The Heidi Chronicles: They're Here at Last!

Finally getting time to catch up. Been a wild week. You might giv e George's suggestions a try. I know when I had to tame taranculas, I would us e thos e long hospital type q'ts and getting stroke their backs with them.

Growing up my Dad would sit and fee d the bird sand squirrels in the back yard. Took him years, but he finally got a coupel of the squirells to eat out of his hand. He would sit stil as a statue and just leave food open in his hands by the tre e trunk up abov ehis head so they could crawl down the trunk adn get it and stil know they could run.

The toy car pics cracke d me up. I wonder if they would take me for a drive. LOL. Maybe you get them traine d for a taxi service. : )

I sittinghere and aughe d my hea d of of you havign to look like a vending machine gone bexerk, throwing food left and right as fast as you can. You ought be gettign a good pitchign arm by now.

I wonder what it is about marshmellows. We have this one gas station that has eithe r croc s or alligators, always forget which it is down here and everybody woudl fee d them marshmellows.

I havign to watch in my yard, cuz a squirrel baby spends most it time right by m front steps gettign nuts from a tre e and this poor baby is blind in one eye and deaf and I almost steppe d on it a coupel of times.

Trying to catch up here. Such great pics of Rupert in the car and a wonderful story about Widgets trick! Thanks scutler!

But do you really want to 'tame' these animals?? I would question that. Anybody remember Born Free??????

Tcs, you're right again; Diva is not one of Heidi's kids, as far as we all know. As to whether Juliet's mothering skills will improve with maturity, I really can't predict with any authority. When working with the rehabbers, we never had mom and baby raccoons together; the babies were by definition displaced or orphaned if they came to rehabbers. If one can extrapolate from dogs and cats (and I'm not sure if that's valid), I've known mother cats and dogs who were pretty inept the first time, but did improve with maturity and experience. Of course I've never seen even an inept first-time domestic mom steal food from the babies; but then domestic animals, who count on having food provided, would never see the need to do so. Guess we'll all learn together if Juliet is a better mom next year, or if she's just a permanent grouch.

regarding last years kits..... 5 of them, correct ?

Fraidy - still comes around
Trouble - been run off
Panda - been run off
Sugar - been run off
Juliet - has kits of her own

and we are assuming that HRH is the dad?
is he also the "father" of Juliet's kits??

Hi summerkid,

Osita sounds like such a sweetie. It must be so heart breaking to see her do all of her tricks like that and still have to leave her. (Of course, the folks at the vet's office are right that it's best to just go quickly.) I had to leave my Sassy a few times when on business travel. Once when I was away for a week, I drove the folks at the kennel crazy by calling at least once a day to see how she was doing.

As for Juliet, all I can say is who among us hasn't known a kid or two who didn't turn out at all like the parents? (More on Juliet later when I post tonight's events which relate to this issue. I'll be starting a new thread for that since this one is getting a bit long and difficult to load.)

**fingers tappin -- awaiting a new thread... ;-D

can't wait to read todays antics, but i have to get to bed soon [long day tomorrow]

Hi Terese,

For what it's worth, considering that I have no experience in this area, I am inclined to believe that both of the young mothers will get better with age and subsequent litters - but not necessarily as good at it as Heidi appears to be.

Yes, last year Heidi had 5 kits with the names you specified. Sugar was here tonight and a few nights ago. I haven't seen Panda lately. Trouble was here in early spring. He had grown considerably, was almost the size of HRH with noticeably enlarged head/jaw. Shortly after he underwent these size changes, he disappeared leading us to surmise that HRH had run him off due to his obvious maturity.

HRH 1st showed up (for dinner) when he was courting Juliet this spring, so we can be pretty sure that he is the father of Juliet's kits. As to whether he is the father of Heidi's kits, either the 06 or the 07 crew, we are only guessing. HRH has quite unique features among the raccoons in my area. In time I began to notice similarities in his facial coloring and that of Panda and even Juliet, prompting me to think that he is the father of last year's kits and likely is also the father of Heidi's current kits. As I saw a bit of friendly behavior here and there in spring, I also suspect that he fathered Diva's kit.

LOL, Terese! ;-)

As soon as I finish responses and make a new thread I'll be right on it.

Hi starlight,

You characterization of me as a human vending machine is very true to life. When everybody is there at once - and spread out on all sides of me - it is more than a little challenging to keep up, and that's not to mention putting the food in the exact location to avoid waste and try not to hit anybody, all the while keeping my movements as "quiet" and low key as possible so as to avoid frightening the babies. My aim has improved dramatically! I may be looking for a new career in baseball soon.

LOL !!

He's da man!! (errr stud)

but ya gotta wonder about inbreeding....

Hi pelletory,

You are very welcome, and Thank You! When I saw Rupert climb into the car, I could not believe my luck. I was very happy to get those shots.

Yes, that HRH sure is popular with the ladies, isn't he? LOL

Hi, nanny,

The raccoons are not tame. They are somewhat comfortable around me, some more than others, but they are still wild animals. They fend for themselves. They feed themselves partially now. In late fall they usually leave - no idea why or where - to return again in spring. During that time, they feed themselves. I was elated to see that even little Fraidy managed to pull that off last winter on her own.

Even though they have become amazingly comfortable around me, the wrong move will still send them scurrying for the forest. Heidi and Fraidy and more recently and to a lesser extent Juliet will stay put even if I stand up to walk away or even walk near them to pick up or put down food, etc. The others will all run away the moment I stand.

