of yourself.

Good Mornin!
Karen, these little cuties will help you to recover quickly! So please take care, get plenty of rest & keep up with the pix! ;D
Joey

Hmm. Tonight we had only Heidi and Juliet as visitors. I'm wondering...

Last night I forgot to mention that Heidi positively forbid Fraidy to pass an invisible line on the lawn. As a result, Fraidy could never get to me. Twice she sneaked all the way around so that she was beside me but still some 7ft or so away. Each time, Heidi looked up and growled, and then Fraidy promptly turned and went back to the fence. I found this interesting for a couple of reasons.

First, at times I've begun to wonder about Heidi's ability to maintain her dominance. Juliet has become increasingly domineering in her own right. For a while I've been concerned about Heidi's age, wondering if she truly could take Juliet in battle. The are about the same size, but, frankly, Juliet looks healthier - sometimes Heidi is showing her age, I think. My concerns have been heightened by the show that Juliet puts on each night as she runs around chasing everybody, starting fights, etc. while Heidi just comes down the fence, eats, minds her own business and leaves. I guess I fell for the "show" and started wondering if Juliet was really the boss now.

But last night I saw the real difference between them - and, Ruth, the irony that you always knew Heidi was Queen of her domain even without seeing her is not lost on me. When Juliet gives chase to keep Fraidy out of the yard, a flashy chase to be sure with all the bells and whistles, Fraidy just runs right past/through the aggression to arrive in the safety of that spot beside me, always thumbing her nose at Juliet's failed attempt to keep her back. So I was quite amazed last night when Heidi just lifted her head and with one quick growl sent Fraidy back, no chasing, no snarling, no fighting, no bells and whistles, just "grrr" and done.(So now I think we can see who really rules the yard.)

Second, Heidi has been permitting the others, including Fraidy to eat peacefully. As long as Heidi had a dish, she pretty much ignored everyone else. Now I think I may be seeing the beginning of a manuever to push the others out of the yard - during the time that she is eating - she doesn't seem to care what happens after she leaves. I wonder if she may be preparing for the time (soon) when she will want to bring the kids in which case she probably doesn't want all the others around with their bickering and such.

Tonigh, perhaps in keeping with my theory, the yard was strangely devoid of raccoons even though I was out there until well after dark. I kept expecting the others to show up but none did. Shortly before i left, one raccoon walked across the top of the fence and then disappeared into the forest again without ever coming down.

Then tonight I saw what looked like another dynamic beginning to emerge. Where as normally Heidi eats and ignores Juliet, tonight Heidi seemed to be working at showing Juliet who owns the space. Heidi had the only dish of food tonight. She had been waiting for me when I got out there and had come rushing over for her dinner. Once I filled her dish and she dived in, I'd sat down without filling the other dishes - didn't want to stress her out. I had thrown handfuls of food around the lawn and in the area where Juliet eats, but Juliet had been visibly put off at being asked to forage about the lawn for food. She kept eyeing Heidi's bowl jealously.

As I was throwing more food to Juliet, some fell into the pool, so Juliet got into the pool to retrieve them. Then I threw several more handfuls into the pool for Juliet who seemed to be enjoying fishing for them. Suddenly, Heidi wanted to fish for food - even though Heidi had kitten food and the food in the pool was dog food. Juliet expressed her discontent at having Heidi join her in the pool, a clear rules violation, but Heidi totally ignored her. Naturally, Heidi was not content to share the pool, and soon Juliet was back to foraging in the grass while Heidi fished in "her" pool. Shortly, after she had run Juliet out of the pool, Heidi decided she'd fished enough and returned to her dish.

Bottom line, Heidi ruled the yard tonight, and quite calmly took what she wanted. Juliet spent the night scrounging around on the fringes. No one else was permitted in the yard. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues in the coming days and weeks. Incidentally, last night Heidi executed a similiar maneuver to claim the pool when Panda was in it. Panda is quite combative and has been known to fight back quite aggressively when "attacked" by Heidi. Last night, Heidi didn't fight with Panda, but she very deftly put Panda out of the pool without a fight even though Panda had "owned" the pool when Heidi arrived to claim it. I could be wrong, but i think I'm seeing a difference in Heidi's interactions with the others, and I think she is calmly and assertively pushing them back.

I had been trying to think of a way to make a seperate time for Heidi to bring her kids, a way to seperate them from the others; but that's not so easy. Everybody tries to arrive early to get a good seat, so feeding her early wouldn't work. The last raccoon probably doesn't leave until 10PM or after, so feeding her after them won't work either. I don't have that kind of time. Now it looks like Heidi may be taking care of the problem on her own. We'll just have to see if this trend continues.

Tonight I gave her kitten food, cat greenies, dog food, a whole rotisserie chicken, and some watermelon chunks. She ate and ate and ate. Twice she came over to me, walked right up so close she could have touched me if she tried. I sat still. I felt she wanted to investigate - for some reason. Each time she me and then sniffed the bags and boxes beside me and then went back over to her dish to eat. (In case you are feeling bad for Juliet, I spread the food about, pulled the chicken apart, etc. Juliet ran over, grabbed a chicken leg, and ran off as though she had found gold. Later she returned to grab a few watermelon chunks while Heidi was commanding the pool.)

Oh no! What is to become of my precious Fraidy?? I am worried about her. If she gets pushed aside by Heidi and Juliet and cannot come into the yard do you think she will still be OK??

Karen thank you for the wonderful baby pictures! They look like they are nice and chubby thanks to your excellent racoon cafe. Do not forget to take care of yourself though!

It's simple, Cheryl: in a contest between youth and experience, I pick experience to win every time. The young may have physical superiority, but the experienced can outsmart them every time: think tortoise and hare.

Very interesting, and clever, strategy on Heidi's part. It does sound like she's trying to clear the field for the arrival of her kids, and it sounds like she'll have no trouble doing so, even with Juliet. Hopefully Fraidy will learn to eat on a later shift to avoid Heidi. Once she starts bringing the kids to the yard, Heidi will be too busy herding them back home to the nest to worry about who comes later.

