Heidi Chronicles: Raising the Kids

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 after what seemed an endless wait, they have finally begun to join their mom at the backyard raccoon buffet - where we have a small pool, a makeshift "sandbox", and lots of well-played-with toys to keep those kids entertained while Mom eats - sort of a raccoon version of Chuckie Cheese.

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 last 2 threads to view the baby pics.

The prior thread in the series: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/766018
(A similar post at the top of the prior thread will direct you to the one before that which contains the 1st group of baby pics.)
The original thread that started it all: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/603944

The photo below shows one of the kits Rupert - so named for his ability to survive his mom's bad parenting - eating a peanut.

If you are new to the thread, the characters are:

Heidi - An older female, mother of many of the others, the one who started it all
Heidi's 3 (or more) 07 kits, as yet unnamed
Juliet - Heidi's daughter from 06, now a mom herself, inclined to be cantankerous
Juliet's 2 (or more) 07 kits, as yet unnamed
Diva - A party crasher and now a regular, VERY bad attitude, aka Britaney
Rupert - Diva's 07 kit, named for his ability to survive his "mommy dearest"
Fraidy - The smallest of Heidi's 06 kids, now grown, still smallish, sweet, timid
Sugar - Another of the 06 kids, undetermined gender so far, not seen often
Panda - Another 06 kid, also small, Panda like face, seen late after others leave
HRH - aka Romeo, the area male, known to be the father of Juliet's kids
(the 2 were named for their romance), believed to be father to all.

Before we continue with the story, a few recent pics:

One of Heidi's babies eating a chicken egg.

Heidi (back right) and her 3 kids. The kids on the far right is holding an egg. There is another egg in the left foreground. Note that the other foreground kit is interested in the egg that its sibling has and seems unaware of the 2nd egg lying near his foot.

The kid with the egg was holding it and trying to bite the end off, no doubt the way he had seen the adults do and possibly the way that Heidi had taught him to do with the smaller, lighter bird's eggs. At some point early on the while the kids was holding the egg up in the air, it got off balance (possibly he didn't account for the shifting weight of the yolk inside). In yet another of those 3 Stoges moments, he struggled with it, juggled it for what seemed an eternity during which I was really pulling for him, but eventually he ended up tossing the raw egg over his shoulder. Incredibly, buffered by the grass (and weeds) it didn't break, so he was able to retrieve it and try again. The 2nd effort went much better.

They are such a marvel and so enjoyable to observe at this age!

close up

Same kid and egg. Here it looks like he's licking the inside of the top part of the egg. I think this is after he had eaten the contents from the egg.

Here, the other kid decides he/she wants the egg - and just like human kids they are fighting over one egg while ignoring the other one nearby. Note Heidi (mom) behind them. In the prior pics she was eating (and not looking), but the moment the spat broke out, she looked up. Heidi is a very good Mom. She always keeps a watchful eye on what's going on with her kids. : )

Here's HRH. Do I need to get him some boxers? Or pixalate him? He's turning into a dirty old man.

Here is (sorry) a bad pic but it shows what I've been telling you about. This is Juliet telling her own kit that he can't eat from her dish. See that manacing look?

the next frame. (I was too eager to capture this behavior. didn't want to risk loosing the shot while trying to focus.) Again that is her kid. She and her kids were the only ones there at the time.

"Dipstick Diva", aka "Britney"....I can just see it on a 'WANTED' poster...LOL

Great pics scutler! All the kits are so adorable!

Thanks, pelletory, I got behind on posting photos. Still have more stored up from the past week or so that I need to post. The kits are so special at this age!

Renee' -- that about describes her I think. (but you do realize that the bad mom in the pics above, the one baring her teeth at her kids, is the fair Juliet, right?)

omg, yes, we have two bad moms....poor babies!

Friday night I moved all of the bowls from under the chair and put things back where in the normal locations, except for the chair which I moved over to the right corner of my bench to hold my supplies. Diva and Rupert arrived 1st. Rupert ran ahead again to grab their normal dish before his mom got there - so he could get a bite before being run off; but this time Diva didn't drive him away from the dish. Instead, seeing Heidi's and Juliet's dishes by the pool, she decided to take that position. That created a problem, again, because once Diva gets any one of the 3 dishes up by the pool, she won't allow anyone to eat from any of the other or use the pool. Suddenly the whole area becomes hers.

