Heidi Chronicles: Nursery Rhymes

This is the ongoing saga of Heidi and friends, raccoons (and the occasional opossum) who frequent my backyard buffet. Recently Heidi delivered her 08 kits. We are looking forward to meeting the little fur balls as soon as they are old enough to get around. In the mean time, it's 'business' as usual as we observe the 'cast' at the evening meal.

Not positive, but I think this may be Rupert (one of the now grown 07 kits) in the photo below. He's getting a drink of water from the tool shelf under the 'tractor scoot'.

The prior thread in the series: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/825304/
The original thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/603944/

Edited to add links to prior threads

This message was edited Apr 3, 2008 12:25 AM

A few days ago we received a package of goodies from one of you. I dmailed the sender but wasn't sure if I should mention it here. When I looked in the box I really had to chuckle at the sender's very appropriate choices as it contained, in addition to several boxes of the all important Peeps, most of the recent favorites including: marshmallows, frosting, and quite a supply of granola bars. (LOL)

Tonight I took a box of the (yellow) peeps out. I was running a bit late and the weather was rather wet and icky, so most of the usuals weren't there. To make matters worse, tonight it seemed the recipients of the Peeps were all quite shy and unwilling to pose for our 'sponsors'. More often than not as soon as they got a peep in their hand they ran over behind the willow tree with it. I did get a few pics though. This is the same 'guy' from the pic at the top of the thread. I think it might be Rupert but am not certain.

With the peep

yummy!

(At his feet are my mosquito candle which they pulled down off the scoot seat and a really soggy brown stuffed animal toy. I picked the toys up one day and put them all in a container, but they are getting redistributed as usual.)

eating cat food from the bucket

Here is the pg female I mentioned in a recent post. I think this might be Juliet but, again, am not certain. She is enjoying a Peep.

Sarah was 6 or 7 when she had to have the shots. She is 9 now... and it was I believe 3 summers ago.. funny how time gets away from you isn't it?

I so enjoy these threads... I miss my babies so much.. they were young enough that they were both rehabbed back into the wild... even being second generation captive born. Reading the Heidi stories is almost as good as having mine back again. Better in some ways, as I am not the one responsible for them anymore. A little of our story is here... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/624695/ We had to move and could not keep them even with our license, as the town we moved to had laws about keeping them. I found out later that the laws were rarely enforced, but I try to think that they were still wild animals at heart, and better off in their natural habitat. Still miss them a lot though, it was like having toddlers in the house.

The funny part about it was trying to explain to the doctors and nurses who gave Sarah her post exposure shots why she would think that a wild raccoon would want to be petted. Most had never considered that a raccoon could be a pet, and were shocked that we had 2 in the house with us. ^_^

Thanks for sharing these stories with us all

Janis

Another shot of the raccoon in the previous pic. She grabbed this Peep and ran to the pan of water to eat it. After this, she took the next Peep behind the willow where I could not get a photo.

Janis,

What a wonderful compliment! Sorry to hear that you had to give up your 'toddlers'. I can't imagine the pain of parting with a pair of raccoons you've raised. It would be difficult for me to part with the wild ones in my yard. I'm told that they become difficult to manage in captivity once they reach maturity, so maybe it was for the best anyhow. Although I know it must have been terribly difficult. I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying the story and that it may help a little. To hear from someone who has raised raccoons that the Heidi story is the next best thing to being there is a wonderful compliment. Thank you!

I can see how they would seem like toddlers. I think Dennis, who is the most tame around me, seems a lot like that to me, so I really do 'get' what you are saying. And like a toddler, Dennis is in to everything! It's as if he has 100 hands!

Thanks for being there to share the experience.

Edited to add: right now I'm in a rush to get a few hours sleep before work but will be sure to come back later and check out your thread. thanks for the link. I look forward to reading about your experience with those adorable little 'toddlers'.

This message was edited Apr 3, 2008 1:43 AM

Folks, I hate to go negative so early in the thread, but now I need to show you some pictures that are honestly quite difficult for me to see. Word of warning, if you are inclined to be at all sensitive about negative things, sad things, things that might bring you down rather than brighten your day, then you might want to skip past the next few pics. I'll signal again when I've finished with the 'difficult' pics.