Hi, tetleytuna

I noticed that, too, about "Karen's" babies looking chubbie. I couldn't decide if they just looked that way because of the thicker (northern) fur or if they really are that big. They sure do look very well fed though!

As for Fraidy, first of all don't forget that Fraidy took care of herself all last winter. I am very encouraged by that fact. Due to our mild climate their is a lot of natural food available all year, but right now food is almost overly abundant. In my yard alone, right now there are blueberries, figs, apples, grapes, strawberries, blackberries, large rose hips, quince, camellia fruit (looks like large crab apple and raccoons eat these) for starters. (I don't try to stop the wildlife from eating these things; so they eat almost all of the fruit.) The forest edge back there is covered in wild muscadine grapes (Fraidy loves sugar and she loves grapes). There is a 60ft or so beech tree loaded down with beech nuts. That's just the stuff I can think of off hand. There are several large box turtles in my yard - not to mention what might be in the forest and other yards; so that means turtle eggs. I seem to have an endless supply of grubs in the garden. etc.etc.etc. (holly berries, honeysuckle berries, crabapples, currants...I am happy to say that my backyard is a vertiable food fest!)

Also, for some time now, Fraidy has been helping herself to afternoon snacks at the birdfeeder which is always stocked with sunflower seeds. (Oh, I also have a bunch of sunflowers maturing in that same veggie patch back there where Fraidy hides out a lot.)

So, I'm pretty confident that Fraidy will be able to find enough food to get buy. Also, I should point out that while Fraidy did let Heidi keep her out of the yard last night, Juliet is NEVER able to stop Fraidy. It is actually heartwarming to see little Fraidy run right through Juliets defenses, duck into the weeds in the veggie patch and then emerge to the safety of my side. (I am also encouraged to see her showing some ability to assert herself in her own way - by refusing to let Juliet chase her off.) If Heidi prevents that I will miss Fraidy very much. She is such a darling little thing. But I can't imagine that Fraidy will go away and never return. Worst case, she'll probably sneak in for an early snack and/or come by later after Heidi leaves. I can't stay that late every night but will often do so on the weekends so I'll probably still get a chance to feed her then.

Fraidy is an incredible sweetie. While doing yard work this past weekend I rearranged the potted plants not realizing that Fraidy depends on them as part of her cover to get to me. The other night when Juliet was giving her a rough time, Fraidy kept running back into the veggie patch and then sneaking back over to the back of my bench. Realizing that without the plants for cover, she felt more comfortable with me and my bench between her and Juliet, I put her dish behind my bench and filled it. There was a time when I would have been afraid to have a wild raccoon behind me where I couldn't keep an eye on it; but I'm not afraid of Fraidy. Anyhow, a few minutes later she sneaked back over and sat down behind me to eat. ;-)

I will move the plants back this weekend.

Lastly, while I hate that I didn't get the chance to see Fraidy tonight, a few minutes ago when I let Widget out surprisingly he came back with a section of chicken rib. For a piece of chickent to be left out there this late tells me that all of the diners found enough to eat either here or elsewhere.

Ruth - If that is what Heidi is up to, I'm quite impressed. It goes along with a lot of what you've said before about animals vs humans. It would mean that she let the others hand around and eat during this time when it didn't matter anyhow - as oppossed to running them off from the beginning of spring. It goes with the concept of using only the amount of force/violence needed to get the job done.

Also, I think it's funny how I fell for the smoke and mirrors of Juliet's show when the real power lay in Heidi's quiet (but for the grumbling that is) manner all along.

You know, when this subject comes up I am reminded of an incident a few years back when I helped a friend who was giving horseback riding classes to students at a local college. The students were all very fit, young "kids" of 18 or so. I knew how to ride but was quite a few years older, with arthritis in my knees and a "few" extra pounds. I didn't think of myself as being particularly fit. One day we were teaching them to post to the trot. Grossly oversimplified, that involves standing (or supporting one's weight in mid air) briefly for every other "bounce" of the horses gait. In a sense it's like doing a bunch of very brief squats while balancing on a thin rod (stirrup) that just happens to be moving around. Even in my shape/condition/age I could do it with ease, so I was absolutely shocked to see all those very fit 18 year olds repeatedly try to post and keep collapsing back into the saddle. It was such an eye opener for me. I had been doing it all my life. I had no idea that it was difficult for someone who hadn't done it before. I really thought the young kids would be able to execute that particular maneuver with ease. What I hadn't considered was the fact that it takes time to acquire the "seat" and balance to be comfortable executing such mvoes on a moving horse. They had fitness, strength, etc; but I had balance and experience. That, for me, was a prime example of experience vs youth, vigor, and strength. And we were doing something where it seemed that the physical fitness of youth would be a benefit (which it will once they learn to do it).

Great example from horseback riding, Cheryl. An analogy I often think of is all the people at cocktail parties and offices who spend much time talking about how busy and important they are: meanwhile, those with real authority don't need to bluster about it. While Juliet carries on about being supermom and superb...ch, Heidi just quietly gets the job done. Grumbling aside, of course; motherhood really is exhausting.

Tonight was a webcam sort of night - meaning that only a webcam or something like it could have caught the right shots.

We had a heat advisory: 105F. And were under watch for severe storms from mid afternoon till 9PM, or right through the feeding time. Around 6:00PM some really ominous clouds rolled across us, blackening the sky. By 6:35 we were having some really nasty weather; I began to fear I would have to skip the feeding.