Rupert quickly left the bowl on the path where they normally eat to join his mom up by the pool. When Heidi arrived, she went around to the dish on the path to my right, the one Diva and Rupert normally use - or at least the ones they used to use. In a flash, 2 of Heidi's kits were down the fence and bouncing across the lawn towards me. They went around the pool, thankfully, so they managed to get past Diva without a battle. The 2 little fur balls, just ran right up to me and under the chair beside me. I think maybe the chair gave them a little sense of protection. One poked his cute little face out and looked up at me. He was inches from my leg. I dropped a grape down beside him, and just as he picked it up to eat, the 3rd and less outgoing of Heidi's kits decided to join the 1st 2, but this one made the mistake of going through the pool.

Diva attacked the poor kit in her usual vicious manner, and even when he went down on his side she kept after him. Remembering HRH's horrible wound, I jumped up and rushed toward them saying "Diva, NO!" I stomped my foot hard on the ground. Diva let go of the kit and jumped backward. All of Heidi's kits ran back for the safety of the tree.

Now I was REALLY angry with Diva and very sad. Upon seeing me, the kits had run to me all excited and happy, looking like 1st graders at the playground. Not only was I tired of Diva hurting them for no reason, but I was upset to think that by running and stomping my foot and screaming I had just scared the daylights out of them and now they would likely never come near me again. Diva was wrecking everything! I ran at her fussing at her and flailing my arms. I drove her away from the pool area. I wanted her to leave altogether, but she wouldn't go far - clearly they aren't all that afraid of me.

But -- while i was chasing Diva around, Heidi who was still over on the path grabbed the opportunity to take ownership of her dish by the pool - did I mention that they can't be very afraid of me? So even though Diva didn't leave, she lost her hold on the pool area. Yay! The kids (Heidi's kids) came back, and, quite to my utter amazement and despite my earlier display, they ran right back over to me - under the chair.

I started dropping grapes under the edge of the chair for the kids while at the same time tossing grapes to Rupert and Diva, the latter only to keep her from eating Rupert's.(Playing human vending machine again.) I also had a few handfuls of Teddy Grahams which I gave to the kids. At one point, while juggling a bag of grapes and a box of cookies all the while trying to dispense them in all directions, I must have fallen behind with the kids under the chair. I looked down to see 2 of the most adorable little "hands" reaching around the side of the chair from underneath, feeling for the bag of grapes on the chair seat! I grabbed the bag just as the little hands clasped the bottom of it. Boy was he strong for such a tiny tyke, and he wasn't eager to let go of the bag. Even though I was actually speaking to a set of hands, I spoke to him as one would a child. I reached into the bag, picked off a section of grape stem with several grapes still attached, and while still talking to him, offered him that instead. As he released his grasp from the bag, I put the stem of grapes in his still open hands and watched them disappear below the chair once more. After that, we were 'buds'. Soon he came out from under the chair to eat.

I don't recall exactly what happened next but somehow Diva ended up after one of the kits again. Heidi and the kids left. I knew they were gone for the night. I could not have been more annoyed at Diva. The kids were at that great age where they recognized me and looked forward to the treats. I wanted to savor this time in their development, knowing as I did that it would end all too soon. Diva was driving them away, and hurting them, and keeping them from eating their fill. But what could I do to stop her?

Yep, sounds like it's time for the squirt gun!

I forgot to mention that when I packed up to leave I could not find my bottle of bug spray. Hmm. I looked all around by my bench and even under the chair thinking perhaps I'd dropped it. I even ran my hands around in the grass - hoping not to find a snake - to see if it was hiding down there somewhere. Where could it have gone? Oh, well. I had to go back inside. Maybe it had fallen under the tractor scoot. I wasn't willing to put my hands under there in the dark.

Once back inside I reviewed events in my mind and realized that I had most definitely put the bottle on chair seat, near the back and close to the side. That pair of hands that I'd seen trying to steal the bag of grapes had apparently been much busier than I'd realized. That pair of hands had also stolen the bottle of bug spray.