Even more important, the slightest indication of a human in one of the neighbor's yards will send the raccoons running for the safety of the forest in a hurry, leaving me and their food behind. In spring when I had someone come by to paint the trim around the back door, none of the raccoons would come to dinner that day even though the guy had been gone for hours by dinner time. I assume that the lingering scent of a stranger was enough to frighten them away.

Bottom line, they have learned to trust me - to a degree, but that trust does not extent to other humans; so my actions do not appear to have put them at increased risk. If any of you, your obvious kindness and love of wildlife not withstanding, were to come by at "dinner" time, I have no doubt that the raccoons would skip dinner - just because they don't know you, and in spite of their comfort level around me, they have retained their basic fear of humans.

My only agenda is to befriend them and share a part of their world, not change it.

Yes, but did you ladies get a look at him? He's buff, cut, and has gorgeous hair! AND he's such a sweetie! You should see him give up his food for the ladies. What a guy.

As to in breeding. I guess a little of that is inevitable. If the kids would move on each year, that would help a lot. That HRH's "reign" will likely only last a few years also limits the extent of the inbreeding as does the fact that he's pushing the male kids out. Bottom line though, if you start tracing any human ancestry, you will almost certainly be surprised to see inbreeding in "our" past as well - more like cousins. If you go back a few 100 years in human history you reach a time when travel was all but impossible for most, being costly, time consuming, and very dangerous. As a result, young ladies and gentlemen didn't have the opportunities to meet a lot of people from outside their communities, and most of the people in the community were probably related one way or another.

I don't know what "tame" is when it comes to raccoons, but I grew up in Montana & in 23 years never laid eyes on a raccoon.

After college I moved to Ft. Lauderdale & lived just off "The Strip." I could walk from the Sun-Sentinel, where I was an editor, down past a little grocery for snacks, up the beach about a mile, and then back maybe another mile to my house, passing a forest preserve & fire station, among other things.

One night, I had bought cheese & crackers, maybe some milk. I'd finished my stroll up the beach, which at that time could attract some unsavory characters, especially around Spring Break, and was headed for home. Suddenly I heard a scary rustling shuffling sound behind me & whirled around. Trailing me were SEVENTEEN raccoons, BIG ONES. The only excuse I can give for counting them is that I'm a journalist & you just do stuff like that rather than dropping the groceries & sprinting off.

I really had no idea what to do. Fortunately, a motorist stopped & honked his horn, so the raccoons scattered, and the driver started singing that "Do do do do do-do-do ..." from the Twilight Zone or whatever.

Turns out that the firefighters fed this particular horde & they probably smelled something in my grocery bag.

You're right, Cheryl; some inbreeding is part of even human history (just look at the line of kings in most monarchies); and in the wild it's pretty much the norm. In most species, be it feral cats, prides of lions, or the raccoons at Scutler's Diner, there is one dominant male in each territory. Every now and then a young and very brave male may sneak in and "do the deed" with a willing lady while the dominant male is off-guard; but most mating is done only by the dominant male. Then, in time, that male is deposed by a new stud in town, and a new genetic line begins until he, in turn, is deposed. We're all becoming so fond of HRH that it will hard to see his turn come to an end, but it is the way of nature and keeps inbreeding from continuing for too long.

"My only agenda is to befriend them and share a part of their world, not change it." Good for you! This is the bedrock on which work with wildlife is built: do what you can to help without changing their wild nature. Their survival depends upon it.

Wow, summerkid, what an experience! It also really illustrates the problems that can be caused, in the wrong hands, with feeding wildlife. If you'd been a good ol' rifle-totin' boy, there would've been less than 17 raccoons when the smoke cleared. And you really have to wonder about people who feed alligators.... and then wonder why they show up in people's backyards and pools.

Summerkid,

I grew up in a rural area where I never saw a raccoon either - or any other wildlife for that matter. I have often mused that I had to move to the city - a small city, not a metropolis - to find all of the critters. I figure in the "country" there is a lot more space for the animals to keep their distance from us, but in the city everything is more crowded for them as well as us. In the city where there is less land that the human's aren't already using, animals have to find more creative solutions to hunting and foraging, which often means raiding our garbage and even stopping by for a meal here and there if we will provide it.

For what it's worth, based on my experience with Heidi and the group, I seriously doubt that the raccoons you encountered would have harmed you.

It is fascinating, and puzzling to urbanites, how one is actually more likely to encounter wildlife in town than in the country: as you said, because of population density and habitat destruction. Years ago, I attended a wildlife training seminar for animal control officers. The instructor gave us all a chuckle with the tale of a woman in a brand-new, super-expensive housing development; she called Animal Control in semi-hysterics to report that she'd seen a fox in her backyard. The dispatcher calmly replied, "Ma'am, you moved into a new development on a street called Fox Hollow Lane; where did you think they went?"

Hi Ruth,

That reminds me. I meant to comment on the alligators and marshmallows. It's illegal to feed the alligators here - or otherwise interact with them. Still, people do it sometimes. It's a very bad idea since, unlike raccoons, alligators can eat people. Feeding them teaches them to associate people with food - not a good thing for a predator that is large enough to see you as lunch. It breaks down their natural fear of humans.

In my community where we have alligators in the ponds there was a situation recently in which some people who lived by one of the ponds had been going down to the water to feed the gators. Soon they were upset to find a big 8ft male sunning himself daily on their back patio, apparently waiting for his lunch. Due to their efforts in feeding him and his size, he had to be captured and relocated - lest he munch on someone's pet or child while awaiting his dinner.

ROTFLOL, Ruth!

Well, Folks, looks like it's time to move on to a crisp, clean, new thread now: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/766018/

Hope to see you there!