When the storm ended, I went out with Purina Dog chow, peanuts, and seedless black grapes. As soon as I got out there, Heidi jumped from the fence and came running to meet me. This time I pushed past her to fill all of the containers rather than just the closest one. She followed me over to the 1st one I filled. As I bent over to pour the food into the dish, Heidi walked up and stopped about 6-8" from the dish. Then as the nuggets began to fall into the dish, she reached out with one front paw, grabbed a nugget from the dish, and popped it into her mouth. To have her come up so close while I pour the food is always a treat in itself, but from my perspective, bent over and looking down at the dish as I was while pouring, it was positively adorable to see that arm reach forward, paw outstretched and open to grab a nugget. She has actually done this a few times before, but it never stops being cute and heartwarming. It's just a shame that I can't photograph it. (Hmm. Camera has timer, maybe I can...)

Again tonight it was just Heidi and Juliet. That no one else showed up - again - seemed way too coincidental. After a while one of the others came down the fence, but way, way over on the other side of the yard, then walked in a small circle and went right back up the fence again. I didn't even notice any sign of either Heidi or Juliet issuing a threat, but the raccoon promptly left just the same. So far away in the dark I couldn't tell who it was.

Last night both Heidi and Juliet really enjoyed fishing those larger dog food nuggets out of the pool - something we haven't been doing lately. So again tonight I threw several handfuls of dog food into the pool. I usually fill the pool to within maybe 2 inches of the top. The earlier storm had filled it to over flowing tonight. Both Juliet and Heidi spent considerable time chasing down those goodies in the water, but Juliet was 1st, and when she 1st entered the already overflowing pool, the displaced water created a current as it ran over the lowest edge which happened to be on the opposite side.

It must have been this sudden current and the sight of all those nuggets floating downstream that prompted Juliet to suddenly jump up so that she was standing on the side of the pool (rolled edge) with her hind feet. It was a most extraordinary thing to see as for what seemed an eternity she balanced there on the pool's edge, leaned her body forward to scoop up the nuggets as they "swam" by, leaned back again to an upright position to eat them - still poised on the side of the pool - then repeated the whole thing again before hopping down into the water. It was breathtaking. I was amazed and totally entertained. I laughed out loud as though a spectator at some comedy show. (Yet another moment I would have loved to capture on film. Hmm. maybe a small pump would add interest to that pool sometime.)

Heidi came over to eat from the dish in front of me, and while she was there I fed her peanuts. (She didn't want any grapes.)

Earlier this morning while I was waiting for Widget to do his thing, I did a little rearranging with Fraidy in mind. I positioned my "tractor scoot" longways between my bench and the veggie patch hideaway, then tucked a line of potted plants along the side of it to strengthen the baracade. My intent was to make a "wall" of obstacles from the bench to the veggie patch so that Fraidy might be able to come out and eat behind the baracade, that wall of plants and tractor scoot making it difficult for anyone to run over and attack her.

Near the end of the meal, I looked over to see a cute little Fraidy mask peeking out from the gap in the edge of the veggie patch. She had managed to sneak over there but had not yet found the courage to venture over to my bench. I tossed some peanuts over there into the knee high weeds. Once I saw that she was eating them, I tossed the rest of the peanuts and grapes over there for her. She sat over there eating them until they were gone and then disappeared back into the weeds. I didn't get to enjoy having her snuggle up beside me to eat - but I did get to feed her.

Around the same time that I was preoccupied with feeding Fraidy, HRH came to dinner and 3 or 4 others joined him as though thinking if he was "going in" it must be ok. Juliet had left earlier. The new comers had barely settled down to eat when suddenly everybody went running for the fence with Heidi on their heals. As I was busy at the time I didn't see how that "started", only looked up to catch the gang heading for the hills with Heidi seeing them off. Then, until she left it was just Heidi and me - and Fraidy hiding out in the veggie patch.

Once Heidi left, a few of the others returned to forage about for what remained. I left shortly after.

Karen, if you're out there, just wanted to wish you well. Hang in there and take care of yourself and know that we are all sending lots of healthy thoughts your way. Hope that you are able to enjoy some time with Maggie and her babies and the others.

Thanks, Cheryl. I am just physically exhausted. Today they even upped my prednisone dose for a few days. Seems to take a lot out of me. ANYHOW....things are interesting here. Last night around 1am, there were 7 babies out there from different families. I couldn't stand it, and had to sneak out. They were afraid until I started throwing handfuls of peanuts and they all went after them. They don't seem to be too interested in dog food, yet, they like the seeds (I keep in a bowl) and the pnuts. It was so cute watching them. One older adolescent (if I ever figure out who she is, I will call her Dixie) actually played hide and seek with me. She hid behind the tree with the squirrel box on and all of a sudden I saw this little mask peek around at me--just the face. I threw her a pnut, she took it behind the tree and ate it. A minute or so later, I saw a little masked face peeking out from the other side of the tree--I threw peanut--she grabbed it, took it behind and ate it. Then all of a sudden she peered out between the V of the tree just over the peanut box. I told her to just come on over and get the pnuts out of the box--and she did. I hope the pics I took of her doing the antics turn out, because she was adorable. That was last night (Tues.) Now tonight, Maggie showed up with her two children. I thought she had three the other day but these last two days she has only had two with her. They followed her to the dog food dish, and tried some dog food, then they saw me and climbed up the tree. When Maggie went to get into the squirrel pnut box, the two little ones climbed all over her trying to figure out how to get the peanuts with her in the way. They were just darling, but I had to stay way back and look through binoculars to watch them. When I did approach, they climbed WAY up into the tree. After about half a hour of Maggie eating and drinking in the pool, I could almost hear her sigh. She walked slowly over to the tree--started slowly climbing up and up and up. I think she was going to get her bad kids to take them home, and since they wouldn't come down, she felt she had to go and get them. I checked a little while ago and everyone was gone except one lonely coon eating.
There is one coon that is fairly new--maybe about 2 weeks of coming. It almost looks like a cross between a Siamese cat and a raccoon. Sleek, thin, and dark. She was one of the ones who had some of the babies last night. I just refer to her as Cat.
Maggie still seems to be the boss. I can't figure out who she lets eat and who she really chases away. My guess is that she lets some of the mothers eat and chases away the males--but that is just a guess.
Last night with three mothers and 7 babies, it was sort of like a "play date." Nice that they all tolerated each other and let the babies play together. I can't imagine that will last. It is funny how fast the babies learn the "SNURF--LEAVE MY PNUT ALONE!!!" Little baby snurfs. Too cute when they are little.
I really hope Fraidy stays around even when the new kids come around--it should be soon. Others on the raccoon list are reporting their kits are coming out now and in the past week or so. Yep, the kits here do seem in really good weight and do have a good bit of coat for such youngsters. I guess the moms did eat well. :-)) I'll try to upload the pics from the last couple of days tomorrow if I get the energy, because you just have to see how adorable they are.
I wonder what happened to Maggies third kit? I know one of these is a female, but not sure about the other. The missing one was a little lighter and a little bigger--maybe a male?? Only heaven knows. Karen

