The Heidi Chronicles: They're Here at Last!

This is the ongoing story of Heidi and friends, raccoons that frequent my backyard "diner". A few months ago Heidi had her 07 kits, and we have been waiting on pins and needles for a chance to see them. A few nights ago she finally brought them by for a visit.

You are cordially invited to join us as we spend time with Heidi and the others and get to know her new babies. If you haven't done so yet you really should consider going back to the prior thread to view the baby pics.

The prior thread in the series: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/758183/
The original thread that started it all: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/603944

Edited (twice) to add links to prior threads
This message was edited Aug 19, 2007 12:08 AM

This message was edited Aug 19, 2007 12:11 AM

do you have a link to the old thread?

Hi, sticks_n_stones

Yes, actually I was adding it when you posted. It should be in the 1st post now. : )

I just love the pool party pics!!!!

Thanks, KyWoods!

Tonight Heidi and Juliet showed up as usual but no kits, nor did I see any sign of them in the trees. As you might recall, last night 2 of the kits insisted on staying after Heidi left, for a while ignoring repeated calls by their mother. Since they were not allowed back tonight, I wonder if they may be on restriction for their failure to listen to Mom. When she 1st left last night I tried to tell them that they had better go, but after they made it clear that they were staying I resumed feeding them grapes thereby further undermining Heidi's attempts to impose discipline. Hmm, maybe I'm being punished; maybe the kits will be brought out later.

Diva came by with her baby. As the baby was climbing down the fence, Juliet ran over there to threaten the kit. Both Heidi and Diva reprimanded Juliet. for her attrocious behavior. While Juliet was away threatening babies, Heidi stole Juliet's dish and refused to permit Juliet to return to it. Normally, Juliet would just have taken Heidi's food instead but tonight she just turned and quietly returned to the forest, once again confirming Heidi's superior status and showing that Juliet accepts that Heidi's ownership of the dish over by the sandbox and play area.

To stay well clear of Heidi's area, Diva and baby came around beside me - though not so near as Fraidy does; they stayed about 5ft away. Since they used that spot a few times before, I had put some food over there. I also put out a whole roasted chicken, cut into quarters with kitchen shears near there for Snowball. When Diva's baby found the chicken he was more than a little excited. Despite his diminutive size, he snatched up one hind quarter of the chicken - apparently prefering dark meat - and carried it a distance away to sit eating it. Between them, he and Diva ended up eating 3/4 of the chicken.

Except for a brief appearance by HRH after the ladies left, that was it. I sat in the dark a lone a little while after he left, but on one else showed up leading me to wonder if Heidi is driving the others away. I saw Fraidy a few nights ago but haven't seen Sugar or Panda or any of the others for a little while now. Normally they would have come out as soon as Heidi left. Around 3:30AM I took the dog out and noticed that the chicken was still out there along with the cherries and the watermelon indicating that even Snowball had kept his distance and that the others had not shown up later after I left. Heidi may now be taking care of the population problem on her own.

Below is Diva with her baby.

Edited to fix glitch in grammar ; )

This message was edited Aug 21, 2007 4:30 AM

HRH coming to dinner

HRH - sometimes a big meal just makes you feel a little lazy.

hrh

hrh again

Thanks for the new thread.

Ya gotta love HRH. he such a butterball of cuteness. : ) I was having to clean up cofee dribble from chuckling so hard when I saw his belly pics and relaxing pics.

The kits are so adorable!! I have housework that needs to be done too but just can't help sittign here reading and looking at all the pics and the antics.

I wonder if you could not contact a vet and explain to him about how you have a small racoon community and that you are documenting, ( even if it here on Dave's) about the interactions of the kits and toys, plus other things and have a vet be abel to prescribe th rabie s medicine for you.

You might also contact somebody at the Forest and Wild game preserve people and even some of the wildlife professors at a college to help you protect and preserve your community.