If you were very perceptive, you might have seen this in the pick of Juliet (I think) in the pan of water. She has a very nasty sore or injury of some kind, and frankly I believe it is getting larger and worse. If you recall I mentioned this the other day and said that it was smaller than the one on Trouble. Now as you can see from the pic below it is much larger than Trouble's.

close up. note how it has 3 open, puncture-type, wounds within the area where the hair has been removed. Any idea what might have caused this? Does it look like the work of another raccoon? Up until now I've assumed all of the cuts and scrapes have been from fighting with each other, but this one makes me wonder. Does it look like a predator type wound? I think the only predators around here would be alligators or maybe domestic dogs. There are also some wild boar in the forest back there. They came out once before and tore up my neighbors yard. Don't know if hogs attack/eat raccoons. Then there are the opossums who have been known to bite the raccoons a time or two, but I don't think they could do that kind of damage. Could they?

Or does this look like maybe they are getting caught in something? traps? wire? Can't imagine where around here they would find wire, esp barbed wire, but who knows. I can't help but notice the similarity between the location and look (except for the punctures) between Troubles wound and this one. Similar placement could mean they are getting hung up on something. But, if so, what?

Or, maybe a disease, parasite, or pathogen or some kind?

Other than HRH's mouth, none of the other wounds have bothered me that much. Even from the start Trouble's wound though large didn't look so painful - oddly enough. But this one makes me cringe. I've never been that fond of Juliet (assuming that is who this is), but every time I look at this wound my heart goes out to her. This one really does look painful to me. Poor thing.

Another one to show size and placement of the wound.
Note: another thing that seems 'wrong' about this wound is that if I'm not mistaken I really believe this is a pregnant female. All of the other wounds were on males which made sense as males would likely be fighting this time of year, but I'm not accustomed to seeing females with such nasty wounds. Most of the territorial skirmishes between females are mostly bluff and show. At least, that's what I've seen.

It is at least encouraging to see that the wound is not interfering with her love of that marshmallow goodness we call peeps.

Here is a close up viewed from the opposite side. This is showing a closeup of the one puncture wound that wound be on the far right when facing her.

another close up of the same puncture

For comparison, here is the pic I got of her on 3-28 when I 1st saw her, noticed that she looked pg, and saw the wound. It's not the best pic, but as you can see it looks like the wound which is now shaped more like an angle was at that time just a single straight bar - or that's how it looks from what we can see. I add the latter because I've noticed before in pics of the raccoons that their loose skin and thick fur can often confuse and obscure things like this when viewed from certain directions.

Done with the negative pics for now

Now I'm off to get those z's

me too, LOL, shoulda been there an hour ago.

love ya,
Susan
=^..^=

You're absolutely right, Cheryl: between hunting, cars, habitat destruction, etc., man is far more dangerous to raccoons than the rabies virus. But then we are the greatest enemy to most wild species, sadly.

That is definitely a nasty wound, and seems to be having some trouble healing. You're right, it's unlikely that a pregnant female would be fighting that seriously with another raccoon of either gender. I can't visualize a possum biting up on a raccoon's back like that: legs or feet, maybe, but not on the back. The punctures are pretty widely spaced, which would indicate an animal of some size. Could be a dog, in which case I'm sure the dog also looks the worse for wear and is in for vet visits and a quarantine. Barbed wire could produce injuries like that, but coons are usually so agile that that seems unlikely. Like so many in this saga, it's another mystery; and unfortunately there's not a thing that can realistically be done to help the poor girl. In the category of "it couldn't hurt/better than nothing," you could wrap echinacea capsules in peanut butter balls for her; that would help boost her immune system and hopefully promote healing. Wouldn't hurt any of the others if they got the spiked treats by accident. Sorry; things like that are hard to see when there's nothing you can do to help.

Thanks, Ruth,

I think I'll try the echinacea idea. Juliet (if it's she) is quite fond of pb so it should be pretty easy to get her to eat some - hopefully. I think I have some around here already but might just get some more to make sure it's fresh.

I had to laugh at your comment on the dog's fate, if it was a dog. I guess this is the real 'you should see the other guy' story. Do you know if hogs bother raccoons? Alligator teeth might fit the spacing nicely, but then I guess if she had been that close to a gator we probably wouldn't be seeing her now - unless maybe it was a rather small, young gator in which case he might have gotten a butt kicking, too.

Until the rains started this week it had been very dry here lately. A few days ago I washed the pool and pans and refilled all of the water containers at Heidi's insistence - she was very clear about that. With it so dry Juliet might have been tempted to go to the ponds for fresher water. I know the deer go to the one across the street every night.

Ok, now I'm really, really off to bed.

Good night, Susan. : )

Good night. All

Cheryl, had to laugh at the idea of an alligator. Raccoons are truly formidable fighters when forced to fight; but unless it was a really small, really young alligator, I don't think you'd be seeing that raccoon again. [And even then, I don't see how a coon could escape from a grip on the back by even a small gator before being dragged under water.]