Karen, I've been on mega doses of prednisone, and you have my sympathy: it isn't fun! Saps your energy and makes you just generally feel rotten. Sounds like your moms are managing to share the yard very amicably: gives us all hope for Heidi and Juliet.

Cheryl, I'd love to have seen that balancing act on the pool rim: what a great sight that must have been! Seems clear by now that it's Heidi clearing the stage for her babies: makes sense, since Juliet's are still a long way from old enough to bring. Glad to hear you found a way to get some food to Fraidy. Peanuts for protein and grapes for cool delight: life is good...

Karen -- I think last year I didn't always see all of the kits on every visit. Maybe sometimes one gets in trouble and has to stay in his room for the day as punishment.;-)

Ruth -- I'm almost certain that Juliet's performance on the rim of the pool defied the laws of physics -- but I enjoyed it. Might help that the rim of this pool was made by curving the plastic over and down such that the rim is maybe 1.5-2" wide and gently curved. It looked like her hind feet almost curved with the rim. It was quite amazing. Each time I witness one of these events I have to wonder what else they haven't shown me yet.

Again tonight nothing unique. Mostly Heidi and Juliet again. I put dog food, grapes, and peanuts in the pool, so they spent a good bit of time in there as well as at their dishes. Both Heidi and Juliet ate as though they had a hollow leg or two. Now that she has learned I have treats, Juliet has begun coming right up to me; this is a big change as she used to stay back at station1. Right now Heidi's dish is a few feet in front of me. Heidi gets jealous when Juliet gets to close to me (on the side); then Heidi starts growling at her to get back.

I threw some peanuts and grapes back by the fence along with some apple dog cookies. Every now and then I saw one of the others sneak down, grab something and run back over the fence. Snowball showed up. I saw him back by the fence eyeing the goodies but not wanting to venture too far from the perrenials and shrubs. I tossed him (this was a long challenging toss) a couple of dog cookies; he grabbed one and waddled back into the flowers to eat it before returning for the other. Then I tossed him a few large peanuts which he also grabbed. (Peanuts seem to be the rare, universal treat that works for almost all animals from humans to birds to raccoons, opposums and even dogs.

Fraidy sneaked up on the opposite side and ate a bunch of grapes and peanuts before the others frightened her away. Later when Heidi was leaving Fraidy returned to eat the remaining peanuts.

All in all a pretty ordinary night at the raccoon cafe.

yanno Cheryl.... every time i peek into this forum and see that cute image of Juliet, I just feel like i'd like to scratch behind her ears or under her jaw bone... just like you would a pet.

great image for the topic line.

Still awaiting those kids! Where are they?? Tonight Maggie showed up her previously early time (about 7:30 pm)--no kids in tow. I imagined the conversation went something like this:
Maggie: I'm going out for the cookies and treats before the others get up and out. 5 bowls with treats on top......ahhhhh.....
Kids: BUT WE'RE SKARRED IN THE DAY....
Maggie: Too bad, you know where I'll be.
Kids: WE'RE NOCTERNAL.
Maggie: Bye, be back later.
So, she ate all the yogurt off the tops, most of her favorite animal cookies, some of the hot dog pieces, some pnuts from the squirrel feeder and then after about 2 hours of eating (where DO they put this stuff???) meandered back into the forest...probably home to the kids. She may bring them back later, but I'll be in bed! Some others are wandering in and out eating dog food and some of the seeds, otherwise, not much going on right now. Now at 2am, who knows?? Karen

Terese -- I know just what you mean. I want to pet them, play with them, hold them all the time. Sometimes when they are all milling about so close, just for a minute, I almost forget that they are wild - for a minute.

---
Since I don't have the webcam, it's hard to say whether Heidi may have already brought the kids out later in the night when they can be alone or even early in the afternoon - frequently I come home to find a substantial amound of sunflower seed missing from the feeder - 4 or 5 inches. Last year when I 1st saw the kids it was quite by accident that they happened to be on the feeder one night when I went out to get it. That may not have been the 1st time she had brought them though.

Sooner or later, when she's ready, Heidi will bring them for dinner. And eventually Juliet will probably bring hers, too, and that should really be interesting - one way or the other - but I'm hoping for the best.

Tonight was short but interesting. I took out dog food - they actually seem to be enjoying the dog food again, maybe it's just the change - cat greenies, and frosted mini wheats. In addition, remembering how much both Fraidy and Heidi had liked the nectar in the past and how each had repeatedly licked the dish, I made a quart jar of hummer nectar - double strenght - using the mix. As their dishes only hold about 3cups when filled to the rim, I divided the nectar between 2 dishes which I kept at my feet hoping to hold them for Heidi and Fraidy.

Tonight everyone was visibly disappointed to find that there were neither peanuts nor grapes on the evening buffet. In the past 2 days they had eaten a few lbs of peanuts and 2 bags of grapes. Clearly, they had each arrived tonight expecting more of the same. All those looks of disapproval were hard to take.