We lov e the pics and the stories and someday it gonna make you a great seller, but you are also showing more indepth interactions and a community way of life and system of order that should be able to bring you recognition to get the things you need to keep the animals healthy.

Sure hope the kits and you don't have to stay in timeout too long. ; ) but so glad that there enough trust and rapart that they know your yard at least is a safe haven. Wish more people and hopefully more wil learn by your story, that time, patience and respect that these are still wild animals that you can find joy and pleasure in the wildlife aroudn us and not be so eager to dismis s or destroy it.

Thank you for being who you are and for caring enough to provide food and a safe haven and insuring that at least a fe of these precious critters will be able to go on and survive. Your doing, have done a fantastic job. : )

This morning I found that the remaining 1/4 section of chicken and the food from Fraidy's dish were gone as were the cherries; however, the watermelon remained untouched and Widget found a sizeable section of perfectly good chicken breast nearby. That some additional food was eaten after I left seems to suggest that somebody came for it, maybe Snowball or Fraidy or both. That all of the food was not devoured seems to say that Heidi has run some of the interlopers off. If Panda, Sugar, and the countless other unnamed new arrivals all descended on the remaining food, not a crumb would have remained let alone a large chunk of broiled chicken breast.

I should add that lately I've been taking out less than food than before and then taking some of that back to the house with me. Also, lately when I'm out there there are only 2-3 adults out at a time, never the large chaotic groups that had been there at one time. It really does look to me like Heidi is taking care of that population density issue now by sending the others on there way to find new homes before winter. Lately only the Moms, HRH, and possibly Fraidy have been allowed to stay - or so it seems. Only the Moms come out while Heidi is there - 1st shift. HRH comes out after they leave. Sometimes Fraidy sneaks out then, too.

Incidentally, HRH is no longer permitted to climb up the posts around the Heidi tree when leaving. Apparently, that's because sometimes Heidi leaves the kids there while she eats, and HRH is not allowed to get that close to them. When he leaves he walks all the way down to the far side of the yard, climbs up down there, then walks along the top of the fence to get back to the Heidi tree. That way he doesn't risk meeting a very angry Heidi at the top of the post and getting his butt kicked.

Hi starlight,

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful compliments. Although I didn't realize it right away, this is something of a childhood dream come true for me. As a small child on of my biggest dreams/fantasies and a recurrent theme in my play centered around the idea of making friends with the wild animals, not capturing, just befriending them. As I grew up a bit I was confronted by the unfortunate realities of life and made to understand that it just wasn't possible for humans to be friends with wild animals...and now so many years later - here I am having backyard dinner and pool parties for raccoons and an oppossum (Snowball). I have a cottontail bunny in the garden who is now seen sitting out there on the lawn near the patio in daylight sometimes; I've been leaving him a carrot each day. And the birds know that when I open the door to let the dog out in the morning, I'm supposed to bring their food, too. When they see the dog, they start to queue up in the little tree at the back door waiting for me. If we sleep late they congregate out their and call us loudly. Who new? It is possible, after all - a dream come true.

You raise some good points about the raccoons, I'll poke around a bit to see what I can find. I'll have to be careful though because contact with raccoons is not advised in my area. Good ideas, though.

The toys, both the existing ones and the new ones I added yesterday, were untouched/unmoved this morning indicating that (1) Heidi did not bring the kids back last night to play and (2) Juliet's kids aren't coming out yet.

Well, folks, I think it is now quite official. The kids and I are being disciplined for our mischief and our failure to adhere to Heidi's rules. Hopefully, our Time Out will be over soon, this being a first offense, and we will have learned to behave ourselves next time. The kids will know to listen when Mom calls them, an important lesson since the next time there might be a real threat. I will have learned not to feed and play with the kids when Heidi is trying to tell them to follow her - how bad am I to undermine her authority. Hopefully, when we are allowed to play together again we will know to mind Mom Heidi. ; )

Scutler, another delightful morning for me reading your posts! Great idea to have a section of extra photos at the end of your bestseller! I understand your childhood dream - I was exactly the same way which is probably why I live in a rural area now and feed the wildlife.