I honestly don't know a lot about wild hogs since, thankfully, we didn't have them where I worked; but raccoons are such ninjas and escape artists that a fight with a wild hog seems pretty unlikely.

My best guess is that the lady was sufficiently slowed by her pregnancy to be unable to escape from a fairly large dog without a tussle. If the dog picked her up by that grip on her back, her front end would have had enough mobility to do a lot of damage to his face, no doubt causing him to drop her. But this is purely guesswork, of course.

Had to laugh at Heidi telling you unmistakably to clean the water bowls. Animals communicate brilliantly without words, don't they? One of my cats loves to spend the evenings with me in the guest room where my computer resides. She has a perfectly lovely human bed to sleep on, but far prefers her little cat bed on top of the human bed. When she feels it's time for laundry service, she will pointedly sit right beside the cat bed and glare at me, for hours if necessary. No words are needed to communicate the resounding, "WELL???? Good help is SO hard to find." Once the stupid human has provided a clean bed, all is forgiven and she purrs away in her clean little bed. It's always hard not to laugh at her expression, but that would just add insult to injury.

Cheryl -- i did notice in one pic of a Peep eating 'coon, a noticeable "blue" -- which i'm sure what that toy again.... either you have many -- or that thing is everywhere.

well, i'm off an running... going up north to check for snow damage at the RV Park. be back in a few days.

Terese

That looks like a dog bite to me Cheryl. Good idea on the echinacea to help promote healing. I doubt very much a wild hog would bother a raccoon. Not their style. They can be really nasty, but raccoons can usually elude that sort of thing with no problem. Wish there were someway to get antibiotics on that cut or internally. I'm clueless on that one. I do think you providing additional nutrients on a regular basis has made these guys a whole lot healthier.

I can hardly wait for more baby coon pictures, though.

Speaking of rabies shots, my oldest DS had to have them while helping catch feral cats a couple of years ago. He said it was not to bad and this guy hates needles. Had to go in for several weeks and get a shot in the arm. Which is a big improvement over the old way..........they use to give the shot in the stomach.......not my idea of a fun time........shudder!

I thought I had posted more threads about the raccoons here on DG, but couldn't find anymore of them. We had them from about 5 weeks old until they were about 9 months. Since my computer crashed, the only pictures I have of them are the ones I posted here on DG :(

They were really neat pets, but definitely not for everyone.... it really is like having a toddler around, into everything :)

Janis

Thanks for the great pictures! Yes, it is sad when a wild animal gets injured and we can't help. It always breaks my heart too. Hopefully the echinacea idea will work.

A few years ago a girl from Wisconsin got rabies from a bat. It's quite a remarkable story (with a happy ending!): http://www.thedenverchannel.com/health/3947049/detail.html

That is an amazing story, goldfinch, thanks for sharing.

I'm at work right now (shhhh!). It's a 6cup of joe morning. While I'm waiting for that java to kick in, I though I would show you one of my very, very, very old pastel 'paintings'. This was not an item that was ever intended for sale. It was a pastel study done in preparation for a more detailed and finished work in oil. I apologize in advance for this shameless act of self promotion. Those who remember my computer art - the blue dog comes to mind - may find this encouraging.

Edited to add: in case you are saying to yourself, "Now wonder what caused her to put a dog pic on the raccoon thread?" Well, as you must know, I do get a little OT from time to time. Anyhow, the pic was on my laptop and the screen saver just shuffled it past me a few minutes ago, so that's where the idea to post it now originated -even though it has nothing to do with the current topic.

This message was edited Apr 3, 2008 11:20 AM

WOW - that is awesome! I don't know why you didn't put it up for sale. Do you sell other work you've done? You have so many talents!

Boy things have been very busy at you house! That wound does look really nasty. Sure hope it heals and whoever it is recovers okay.

I will so miss Rupert when he has to leave, but that is the way nature works. No doubt we will fall in love with the new group of kits and all have a favorite!!

I have the granddaughters here this week so have very limited online time!

That's beautiful, Cheryl!! Thank you for sharing it. :-) I love his expression....

I agree that it is sad that we probably won't see as much of Rupert and Fraidy, in particular, but that is the way it goes. I love the photos of the raccoons with the toys. :-)

Cheryl, remember when the tree fell...and you thought someone or something was injured....wondering if the injury could be a puncture wound from tree branches?

Does look nasty...and agree with possible treatment.
I don't think she will let you put any neosporin on it!