After she had eaten a small amount of dog food, Heidi (who was there alone at the time) came over to the dish in front of me to eat. I could tell that she had come over to see if I might have some more peanuts to share with her. Perhaps to help me get the idea, she pawed around a bit at the empty shells from the peanuts she'd eaten last night. It was about that time that she smelled the nectar - ah, syrup of the gods. The moment when she 1st became aware of the stuff was so obvious. With that she plotted a course directly for the dish - but it was still right at my feet. When she got up close she moved very cautiously. I spoke to her to let her know it was ok and kept ultra still so as not to scare her while she was eating.

Heidi consumed every drop of nectar from both dishes - a full quart - without stopping! She likes to eat with her hands so while she mostly drank the nectar, still she could not resist repeatedly dipping her hands in it and licking them - um, um, good. Several of the others showed up. Except for pushing them back she otherwise (wisely) chose not to fight with them. Her delight at finding the nectar was all to apparent. Often while fighting the raccoons turn the dishes over spilling food all over the lawn. Dog food can be retrieved, nectar cannot.

After Heidi had licked the last dish of sweet red syrup clean, she walked away and exited via the fence. She was maybe gone 2 minutes when she returned, jumped into the midst of the group, rounded them up like a cutting horse herding cattle, and when she had chased the last of them away, oddly, Heidi left again, and for the remainder of the time that I was there, did not return. I wondered about the reason for the 2 minute break. Latrine duty after drinking a quart of fluid? Time to wait for the sugar buzz to kick in?

Fraidy had come out earlier, before Heidi became enthrawled with the nectar. Heidi had caught Fraidy before she could get to me and had worked her over pretty good. I was surprised to see Fraidy sneaking back again a few minutes later. The lure of peanuts, maybe? After all, Fraidy ate peanuts the last few nights, too. On her 2nd attempt, Fraidy made it. Heidi made a run at her but seeing that Fraidy had gotten too close to me, Heidi stopped short of attacking her. I have seen this a number of times before. For whatever reason, Heidi is reluctant to attack anyone close to me. Why?

I gave Fraidy some of every food I had, but she kept coming right up to me, practically touching me with her nose - looking for those peanuts and grapes. She would step back to her food, eat a little, then come back to check with me again for the peanuts and grapes. (What I would have given for just one peanut or grape to give her.) She walked around me, sticking her nose up to me on all sides and back. "Where oh where are those peanuts?"

When Heidi came back that 2nd time and went on the rampage, clearing the area, Fraidy hid out in the veggie patch amidst the tall weeds. A few minutes after Heidi left, Fraidy emerged. Alone with all of the food - and the pool - Fraidy stayed a long time. She ate from various dishes, foraged about the lawn, and took a dip in the pool every few minutes to chase kibble. With the weekend ahead of me, I had time to spare, so Fraidy and I spent lots of time together before she finally left.

Now...will the kids be ok tonight...I mean, considering that mom is now tripping on C6H1206 (otherwise know as SUGAR)? When I took out a quart of double strenght nectar I hadn't expected any one raccoon to consume it ALL!

OH, her aching stomach. I surely bet she did have to go potty. Can you get a little cam and hook it into your vcr? That way you can play it back in the morning (when you have a chance) and see what happens when you are asleep. That is the only way I found out we had Opie the opossum. I have never seen him in the flesh. Right now our coon cam is not in good shape. Kent got a bigger one from work, but needs to get a lot of hardware to get it set up. It's big, and would have zoom capabilities as well as rotate 360 degrees. NOW-the main thing is to get the hubby to have time to do it. He still has to get the new computer up and running (since this one crashed and I still don't have a lot of things back, like OFFICE). It is a pain (and embarrasing) to have to fax hand written notes to whomever. Anyhow, tonight here hasn't been too exciting. Maggie came a little later, ate all the cookies. I fed her some plain pnuts which she adored. Then I went in. Right now no one is at the feeders. They usually show up later, hoping that Maggie is gone. The flying squirrels have been having their place in the works here. They like to get the pnuts out of the squirrel feeder IF a raccoon isn't there--also, they glide across the yard to another tree where there is a squirrel swing for corn, but I put some pnuts on it for them, so they can fly back and forth. About every other night the bats have been showing up. Hurray!! I love the bats. To watch them turn on a dime to get an insect is amazing. I keep telling them to eat all those "filthy heartworm carrying mosquitos!" I bought a bat house last year, but DH hasn't put it up yet. Another project. So now, it seems, we are supplementing the raccoons, flying squirrels, red squirrels, fox squirrels, gray squirrels, chipmunks and turkeys. (Along with the wild birds.) And perhaps Opie. Isn't wildlife interesting. So much for tonight already. Karen

There are some better flier pics. Karen

Yeah, I'd say that a quart of fluid would definitely push raccoon bladder capacity; and how can one possibly herd while sloshing? Too funny... And I'm sure the kids will be fine, though Heidi may regret her adventure when dealing with kids zinging on a second-hand sugar high.

Glad you got to spend some quality time with Fraidy: suspect you both needed that.

And Karen, so glad to hear you're a fellow bat fan! So many people are creeped out by them, and they are so very beneficial, not to mention fascinating. One of my fondest memories from working with the rehabbers was trying to feed a bat recovering from injury. The facial expressions and unmistakable bat profanity when offered mealworms were priceless [What is that garbage, and where are the mosquitos?]. Sorry, but feeding mosquitos by tweezers is a prospect that boggles the mind...

Karen -- The flying squirrel is cute. I don't think we have them here; at least, I've never seen one.

Now, about that webcam. Sure, I can do that. Naturally, I'll have to do research to find out what to do and how to do it and to determine what materials I'll need to acquire. I'll put that on my burgeoning list of things to do. LOL, your post contains some form of the words "as soon as DH gets time to" or "DH is going to" repeated 4 or 5 times. That's a much more efficient method of getting things done than the one I am using. ;-)

I thought I saw bats outside one night years ago but haven't seen any sign of them since. I'd love to have them, too. We have plenty of food for them! I think they suffer from a lot of really bad press, mostly due to horror movies, a general lack of knowledge about bats, and fear surrounding "vampire" bats and rabies.