And, Starlight, thank you for hitting the nail right on the head about the good that Scutler is doing!!

Some weeks back there was an incident in which HRH was attacked by an unidentified raccoon and a rather nasty fight insued. Photo link for those who may not have been with us then: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=3819215
Around the same time I had discovered what appeared to be a young unidentified male among the then burgeoning night shift group and HRH had shown up with a nasty cut and scars around his nose and mouth.

Putting all of this information together, we had surmised that the raccoon seen attacking HRH that night was also the young male I had seen and was the one who had given HRH the fat lip. As we have learned to love the big, gentle teddy bear HRH, we were concerned that this aggressive, youngster might chase him off and become the new guy in town. We weren't eager to loose our HRH.

Recently, while "developing" the photos one evening I discoved some very good news which I think changes the interpretation of what was happening back then. I've been wanting to share this with you but haven't been able to find the time to stitch the revealing photos and do the post, so here it is:

Below is a stiched photo showing the raccoon that attacked HRH that night (photo reference to original posted photo: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=3819274 ) on the left and a recent photo of DIVA on the right. That's right - Diva! I am now all but certain that it was Diva who attacked HRH that night.

If you look at the photo you will see that the face and ears are the same, the body posture is very similiar, and the real clue for me was the black forarms, something I don't see with the others. Actually, I've since found that Diva's forearms are the "normal" color until wet; then they appear black. Even the size is consistant with Diva - not to mention the appauling behavior.

This explains a lot. It explains why the other "male" seemed to have exagerated nipples. It explains why the other "male" was so small and yet HRH did not kick its butt and drive it out of the area. I suspect that Diva had been trying to push HRH out of the area and away from her kit. In fact, a few nights ago and after I had made this observation, Diva again accosted HRH. On that occasion he got away from her and came over to eat by me. Until recently, I had only seen Diva once or twice so she was not so comfortable around me. Still, when she came back (from the fight) to the feeding area in front of the pool, she kept rearing up and looking over the baracade at HRH eating there. It was clear she wasn't happy, and it looked like she might run over there to attack him again any minute. I spoke harshly to her. That would divert her attention momentarily, then she'd begin to focus obsessively on him again, standing up, plunging, etc. I spoke harshly to her a few more time trying to let her know that she couldn't come over by me an fight with him. Eventually, she dropped it and went back to eating her food. This incident seemed to further confirm my new theory. All of this seems quite consistant with Diva's "scatter-brained", aggressive, poorly socialized behavior.

Thanks, Murmur

Glad you enjoyed this morning's posts. It's nice to meet here and chat with kindred spirits. (...everybody keep saying 'bestseller'; I like the sound of that!)

Close up of Diva's baby. Even though it's cumbersome to speak of them without names, I like to wait to get to know them a bit before I name them. This is especially important with Heidi's group since right now I can't tell them apart anyhow. (If Diva doesn't get a clue soon I may be tempted to name this one Survivor.)

Cheryl,

all the new images are so cute!! been away about 10 days (bah.. that's almost too long) and have a ton of things to catch up on -- the last one probably being house work... i too hate it... and while i was away, the kids should have done something.

btw -- I did notice the lil green grape in that kits mouth... when i first saw it, i recall you stating that they tend to eat with their mouths open. cute as buttons they are!!

I'll have to finish reading later....

Terese

I'm really enjoying all the pictures. Someone who can sew (not me, I'm afraid) is going to have to make some soft toy raccoons for us thread watchers, so that we can all have our own Heidi, HRH, etc. to cuddle. It might even catch on, like Beanie Babies. Any volunteers?

I had noticed in the pics lately that HRH has healed very well. I looked at the area of his face that had been injured and even if you know where to look it is barely noticable.