Sure enough, when I went out today, I found the bottle a few feet from the chair. It was lying in the grass. It had some serious tooth marks on it but hadn't been punctured.

Before going for the water gun, I thought I would 1st try my other idea. The problem, as I see it, occurs when Diva arrives early and takes ownership of the pool area. Then, not only can Heidi and the kids not eat from any of the dishes in that area, but they can't walk through that area. When the kids unwittingly walk through there they get jumped. Things had worked out much better when Diva and Rupert were eating over on the path away from everyone else. But how to get her to stay over there? Especially when she has been arriving 1st lately.

Saturday night, I moved one dish over by the veggie patch to my left, as far as possible from the open area around the pool. I put a modest amount of food in that dish and in the dish on the path to my right and nowhere else. If Diva arrived 1st, she would have to use one of those positions. This planned hinged on the fact that Heidi has on many occasions come down before I even had a chance to put the food out, so in theory I should be able to fill her dish when she arrived - or at least I hoped so.

As usual, Diva and Rupert arrived 1st. Diva stood on the fence surveying the area in confusion. Where was all the food? They came down and went directly to the new dish over by the veggie patch which they had no doubt seen from the fence. Diva ate a bite or 2 and then started looking around. She didn't want to eat over there. She wanted to take control of the center area. She left Rupert and the food, wandered around a bit in search of food. She came over to Fraidy's area beside me and sniffed around on the ground there, but I had intentionally not put food there because I didn't want Diva eating so close to me or the kids. She stuck her nose up to me as if to see if I would give her something, but not too close. She seemed a bit wary of me after our disagreement the night before. I ignored Diva, and after a few minutes she gave up and went back over to eat from the dish with Rupert. She did allow Rupert to eat from the dish with her for a change.

Diva and Rupert continued to eat quietly over by the veggie patch. Soon a jiggling branch signaled what I believed to be Heidi's arrival. I called to her. She stepped out of the foliage atop the fence. Now, in the dark and at a distance I had to be sure this WAS Heidi; otherwise, if I poured the food for Juliet all would be lost and there would be no place for Heidi and the kids when they arrived. As soon as I called out to Heidi, the kids started streaming down the fence post, all of them on the post at the same time. That plus a look at Heidi, confirmed the ID for me. I stood up and walked over to their dishes to pour the food, all the while calling Heidi.

For a moment, Heidi seemed confused by this new behavior. Still atop the fence, she turned as if to leave but it was too late, the kids had seen me; they weren't confused; and they were well on their way down the fence and heading across the grass as I poured the food. Heidi turned back around and joined them. I backed away and sat down. Looking at the 4 of them all huddled around their 2 adjacent bowls eating peacefully, I felt such a sense of accomplishment. Diva stayed in her place, but she eyed them constantly as she ate. She had wanted that position. She was not amused at being sidelined this way. But it worked because Heidi would not give up the dish once she got it, and Diva wouldn't mess with her under these circumstances, and since Diva was parked over there against the "wall", there was no reason for Heidi's kids to walk by her and get attacked.

After a while the kits came over to me. I gave them the remaining grapes (I also gave some to Rupert and Diva, the latter again out of necessity). I also had a large bag of Whisker Lickin's Cat Treats (3 flavors in one larger bag). I dropped them on the grass in front of me for the kits. The kits loved the cat treats. Not only did they spend the rest of the evening eating there at my feet, but after a while Heidi came over to join them because she like cat treats, too. This time Diva didn't cause any problems. She didn't attack or even come near any of the kits.

When Juliet arrived - and this time she brought 2 kits - she was surprised to find no food in her dish (which is by the pool). She surveyed the situation. Juliet knows better than to mess with Heidi or Heidi's kids, so she went over and took Diva's dish which was ok with me. Diva deserves such treatment and she and Rupert had been eating for a while anyhow. Juliet just left her kids behind, BTW. When they arrived, they were confused and couldn't find their mom. One went over to the dish on the path to eat and I tossed food to the other one up by the pool. He ended up quasi-joining Heidi's group and even trying to leave with them. He turned back when he got to the fence.

It's a little harder to pull off, but it worked once. Maybe it will work again. I think I'll move another dish over near the veggie area but some distance away so Juliet and Diva can both go over there and duke it out.