Ruth -- LOL at your description of feeding the little guys!

This week we seem to have moved from daily rain storms to all day rain storms. Ruth, if you are still waiting for your rain, I think it may have taken a wrong turn and ended up here. We've had a plenty now. The garden is now a swamp. Can raccoons swim? Oh, that's right they love water. Well, they should be very happy now. They don't even need a pool anymore - but I need a canoe.

So naturally when I went out to feed them today it was raining, as it had been all day and all night. Heidi showed up as I was filling one large dish and putting it under the chair in hopes of keeping it dry. I poured some food in her dish as well, but that Heidi is pretty smart. She ate a few bites from her dish. Then as the rain quickened a bit, went over to the chair, climbed under it, and sat there sheltered from the rain AND in front of the BIG bowl to enjoy her meal. Serendipitously, there was also an empty dish right beside the chair; the empty dish had filled with clean rain water and provided Heidi a private water source within easy reach. When Juliet showed up, it was humorous to see Juliet eating while water dripped off of her and me getting all soggy watching but Heidi just a few feet away snug and dry-ish under her "chair-tent".

Not once, but SEVERAL time during the meal, Heidi left the shelter of her dining area to come over to me and stick her nose into the totally empty dish that had held that nectar the night before. I felt that she was surely trying to point something out to me. I tried to tell her that she's becoming an addict, but she was so insistent that I eventually ended up going back to the house to make emergency nectar.

Unfortunately, shortly after I returned Fraidy, who was had come out from the veggie patch to eat a few grapes in the area beside my bench and behind the tractor scoot barracade I'd set up, began barfing. This, BTW, is the 2nd time I've seen her barf; I've never seen any of the others do so. (Any idea what might be making her sick?) She moved about 4ft away and sat doing that thing that dogs and cats do to "reverse gears". Whatever the problem is, it doesn't seem to effect her appetite as she returned immediately after (both times) to continue eating. (But, Ruth, I was thinking about your comment that they have cast iron stomaches and...)

As soon as Fraidy started making that sound that all cat and dog owners know so well, Heidi raised her head and looked over at Fraidy. Heidi's face bore a look of obvious concern. Moments later, Heidi took off for the fence. At the top of the fence, she stopped for a few minutes to look back at the still "hacking" Fraidy, then headed off into the forest and did not return, not even to drink her nectar. It may have been one heck of coincidence but it sure looked as though she left because Fraidy was barfing.

This was not a problem for Fraidy. After she finished purging (to keep that girlish figure?), she went over to take Heidi's spot under the "tent". Of course, given Fraidy love of sweets she went straight for that nectar. And she ate it the same way Heidi did - by licking it off her paws! In fact, about 1/2 way through, Fraidy decided it would be best to climb all the way into the container - I guess if it tastes that good, you might as well get it all over you!

By that time I was wet enough, so I left.

There probably are flying squirrels in your area, Cheryl, but they're very rarely seen since they're completely nocturnal and normally quite shy. It's surprising and awesome that Karen gets to see them in action. I've not seen one here, despite being a totally nocturnal person, and having an "other half" who has more feeders, of more types, than I've seen in most supply stores.

Don't worry about a webcam; we're all hooked on the raccoon images, of course, but you're investing a fortune in time and money for the kids already, and the still pictures are awesome.

You're right about the bad public image of bats; it results in so many deaths for them, since people tend to eradicate them like snakes and other "icky" creatures without realizing how beneficial and non-threatening they are. I find them absolutely fascinating since they're the only true flying mammal (flying squirrels are gliders, not flyers). And those wings are so fragile: unlike birds, they can't simply grow new feathers when the wing is torn by cat or other misadventure, so a wing tear is usually crippling or fatal. Their faces are remarkable: the whole head on most common species is as small as the joint of one of your fingers, but the facial expressions communicate so clearly what's going on with them. For anyone interested in learning more about bats, www.batcon.org is a great resource. The images in their photo gallery are beautiful, most from photos taken by founder Merlin Tuttle.

Yes, we're still waiting for rain up here, and I wish someone would give the clouds a GPS. We've totally missed our usual monsoon season here in the mountains, and get excited about a 15-minute shower. Pretty pathetic. Send it up here, please!

Vomiting is quite unusual in healthy wildlife, especially raccoons. Since Fraidy is in many respects still juvenile, I guess she could be experiencing the "gulp and barf" syndrome I've often seen in young cats and dogs: i.e. eat too fast and send it back, then eat more. But Heidi's reaction to it is a concern: she seems to feel it's a problem. Probably instinctive: some serious diseases like canine distemper or parvo (both of which afflict raccoons) cause vomiting; but sick animals rarely eat more after vomiting. Don't know, but it does concern me. Crossing fingers and hoping she's just acting like a greedy kid....

Ruth -- I was being sort of "tongue in cheek" about the webcam. I'd like to have one for a number of reason in additon to the raccoons. I looked around on line a while back when I wanted one for something entirely different. I tabled the idea upon realizing that I needed more information. As I've mentioned before I'm so far behind I have little hope of getting caught up any time soon. (And as you pointed out the hour or so I spend with the raccoons almost daily plus the time to write about it is a considerable time investment, but I see this as my "play" time; it's something that I enjoy and something that relaxes me.). Anyhow, I was joking about the webcam because I couldn't help but be amused by all of the instances of "someone else is going to do it" in the post. When I talk to my gardening friends both real and virtual I am always amused by the wording of things like "I put up a birdhouse (or feeder, etc)" or "I made a stone path" or "I put an arbor in the garden" or whatever, which all too often equates to "my DH put up a birdfeed and I filled it", etc. Now don't get me wrong, I'm impressed that many of you are able to get more done by delegating. Heck, I'm down right envious, but until I can get Widget trained better, frankly I've no one to whom I can delegate, so for my own sanity I have to be careful not to expect to keep up. Sometimes I hire someone to do what I can't but that comes with its own time investment - finding them, screening them, supervising them, even time off from word to let them on the premises. (I'm SO jealous to hear that your "other half" is interested in birding and puts up all manner of feeders! I once told mine (former) that I'd like for us to build something - as a fun project - to which he responded "couldn't I just buy you one or pay someone to build it for you?" )

I didn't know that about the squirrels. I've only seen the one type here, just figured we didn't have them. I don't think we have the red ones and some of the other types I hear about. Wow, that is incredible then that the little fellas are flying all around Karen. I missed the importance of that.