I am of two minds about getting veterinarians or wildlife officials involved in your racoon community. On the one hand they may decide that this is a great way to learn about urban racoon behavior and do whatever they can to be of assistance including providing you with the rabies medication. On the other hand considering the area that you live has a high incidence of rabies they may consider it to be a very dangerous thing and come in and trap your little colony to be "humanely relocated" or euthenized. I certainly would not want that to happen to our guys! Is it possible to approach your vet since you have a rapport there and see what their opinion might be?

Since Canadian pharmacies are quite willing to sell prescription medication by mail I wonder if they micht be a source of not questions asked oral rabies vaccine? Even if you got only the liquid you could supply the sugar cubes.

I do agree about contacting any sort of 'authority.' I wonder of one of DavesGardens resident vets might be of help?

Cheryl,

just finally got caught up reading....
[usually while I'm away, i just read and don't view all the images as the internet is so slow -- i am view 1 out of 5 or so ... and this weekend we got so much rain, we didn't get a connection at all... .my guess is satellite and rain do not mix ... we actually got 4 inches of rain just yesterday alone]

WOW -- regarding Diva/Britany attacking HRH. It does explain a lot, and I am glad it wasn't another male trying to hoard in on the ladies... but she is a nasty one... though -- if she felt she were protecting her baby, maybe just maybe there is hope for her.

Scutler, have you ever read "Thistle & Co." by Era Zistel? It is a darling (true) story of someone like you who has quite an affinity with wild animals. I highly recommend it and if you can't find it, I'd be happy to loan it to you. It was published in 1981 by Little, Brown & Co. Apparently this author has written a number of books, but that's the only one I've read.

LOL, I don't watch "Survivor", but I like the idea of the name! I tried taking pics of our local coon mom and kits at our feeder, but the flash reflected on the glass window and ruined the shots. Cheryl, you're so lucky that you get to take pics while you're out there with them! I open the door and they all take off.

Hi Terese,

Glad you're back home and that you enjoyed the pics. The kits are too, too cute for words. I didn't see the grape until the photo was on the web. They also tend to stick there noses up in the air - with mouths open - to eat the cold, wet, sweet grapes.

You should have lots to read over the morning coffee for a day or so. : )

Hi June,

That's such an adorable idea about the Heidi and friends toy raccoons! Finding someone with the time and ability to make them might be difficult. If there are no takers right now, we should keep that idea on the back burner at the very least.

I can sew, BTW, but as we already know, I'm swamped for the near future.

Edited to add: still trying to get back up to speed after my recent hibernation.

This message was edited Aug 21, 2007 12:10 AM

tetleytuna,

HRH's face looks good from certain angles, but this one gives me pause. (See photo below taken Sat night)

I have concerns/doubts too about the chances of getting help and the possibility of making matters worse by contacting authorities. I would never do anything rash. As for Widget's vet, after 10 years with the same vet hospital for my prior dog and 1 year for Widget, I recently changed vets when I had difficulty getting them to take Widget's pain and suffering seriously. He had a back and neck injury, but we didn't know that at the time. The vet was all but rude to me and sent us away with an antidepressant! Widget was in so much pain he would just tremble. I went home and cried because I just didn't know how to help him. That was my nth trip to the vet, and she acted like I was just bringing him in because I didn't have anything else to do - imagine that!

Anyhow, I took him to the vet ER where they immediately realized that his symptoms, behavior, etc indicated neck and possibly back pain. They put him on prednisone temporarily to relieve the pain. I found him a new vet who listened and cared, was patient with him, and worked hard to find the source of the pain and a solution.

A while back I had brought up the subject of raccoons to the prior vet and was quickly told to stay away from them. Based on her tone I felt it best to drop it. I like the new vet but haven't known her so long. Perhaps when I take Widget back for a visit I will bring up the subject of raccoons to see how she reacts.

I won't do anything rash that might be risky for our colony. : )

George,

Those are 2 excellent ideas!

When we get the collective minds of DG'ers together, it's just amazing what we can come up with. I will do some research on the Canadian angle this week. If that doesn't pan out, I'll try starting a thread to seek answers here at DG.

