Call me crazy, but i love exotic pets. I’ve owned salt-water crocodiles, anteaters, tarantulas, nishikigoi – or as they are more commonly known – koi fish, swamp lynxes, ferrets, and many, many more, my point is simply if you can name it, I’ve probably at one time or another owned it, trained it, raised it, or had some type of interaction with it. So, while i don’t claim to be an expert in exotic pet keeping, I can assure you I know more than the average bear (yes, i even owned a baby koala named Nicko). That said, I want to share with you some information on the best ways to bring a very furry and very friendly critter – that has a very special place in my heart – into your home, of course, as you know I’m talking about the North American Raccoon.
To begin,I should state that raising a baby raccoon is certainly easier than domesticating an adult one so please keep that in mind as you read this article, I don’t want you to conflate the two. Okay, so taking an adult, feral raccoon into the home is a challenge and the best way to meet that challenge is to be prepared. So, the first step or phase in domesticating a raccoon is to educate yourself on their habits, their history, the food they like, the food they don’t like, etc. Here are a few basics, raccoons are nocturnal, meaning they like to be awake during the nighttime, they are omnivorous, which means they eat both plants and animals, and their most important sense is their sense of touch. Their front paws are like the feelers of an ant, hyper sensitive and highly receptive to tactile impulses. In any event, to come up to speed, you can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Raccoon.
Once you’ve educated yourself on raccoon basics you can prepare yourself for the next phase, raccoon abduction. It’s easiest to abduct a sleeping raccoon. However, finding a sleeping raccoon is a bit difficult as they tend to sleep in underground burrows, in tree hollows, and in other hard to reach places, therefore you’ll need to learn how to put an awake, vibrant raccoon to sleep long enough so that you can snatch it and bring it back to your home. How does one do this? As you’ve undoubtedly deduced, with the help of paralytic agents. Now, the preferred method is to go out and hunt one with a tranquilizer gun (crossbow, blow dart, etc) as opposed to setting a trap and/or drugging some cat food and leaving it out doors. Mechanical traps (such as foothold traps, body gripping traps, snares, cages) and food sedatives can be injurious to other animals, as there is no guarantee that a raccoon will spring the foothold trap or eat the tainted cat food and not a neighbor’s dog. So, I highly recommend you invest in getting a tranquilizer gun. ***Special note: try and avoid glue traps as well, as it is difficult to extricate animals from glue traps without tearing off much of the fur and skin.
It’s a known scientific fact that raccoons don’t have feelings, unlike the more higher evolved animals, dogs, cats, apes, hence, they will not respond to verbal intimidation, audible threats, yelling, screaming, passive aggressiveness, the same way your cat or dog might, so it’s best to use alternative means to tame your raccoon. Phase three is really all about behavior modification with the deployment of an electric prod or stock prod that delivers a high voltage, low current electric shock to the animal during training modules whereby you give the animal certain prompts (physical or verbal instructions) to encourage positive behavior and, whereby, you administer certain corrective measures (front paw shocks, castration, tail binding or tail mutilation) to discourage non-optimal behavior. This is by far the fastest and most efficient way to train your raccoon. This process can take roughly 6-8 weeks to complete, but overtime the raccoon becomes increasingly docile and obedient.
Phase four can be called raccoon assimilation. Once you’ve abducted and trained your raccoon it’s time to begin the assimilation process, after all you want your new pet to become a cherished part of the family. For starters, schedule some supervised petting sessions for toddlers, young children, and seniors. You want to make sure that the animal behaves properly around those who would otherwise be defenseless against an outburst or an attack. It should be noted that raccoons have sharp claws and a uniquely jagged dentition that offers an impactful bite, so vigilance can be critical during those early supervised petting sessions. Additionally, you’ll want to expose your raccoon to your other pets so it becomes acclimated to the pet pecking order. One thing to keep in mind is that some pets, specifically larger K-9s, may challenge the raccoon to a fight as a way to assert dominance, my recommendation is to allow these scrums to occur, but to intervene if they become too violent or bloody. Lastly, patience will prevail, and soon your raccoon will know it’s place in the house and will be recognized as part of the family.
I’d like to end with phase five which is the branding/licensing portion of this whole process. Now, in most states domesticating wild raccoons is a tricky business, so depending on where you live licensing them may be legally challenging. That said, do what you can to follow and obey the laws of the land. And as for branding, it helps to know your raccoon from other raccoons as well as being able to provide prima facie (proof of ownership) when it is requested or disputed, so brand it with a fire-heated branding iron. When it comes to my raccoons, I typically apply my 5 inch branding mark (which is my initials) right under the tail adjacent to the anus. It will burn away most of the fur there for good, so you don’t have to worry about the fur growing back and obfuscating the marking.
And really folks, that’s all there is to it. Please reply to thread with any questions, and I’ll do my best to respond. Good luck and God bless!