You can have your clouds. I haven't seen the sun for days. The dreariness is bad enough. The fact that the backyard is under water is too much; I'm now on waterfront property. The back door was stuck shut last night. It only does that when there is a huge amount of rain over an extended period. After I forced it open I realized the need to be more careful/gentle with it considering its a French door so if it flexes too much that could be bad news. Anyhow, everything here is wet, the ground, the building, the plants, even the AIR. ick! Please come and get your clouds! ;-)

I've only seen Fraidy do that twice. The other time was back before I got the pool.That time she was scarfing down an apple (a whole one) when she stopped to barf a bit and then continued eating the apple. Again this time as soon as she finished she came over to eat more grapes and dog food - then she went over and drank the quart of nectar which must surely have helped a lot. At 1st I was thinking maybe she ate something bad from the forest, but then I remembered what you said about their tough GI system. Although I couldn't imagine that Heidi would be concerned about Fraidy being sick, it was impossible to ignore the fact that Heidi reacted immediately, stopped eating to watch Fraidy for a minute or so during which the concern on her face was obvious, and then deserted a perfectly good meal to flee the vicinity.

So what is your take on Heidi not fighting within a certain distance of me - maybe 2 ft. It's as though there is an invisible boundary around me in which she will not attack the others. I've seen this numerous times, not just with Fraidy. It isn't that she's afraid to come that close to me; when she wants to she will come right up so close she could touch me, but she never initiates a fight withing that buffer area, and on a number of occasions I've seen her stop short of an attack when the other one got within that area around me. My take on it is that it probably has to do with respect for my space. I guess I have authorty within a certain area around me. Something like that. Curious to hear your take on it.

OK, I have a question. I don't know where to find the answer to this...maybe you do.

I know that dogs are NOT supposed to eat grapes. They do damage to their kidneys. Could this be possible in the raccoons also...and that be Fraidys problem? Could something she is being fed....and eating way too much of...be causing that issue? The girl does nothing in moderation as we have seen.

I would be very concerned about the vomiting....its not normal in wildlife. Maybe once...but not continuous.

Keeping the girl in my thoughts and prayers.

Debbie, who just loves reading about all of your wildlife

I think your idea of having that authority boundary is correct. Heidi is the queen of the other racoons but as you "own" the food source and the yard it only makes sense that she would respect a boundary around you. As far as Fraidy is concerned she sees you as her prime protector and knows that the other racoons respect that boundary so she is safe near you. As far as her vomiting is concerned, if she continues to eat and otherwise appear healthy it probably is just another aspect of her limited development. Heidi's reaction to it is exactly what you would expect from a wild racoon as vomiting usually means being sick. Something she cannot afford to be exposed to in any case but especially with a young family.

Debbie -- I don't know the answer. If anyone does, please let me know. I did know that dog should not have grapes, but I also know that nature seems to have provided an awful lot of wild grapes for the raccoons. As soon as that network of grapes matures the raccoons will climb through the trees and eat every one that they can possibly reach. Last summer I enjoyed watching Trouble eating those grapes up on the high wire. There are TONS of grapes up there. Then again they do only get them once a year, but, on the other hand, when the grapes get ripe they will eat even larger quantities of grapes (per day) than I am feeding them. The only things they get regularly and in large quantities are dry dog and cat food, peanuts, and grapes. Heidi eats as much of the 1st 2 as anyone and she's fine so that would seem to rule them out. With grapes Heidi is on/off. Sometimes she scarf them down with the best of them; other times she's not interested. However, no one can eat more grapes than Juliet who also seems quite healthy.

Also, remember there are now 7 or more raccoons coming and going many nights, so I try to hit the highlights. Even when I mention feeding grapes to Fraidy, I probably fed them to everybody or almost everybody; otherwise, the others would be trying to take the grapes from Fraidy. These days, if I break out the grapes, Juliet will be at my feet in an instant. It's impossible to feed grapes to anyone without feeding Juliet. Peanuts are even worse. Once Heidi or Fraidy gets a peanut, everybody in the forest MUST have a peanut! Think children - with sharp teeth and claws!

That said, if anyone has any information that would indicate that anything I am feeding them is bad for them, please do let me know.

BTW, Saturday while out taking photos I noticed that something has eaten all of the apples from my columnar, green apple tree along with leaves from the bottom 2ft or so and apparently tender branch tips. The colomnar apple tree is a single narrow "trunk" that is currently only about 4ft tall. It grows apples all around the trunk so the whole thing currently only takes up less than 1sq ft of space. The lowest apples were only maybe 6" off the ground. The tree is beside the veggie patch so I thought probably the rabbit ate the apples, leaves, and tender tips. Fraidy does hang out over there, however. It is interesting to note that she was eating apples the last time I saw her barf. They eat every bit of the apple. That concerned me because I know that apple seeds contain arsenic; however, I also know that every year they scarf down every apple from every on of my 5 or so small apple trees. I also saw the kids eating the large 1.25" crab apples last year.

Amid the weeds currently dominating the veggie patch where Fraidy hangs out a lot, there are also a number of Polk Salat plants. I have read that the seeds are toxic to most animals and that sometimes birds will eat them and then become intoxicated. Apparently, they don't harm the birds other than making them act odd. Those berries are ripening now and all of the lower ones have been eaten. (Please don't say that I should remove the plants as to do so I would need to traverse some 20ft of weeds; I have a copperhead friend in the garden so I try to avoid that. Hopefully, some day I will manage to clear the weeds from the outside in.)