I believe the gov't site indicated they had some kind of medication they were dropping in the treated areas (not a liquid therefore), something the raccoons would want to eat. Oops, that might be a problem with our bunch though because they're a bit spoiled, having developed more advanced palates. Tonight Heidi was less than thrilled with the new dog food I gave her.

Terese,

LOL, I guess you didn't get days of morning coffee reading out of that after all.

Yes, I guess Diva Brittany is just young and new at this parenting thing. I've actually noticed that she seems to be doing a little bit better lately. The other night when she and the baby were about to come down the fence, she saw Juliet nearby and decided to take the baby farther down the fence away from the nasty tempered Juliet. It was one of the first times I saw her looking out for the baby. Tonight she didn't snatch treats from the baby, and they just seem more comfortable together lately.

Don't tell anyone, but I didn't actually watch Survivor. I think I was the only hold out. The name Rupert sounds familiar though. I like the idea.

Murmur,

No, this is the 1st I've heard of that book. On your recommendation I ordered a copy from Amazon, a used library book for $4 shipping included. While I greatly appreciate your offer to lend me your copy, with so many irons in the fire, so to speak, it may take me a while to read it, and it would cost us that much to ship it back and for anyhow - but I am greatly touched by your offer.

Hi, KyWoods,

Yes, I am blessed. I'm not sure what I did to deserve Heidi. She was/is the key to it all. The others have learned from her.

Last night the bravest of Heidi's kits, the one that came over the other time and sniffed my foot, came over again. This time he stood at my foot for a minute or so, then he reached out with his little "hand", touched it to the top of my foot for a moment then turned and walked away as if to say, "I'd better go back to Mom now". I guess he is just curious about me. It was clear that he wanted to touch/feel my skin because he reached past the shoe to touch the top of my foot just before it joins the leg. He was SO CUTE!

BTW, I don't know how well this will work out at night, but the key to taking pics through glass is to put the lens against the window pain. That way, no reflection.

By now you may think I've abandoned you. Not really, but I have been busy the last day or so. I wish I had time to write tonight, but I only have 5 hours to sleep. Here's a quick glimpse.

Today I stopped of on the way home to pick up food/treats. Stores are practically giving the grapes away now, so I got a bunch. Tonight I took out large marshmallows - but sadly, no camera. The kids LOVED them. I did my best to limit them to 1 each, well maybe 2. They would pick the marshmallow up, sit upright in a squirrel-like postion, hold the marshmallow with both hands, and take little bites out of it until it was gone. Each bite would stretch the marshmallow a bit before that mouthful snapped away. As you might imagine it was a joy to watch.

Diva was there, and she was behaving better. She didn't take the babies marshmallow, so I gave her a few. She ate the 1st one the same way the kids did. When she got the 2nd one, she stuffed the whole thing in her mouth at once. Now that was a Kodak moment if ever there was one! She was facing me, head high in the air like when they eat grapes (maybe that's the sugar face). It was clear that she was having some difficulty managing the whole marshmallow (not danger, just amusing). For a few minutes she kept chewing (mouth open of course) and chewing but all you could see was a giant ball of white goo from the edge of her top lips to the edge of her bottom lips and everywhere in between. It was even oozing out the sides a bit. Imagine a mouth full of white peanut butter that swells as you chew it and that would be about right.

Since she was behaving well and given that she's an adult and bigger, I gave her a 3rd mm. This time she didn't try to put it all in her mouth at once. She took about 2 bites and then put the last 1/2 in at once, which was still cute but didn't compare with the whole one.

I'll have to wait until later to tell you the rest. As always morning comes early. (George, I meant to tell you the other day that I like the hours in your state. I mean, by CA time I'd be getting to bed at a decent hour still. LOL)

I'm in stitches over the marshmallow visual, Scutler!!! How marvelous. And Diva is learning to be a better mama - how sweet!!!!! (BTW, I've never watched Survivor either!!!)