Forgot to mention that Fraidy was there (along with Sugar and HRH). The new setup worked out even better for Fraidy. I had put out the same amount of food as always. What didn't go in Heidi's and the kids' dishes or the dish on the path ended up in and around (when Juliet arrived over there I tossed more) the dish over by the veggie patch. Fraidy ate the food that remained over there. She feels most secure in the veggie patch, so having the food over there was a benefit for her.

Heidi and the kids ate their fill and when they left (undisturbed and of their own accord) there was still food in their dishes. Sugar and HRH ate there. There seemed to be enough for all.

Catching up on some more photos. I caught Sugar in this odd position getting out of the pool. Hmm. I'm starting to think maybe Sugar is a Pepper instead...

Why does it seem as if Heidi is losing that dominant position that brooked no interference?

summerkid,

I don't think Heidi is actually loosing the dominant position. I've been observing her for quite some time now. Here's what I see now.

When Juliet arrived and surveyed the situation, she opted to intrude on Diva and Rupert rather than bother Heidi and the kids. That's because Juliet is afraid of Heidi but she's not afraid of Diva. Diva yielded the position to Juliet and ultimately left altogether. Neither of them messed with Heidi or her kids. The pecking order is clearly Heidi, Juliet, then Diva. I do, however, believe that Diva WANTS to take over my little corner of the universe, and I think she sees taking over the pool area as a first step.

Per my observations, Heidi has very specific rules of conduct which specify that he who has possession of something owns it. Heidi won't take the food or dish from Diva once the latter has it but neither will she give it up to Diva. As I see it the thing that makes Heidi seem to be retreating right now is the fact that unlike the other 2 Heidi is a very good Mom. She doesn't take a lot of chances with the kids. She doesn't like a lot of commotion around them. I don't think she likes to fight around them if she can avoid it; after all she can't watch out for 3 kids while fighting. It seems she would rather walk away than take risks with them. Neither Diva nor Juliet give a rip where there kids are much less whether anybody fights around them, so they aren't encumbered by that problem. Before the kids arrived, Heidi would fight and scrap with the best of them. Since their arrival she has been quick to leave at the 1st sign of trouble. Wouldn't most of us opt to get our kids out of a potentially harmful situation?

Make no mistake, Diva wanted the pool area, she has no qualms about taking things, and if she thought she could get away with it she would have taken it from Heidi. I knew Heidi would not give it up once she "owned" it. Waiting for her to arrive before putting the food out just insured she would get to claim it 1st.

Edited to add that I can't tell you how many times in the past year I said the same thing you are saying - because I didn't understand them well enough to see what was going on behind the scenes - but when, as the saying goes, "the rubber meets the road" Heidi is always on top.

This message was edited Sep 16, 2007 2:30 AM

Now the next few photos, raise some questions. I invite all interpretations.

In this shot we see Sugar in front with HRH behind "her". HRH had been eating from the dish moments earlier. When Sugar walked up to him he relinquished the dish to "her" and then in a move unlike anything I've seen before or after, walked back there and just sat down, where he is apparently doing nothing at all.

Next frame. similiar, but considering the time required to reset my broken camera this shows that he sat back there for more than a few seconds.

Now here is where it gets weird. See HRH with his nose up in the air as though sampling the air? Earlier that same night when he was eating, I had distinctly seen him turn to sniff the air after Fraidy walked by, BTW.

I find this all the more confusing since in several photos Sugar looks more like a Pepper.

Still going through "old" pics. This is Sugar again. She was scratching behind her head. Unfortunately, my camera froze the action at an odd point. What can I say.

Juliet's baby

Diva and Rupert in the pool. Rupert is eating a peanut.

Diva and Rupert in the pool.

Heidi's kids in pool. One standing on edge of pool.

Heidi's kits in pool

Heidi kit eating a fig.

2 of Heidi's kits playing with the toy frog.

Diva and Rupert. This is Diva's default eating position.

Cheryl,

great photos. (yes, just catching up)

Diva is amazing.... wasn't too long ago how she quite sweetly "took" that food dish away from HRH,
at least with out beating the crap out of him first.

