Raccoons

“I found an orphaned eyes-closed baby raccoon. What do I do?”
Baby raccoons who still have their eyes closed are way too young to survive without their mother. Use a towel, gently pick up the baby and place it in a box lined with a clean towel or baby blanket. Make sure the lid has air holes and secure the top. Contact a wildlife rehabilitator.

“I have picked up the babies — won’t my scent keep the mother away?”
NO — the scent of a human on her baby will not keep her from caring for her baby.

“How many babies do raccoons have?”
Raccoons can have up to 8 babies, but it is more common to see 2-4 in a litter.

“How often does the mother feed the babies?”
Raccoon moms feed their babies often at first (every 2 hours) until they are older. A few weeks after their eyes are open they will start to follow their mother in the search for food and water.

“How do I know whether the babies are old enough to survive on their own?”
They will leave the current nest for another location with their mother when they are able to walk and are approximately 3 months old. The best way to tell is by contacting a rehabilitator who can help you to determine the age of the raccoon. Raccoon babies stay with their mothers up to 9 months or until maturity sends them on their own paths.

“Does the mother stay with the babies?”
Yes. Mother raccoons stay with their babies and will move the entire family one by one if she feels any threat or danger to them. She will forage at night (sometimes during the early morning hours and/or at dusk) to find food and water. If you have food and water outside for your domestic animals then that is an open invitation for wild animals to come and live at your house! Simply pick up the food at night to discourage nighttime “visitors”. Please follow the instructions below IF
The babies are in imminent life-threatening danger;
The babies are injured;
You have determined that the babies are abandoned and/or orphaned.

If any of the above stated situations fits your particular scenario, then contact a state-permitted wildlife rehabilitator as soon as possible. If the baby raccoons are determined to have been abandoned and you need to transport them to a rehabilitator, please do the following:Use a small container such as a shoebox. Punch air holes in the lid.
Line the shoebox with a clean t-shirt or baby receiving blanket that you do not mind giving up.
Place the babies inside the shoebox and put a rubber band around the box and lid, securing it for the ride.
Babies must stay warm. Fill a clean tube sock with uncooked white rice and tie off at the cuff with a piece of string. Place the sock into a microwave and heat for 1-2 minutes. Place the sock inside the shoebox and put part of the t-shirt or other piece of clean cloth over the sock. You don’t want the sock to be so hot that it could burn the babies. The babies will crawl next to the warmth of the sock and stay there for the ride to the rehabilitator. Another option is to put a wet washcloth (wrung out) into a ziplock baggie and microwave until warm but not hot. This acts as a portable heating pad! If it is going to be a length of time before you can get the babies to a rehabilitator, please do the following: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FEED THE BABIES — TO DO SO COULD CAUSE THEIR DEATH

Follow the instructions above as per the shoebox or other small container.
If you have a heating pad, set it on low and place the pad on a non-conductive surface (your bathroom counter or washing machine lid will do just fine).
Place the container with the babies half-on and half-off the heating pad. This will allow the babies to move away from the heat if they need to. Raccoons require a specialized formula. Alone, most replacement formulas are not sufficient in ingredients to sustain a growing baby raccoon. A rehabilitator has been trained to offer the formula appropriate for this species and knows the correct feeding schedule and protocol of rehydration. You also run the risk of aspirating the baby by using an incorrect feeding utensil (such as a baby bottle with nipple). Mom raccoons also stimulate the babies after feeding in order to help them eliminate. This process is vital to their health and life. Baby raccoons are incredibly fragile and do not take handling by humans well. They will die of stress if handled improperly. Keep baby raccoons away from children, household noise (such as vacuum cleaners and so forth), domestic pets and bright light. Raccoons do not make good pets. They are wild things and have wild instincts. They do not trust humans and do not accept other domestic animals as companions. Please do not consider keeping these incredible and fragile creatures as pets — to keep a raccoon in a cage for the rest of its life is to doom it to a life of sadness and broken spirit.

How Do I Contact A Rehabilitator

If you cannot locate a rehabber in your area please contact your conservation office, vet clinic, humane society, animal shelter, or use Wildlife International’s Rehab Search.

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