Glad you're going to read the book - it's short so once you get a chance to start it, you'll probably be able to read it pretty fast. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Growing up on a farm in Nebraska we always had at least two cats who were having babies. With the large animals around there were always accidents. Anyway I saw a lot of kittens being born. some of the new mothers were hopeless at taking care of their babies and others seemed to get it from the beginning. But by the second year most had gotten there wits about them and were doing a decent job of raising their young.

I expect that next spring Diva will be a much better mother.

There is a number of reasons to have them get used to being touched. Rubbing there back with a small branch would get them used to being touched. An animal carrier large enough with the door tied open would give them an oppurtunity to get used to it. Then in a case like you are experiencing with HRH you might find that you could use the branch to persuade HRH to enter the carrier. Some repetitions of this along with giving him some extra tasty food while he is in the carrier would be preparation for getting him treatment.

On the farm there were always a number of feral cats that we were unaware of until winter and then when the snow got deep they would come to the barn. I did the milking, usually one cow but sometimes two. Then I would put the milk through the cream seperator. The excess cream was sold. In the winter I would take warm milk and meat scraps to the barn for the cats.

When the feral cats began showing up I would prop up an old door next to the pan of food. Once a feral cat was comfortable with this I would put on a big pair of leather gloves and sneak up behind the door. When I was successful at catching a cat I would take it onto a small glassed in porch and sit there with it.

After a few of these sessions the feral cat would no longer be afraid of me. By the next spring they would not need the food and I would often not see them again.

I would see raccoon tracks occasionally but my only experience with raccoons was when someone in town had a pet on occasion.

Anyway my point is that Fraidy for instance might not get too panicked if you were to get her used to being touched and then gently close her in a pet carrier. Some time spent with HRH might get him to that state also, then if you find a vet that is receptive you will be able to get them treatment. Even the gentlest animal can get very rasty when they are in pain, so keep that in mind.

The vet that we have now seems very concerned about the well being of animals. Some time back he had a small dog with its leg in a cast running around the office. When I asked it turned out that the owner wouldn't/couldn't pay and so the vet had made him sign the dog over. He treated the animal and then was looking for a home for it.

this is a lil bit OT.... well, not raccoon related.

I have 1 lil plastic bird feeder out back that i purchased late winter.

after a few months, i noticed a nice sized hole in the roof that a squirrel chewed -- probably to get the bigger nuts that were stuck....

anyways... there is this one, i call "The Big Fat Squirrel" to Buddy [my pooch] when he sees her out in the tree or on the fence line....

(gonna jump here a sec... )

Cheryl, i thought of the giggling Heidi tree today when i saw about half the crab apple tree giggling about with squirrels today.

anyways -- big fat squirrel was having her afternoon snack today and Bud chased her away once.... but later when i was weeding back there, i saw the bird house swing just a lil bit.... i did a double take and saw a lil red squirrel head poke out of the hole.... she was INSIDE the bird feeder!! no wonder she's so fat.... but i'm thinking she's feeding a lil crew of baby squirrels too.... OH to have had a camera with me.

well, that's my lil wild life story for the day....

tcs, I do hope she isn't too fat to come back out? LOL

LOL.... now that would be a sight to see.

she chewed a pretty big hole.... at first she would just flip the lid so it was totally open... but before i left town (was gone almost 2 weeks and filled the feeder allt he way up so it would last a few days....) and i taped it shut. i'd figure she would have chewed the tape too... but now that i see she just goes right inside - she doesnt need the open lid anymore.

i went back out there with a camera.... and with the camera going from A/C to 90+% humidity.... the lens fogged up a bit, but i was able to snap 2 shots. then she went back inside, so i got a bit closer - and when she peeked back out again, my batteries died!!

< ===== but here she is

you can even see the tape on top [for the life of me, i can't think of the name of that silver/gray tape.... everyone uses it... ]

You mean duct tape? or was it squirrel tape...LOL