Hopefully she wont be back next season.

I certainly hope your new "feeding" arrangement keeps working out.

Cheryl, the photos are great as always. Photos of the kits are adorable. The photo of HRH slouching with food is priceless; clearly the good food turns him on! Yes, I see why you're wondering if Sugar is a male; but HRH's behavior makes absolutely no sense in that case, and every sort of sense if Sugar is female. If Sugar is male, HRH should have "encouraged" him to move on a long time ago, as no doubt happened with Trouble. HRH would surrender food to a female, especially if she is pre-estrus, but not to a male. His sniffing behavior in the photos with Sugar is like the raccoon's version of dogs' and cats' flehmen reaction. You've no doubt seen dogs and cats sniff something, then open their mouth very wide and sort of grimace? This is designed for maximum collection of olfactory input, much like HRH's sniffing in photos. Makes me think Sugar is female, and may be about to come into heat. A bit late in the year, but in your climate it's certainly possible.

Congrats on a great idea for handling demon Diva; here's hoping it will continue to work as well as it did at first. If all else fails, I wouldn't worry about Rupert in terms of trapping Diva. First, she obviously isn't teaching him very much, at least nothing much of a positive nature. He is now around four months old, and I really expect her to kick him out before long; she surely is not going to spend the winter babysitting! Rupert has probably learned much more of a helpful and positive nature from watching the other coons than he has from his mother. The main concern is that if Diva continues to attack Heidi's kits, Heidi might eventually feel she has to jump in; with a nasty fighter like Diva, that's not a happy thought. [BTW, HRH's face wound is looking much better, no thanks to Diva.]

Quick update (as I'm at work). Several times we've discussed the presence of alligators in my area which often surprises people. The following story is about a man in a small town about 30mi from downtown Chas (only 15mi from N Chas). His arm was bitten off by a 12ft gator over the weekend: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/17/gator.attack/index.html?iref=mpstoryview#cnnSTCText

Edited to add:

The alligator topic has come up several times in the past on the Heidi threads when we were discussing possible threats to the raccoons, especially predators. We don't have large predators here like bears, wolves, coyotes, etc but we do have alligators. In fact, this very community has numerous ponds which are know to contain alligators. As much as raccoons love water and considering that the ponds are well stocked with fish and other seafood, this seems to present a very real threat.

Today at work I posted the above link about the very unfortunate incident because, as mentioned, when the subject comes up most people are surprised to learn that we have alligators here. In fact, we have quite a substantial population of them.

The injured man is in a hospital here in Charleston and is currently in critical condition per news reports.

This message was edited Sep 17, 2007 11:37 PM

Hi, Terese

So far (and remember this little 'community' is quite an organic thing subject to ongoing change), the new layout is working better than I could ever have expected. Diva has behaved so incredibly well that for now I hardly recognize her. In addition to the change in positions, I haven't been giving her treats. I hate to do that, but honestly Diva can't handle treats responsibly. Give her one marshmallow (and other treats to a lesser extent) and she reminds me of that guy from the Dr Strangelove movie, the one with the hand that's out of control.

The change in positions yielded some new and unexpected insights into raccoon behavior, but I'll have to save that information for another post as I'm up against that ugly time demon again.

During some of this and starting with my recent post about the current pecking order, I experienced a new perspective on things which I will also share in an upcoming post (soon).

Hi Ruth,

When I 1st observed HRH's reaction to Sugar pictured above my take on what was happening was similiar to your description. I was a little confused by the time of year but everything else seemed to make sense. Then when I saw the photos of Sugar up close, I became confused. I'm starting to think that you are right. Sugar must be a female, and I must be misinterpreting the photos of her. Similiar photos of HRH show no such "parts", BTW. (LOL at your choice of words - "encouraged".)

As to HRH's new and even more relaxed position when kicking his feet up in front of the tube, I have a whole series of similiar pics taken recently on different days. Some are even more R rated, something which only shows up when I view the photos. This seems to be his new posture while eating.

So far the new setup is working amazingly well, and Diva is "quiet", no recent attacks on or even interation with the kids.

Are you attributing that to your intervention or to something else.

Remember, to them, you are probably the "uberHeidi"!