Thanks so much, Debbie, for letting me know that you are still enjoying the story. Believe it or not when I don't hear from you guys for a while I start to wonder (again) if the story is getting old, same thing, different day. Sometimes it seems like I write the same thing every day. Heidi arrives, she eats, she leaves. For me it is still inexplicably enjoyable to sit with her regardless, but I think it's hard to write that same magic that Heidi brings each day into the thread. It is very helpful to hear that you are still enjoying the thread.

Thanks, tetleytuna. Territory was the thing that made the most sense to me. I was surprised to see that Heidi understood about staying away from the sick. I guess there is so much about wildlife I still have to learn.

Oh, forgot to mention that Saturday I also noticed that all of my green grapes had been eaten as well. I have 4 grape plants espaliered against the fence beside the veggie patch: 2 concord, 1 green, and one sauvengion wine grape just because I think they are so pretty. The critters always eat all of them each year.

Also, the peanuts are human food grade from grocery store. I always get raw, unsalted - raw but not green.

Cheryl, I'm still tuning in to the Heidi show regularly. I'm just too shy to say much. Re. the question of what you shouldn't feed raccoons, the only thing I'd recommend is switching to clear nectar instead of the artificial red colored stuff. In fact, you can make nectar by using regular sugar, much cheaper than buying the "Hummingbird nectar" powder. For hummingbirds, mix a half cup of sugar with one and a half cups of water, warm the mix in a saucepan on the stove, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then allow to cool. If you make more than you currently need, bottle it and keep it in the refrigerator.

Thanks, June, I'm still tuned in for updates on Ahnoldette and Mother-of-Six, too. : )

With the nectar, I'm just being lazy. You know, easy to open a pkg and dump it in. I guess you are right though. How much harder is it, really, to measure sugar?

On a few occasions, although not the most recent, I did make them nectar with the raw, turbenado sugar. (Is that good/bad?) The pale brownish color of the resulting clean liquid was unappealing to ME, but did not seem to deter the raccoons. The fact that I quit using it because it looked icky is an example of why manufacturers make the pet food and treats in all those colors and shapes that surely don't matter to the pets.

Just found this again. I think this raccoon and his videos are adorable. Hope you enjoy them. (Just try to ignore the people.)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2353759048873879979
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2281411747724603848

Edited to add another one I like. This appears to be a pet but it's a good close up of him eating cookies: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=599552972304465292

This message was edited Jul 15, 2007 11:42 PM

Great photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildlifeuplift/46510381/in/set-939561/
That's just one of hundreds by this same person. I got a kick out of them.
Ok, ok, yes, I'm a little side tracked here. I went on line to search for info regarding raccoons and grapes, but kept finding all of these adorable pics. I knew you would hate it if I didn't share them with you.;-)

Just in case you missed this one. It's from the same person who posted the fliclr photos above: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2966193540879906995
(I'm trying to avoid last minute housework.)

I don't think anything you're feeding the kids is problematic: in fact, it's a heck of a high-quality diet for them. As you said, the wildlife gorges on fruit like grapes when they ripen; so the amount you feed should not cause gastric distress. And let's face it, if they can down a quart of pure sugar nectar without a record-breaking bellyache, they can handle pretty much of anything.

Given how low the apples were hanging on your little tree, rabbits are the most likely culprits; though raccoons are certainly possible.

The wild ones are expert somehow at knowing what native species are toxic, and avoiding them; so again, I doubt if the weeds are a problem. If you've only seen the two incidents of Fraidy barfing, I'd suspect she's simply eating too fast, doing what I call the gulp and barf, then going back for more. When dogs do it, they usually re-eat what they've sent back; I find this just appalling, but it doesn't bother them a bit.

I'd agree with tetleytuna that Heidi and company acknowledge you as the owner/provider of the good food, but not of the yard; in their minds, I'm sure the house is your territory and the yard is theirs. They do, however, have a clear recognition of and respect for personal space, as you've described many times in their encounters with each other and you. I think the personal space boundaries, and the fact that you are a much larger being of a very different species, account for Heidi's reluctance to start fights within your space. Would you, as a human, start a fight with another human while standing within a few feet of a grizzly or maybe an elephant? It just doesn't feel safe or smart; and I suspect Heidi feels the same way about fighting while close to you. Don't know if I'm explaining this at all well. I basically think it's more an instinctive reaction than a matter of respect or worry about loss of food source: more gut reaction than thought process. I'm clearly having fuzzy logic problems tonight; time to quit.

In this household, I'm the delegatee for yard projects, not the delegator. Has taught me to think things through before blithely suggesting a new project. It works out, though, because I'm a mechanical idiot so am the delegator for those projects.

Hi Ruth,

RE eating all that nectar w/o a belly ache, did you see that Heidi came back the following day looking for the nectar? lol Apparently she didn't suffer any ill effects. She was downright disappointed to find the nectar bowl empty.

I was just reading up on rabbits tonight. Definitely, fits the rabbit: everything eaten below the 2ft mark, fresh growth and tree buds eaten, etc.

I started to mention that on both occasions Fraidy appeared to have eaten the stuff all over again. I clearly saw her bring it up, but it was gone a few minutes later.

Sounds like you are describing my other idea for why Heidi doesn't fight within a few feet of me. She's comfortable approaching me and eating right at my feet, but she wouldn't likely sleep there. When she comes up really close she's monitoring me very closely in case I do something scary, so she can get away quickly. Fighting requires a high degree of concentration on its own. She can't both fight and monitor me. Also, fighting is messy. She can't control what the other raccoon does. They could end up bumping in to me or otherwise dragging me into the fight. It's just all around to risky, better to fight elsewhere. And I understand what you are saying that she doesn't really go through this logical throught process in making the decision. She just goes by instinct. It just doesn't feel like the right or safe thing to do.

So when I go out to take them food, I'm not so much inviting them into my yard as inviting myself into theirs? LOL. Well, I guess they have as much claim on the space as I do.