Debbie

Looks like a dog bit to me too, but not totally sure, but if you've ever been bitten by a dog, it not only hurts liek the devil but it takes forever to heal. I still got scars on my fingers and it tooks months an dmonths before it would heal good .

it may be too that she is tryign to keep her wound clean and that why ome of the fur missing as she chews and licks at the wounds.

My one dog got bit by a bigger dog that cam einto the yard and attacke dhim and he couldnt get away. The back of his neck looked alot like hers too and as it would try and heal he woudl keep lickign it and This sounds gross, so if ya dont like gros s words skip to next paragraph. he would eat the scabs off as they woudl try and heal. Not sure if it an automatic thing liek they need to keep the wounds open and keep lickign them for awhile til thy like know all te infection or chances of infection out before they let it heal for good. He woudl pull the hair out too all aroudn the wound , to maybe healp mak eit more a sterile area. Not sure.

Don't know if maybe you could get some sort of long tick and put cotton balls with antibiotic ontment like neo sporin on it and try and rub her with it while she eating.

Also ya might dmail Sofferdig and send pic. he a taveling vet if I go the right person and with all the wildernes s plae she goe s he may have some suggestions too.

Oh, the poor baby! I do hope you can get the spiked peanut butter balls in her. I hope she heals ok.
What a wonderful work of art--I didn't know you were an artist! Hey, if you had time, you could do raccoon portraits and sell them for treat money.

Cheryl, had no idea you were an artist as well. The picture is stunning, just beautiful.

Hi, Everyone,

Whew! Rough day because I was up too, too late the last few nights (or mornings actually) and was SO sleepy. Posted the dog pic while I was struggling to get awake enough to really concentrate. Shortly after that the caffeine finally kicked in enough for me to get some work done. Came home and crashed. Woke up around midnight. Just fed the gang. Absolutely must get to [back] to sleep early tonight, so regrettably I won't have time to talk tonight.

Thanks for all of the compliments on the pic. Lots of good comments and ideas on the raccoon's injury. Hopefully, I will be back tomorrow. to discuss. Oh, and I do hope everyone knows that I was just joking around the other day when I was asking where everyone had gone. Sometimes I get in those 'zany' moods. The humor may not always translate well via Internet.

The dog portrait is awesome, Cheryl. Love the idea of selling raccoon paintings to support the buffet; but then you might not have time to feed and photograph and post and all the rest - and we would all have severe raccoon withdrawal symptoms...

Amen, sparta.......it would mean, would have to find out who has Cheryl's address and get together a raccoon "party" to go look her up! LOL

Oh, gosh, Cheryl, when you were "tuzt. tuzt. tuzt"-ing into the "microphone" I was trying not to spew pop on the keyboard. It was hilarious! Ba as zany as you like. At least I'll laugh. :-D I hope you're feeling more rested today.

Received some more (and very different) goodies for the raccoons and got some new pics of them eating some of their gifts. Hope to get a chance to post some of those tonight. Right now I'm running around trying to get as much done outside as possible before the monsoons begin.

Just came in to grab a drink and wipe the sweat off my brow. While I'm here I though I'd convey a very brief aside totally unrelated to raccoons. As I've mentioned before, late last summer I broke down and bought a [huge] lawn tractor to cut the back yard and also to pull a cart around the yard so I can more easily haul everything from trash to limbs to large plants and soil, bricks, stones, and you name it. The big honking beast is way too big for my tiny yard and so I'm sure I must look silly trying to maneuver it about -esp while pulling that cart but I'm slowly learning to maneuver it better and just for the ease with which I have been able to truck the limbs and other pruning debris out to the curb it has been a life saver.

Anyhow, I had taken the beast out to mow the back yard which took all of 5 minutes I guess. As I was driving back to the garage I noticed a few of those poof ball weeds (dandelion flowers maybe) sticking out of the lawn. I have a service that does the front but this time of year since the lawn is just waking up good, they are only cutting it 1x month. That's more than adequate for the grass but apparently not for the weeds. Since I was already out there on the beast and considering that all I had to do was sit and drive, I figured I'd take a few turns around the front yard just to knock down those weed flowers. As I was out there sitting on my lawn tractor driving around the front yard some kid from down the street came up to offer to cut my yard for me (with his push mower and for a price, of course). LOL! I just had to tell this story to someone. I mean, after all, could I possibly have looked overburdened? All the task entailed was sitting on my amply padded derriere and steering. I explained, nicely, that I was just knocking down a few weeds and [thought my comically, oversized lawn beast] could handle it.

Must be that thing where kids (myself included at that age) think anyone over say 30ish will just keel over and die if forced to do work - although I still don't think sitting and driving constitutes work.