When Are Baby Raccoons Born
How Long Do Adolescent Raccoons Stay With Their Mother?
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With the exception of mothers and their young, raccoons live solitary existences. The mostly nocturnal raccoon is an opportunistic omnivore native to North America. Young raccoons typically stay with their mothers for about a year after their birth to learn how to find food. During this time, mothers are extremely protective and will attack anything that comes too close to their young.
Mating
The months of January, February and March are mating season for raccoons. Most mating occurs during March, although raccoons living in the more northerly portions of the animal’s geographic range tend to breed earlier than those to the south. During the mating season, males expand their usual geographic range, presumably to increase the possibility of encounters with females. Although females and males may den with each other temporarily during this time, they do not associate with each other after mating; females raise the young on their own.
Infancy
Female raccoons are pregnant for around two months before giving birth to a litter of between four and six young. Raccoons are born blind and completely helpless. Their eyes do not open until they are approximately 3 weeks old. They will be between 4 weeks and 6 weeks old before they are able to stand on their own. The mother weans her young when they are between 2 months and 3 months old, and they will leave the nest with her and start to hunt for food with their mother’s guidance and assistance. During these first forays out of the den, the mother may carry the babies individually in her mouth.
Adolescence
As the young raccoon continues to grow, his mother will teach him how to hunt on his own and how to climb trees to escape predators. By the time raccoons are around 5 months of age, they regularly forage on their own as well as with their mothers, but they continue to den with their mother and their siblings. This family unit remains intact throughout the adolescent raccoon’s first winter. Although raccoons do not hibernate, families stay together in the same dens, sleeping through the most severe winter periods.
Maturity
In early spring following the year they were born, young raccoons typically leave their mother’s den. The average adolescent raccoon becomes independent at 10 months of age, some leave home as early as 8 months and some as late as 12. Females are sexually mature at this point, although males do not reach sexual maturity until their second year. Even after they’ve reached maturity, young raccoons may choose to den near their mother or somewhere on their natal home range. Young male raccoons are more independent, however, and may move several miles away from their mother before establishing their own dens and home ranges.
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When Are Baby Raccoons Born
| Care for Baby Raccoons | |||
A raccoon is a RABIES VECTOR SPECIES! If you have found an orphaned or injured raccoon, you must be informed that RABIES in Texas is an ongoing state health emergency. It is illegal for a person to keep as a “Pet,” possess, or transport certain animals that are high risk for transmitting rabies, including raccoons, foxes, skunks, bats and coyotes. A violation of this law is a Class C misdemeanor. Until you are able to contact and place the orphan with a permitted Wildlife Rehabilitator, you can follow these CARE INSTRUCTIONS to give the infant the best chance for survival. HEAT & BEDDING: The very FIRST thing the orphaned raccoon kit will need is an external heat source. Infants younger than 5 weeks do not produce their own body heat to thermo-regulate. They need a heating pad, set on LOW setting. Place a bath towel, folded to make about a 1 to 1 1/2 inch thickness and put it on the heating pad. Now, place a box on top of the towel. Place your babies into a soft cloth such as an old flannel shirt, or old sweatshirt or sweatpants. Place the infant, nestled in the cloth, down into the box. That way, a gradual heat will come up through the layers and warm the infant, but not make them too hot. HOW OLD IS THE RACCOON? A 100-gram or less — baby is a week or less old: very light hair fuzz, 4 ½ -6” nose-end of tail, eyes closed, ears unopened, crawls spread-legged. DEHYDRATION: Dehydration is very common in orphan raccoons. A baby raccoon that is 5% dehydrated needs to get about 4-5% of its body weight of balanced fluids over an 8-hour period. A good rehydrating solution can be made by mixing the following: 1 pint of boiled (or distilled) water — 1 teaspoon of sugar — 1/3 teaspoon of salt. You can also rehydrate dehydrated babies with warm warmed Lactated Ringer’s Solution (LRS) if available, or diluted Pedialyte, If the babies are not fed properly as infants, they may develop metabolic bone disease resulting in a horrid, painful death once released. Never give whole milk, raw eggs or honey to baby raccoons, as these could cause a deadly digestive bacterial infection. Keeping the baby hydrated and getting its electrolytes back in balance will suffice until it can be properly fed. Formula should be heated to body temperature before feeding (100-102F). You should feed it 5 times a day (that includes in the middle of the night) for the first four weeks. If it doesn’t take to the bottle yet (animal nurser bottle, 4 ounce size, from a pet shop or a baby bottle with preemie nipple), Use a medication syringe and allow the baby to lick the formula off of the tip. FEEDING SCHEDULE (APPROXIMATIONS) HOW TO FEED: Use a baby bottle, warm the formula, and place the raccoon on its tummy. The raccoon will suck. You will have to clamp your hand firmly over its muzzle and rub its back to get the raccoon started. Make sure the hole in the nipple is not too large, as this will allow the raccoon to take too much formula. If this happens the raccoon will sneeze formula out of its nose – Stop feeding, turn upside down, gently rub its back, and gently wipe the excess formula from its nose. Repeat this for about 5 minutes or until the sneezing stops and breathing returns to normal. If severe this can cause immediate death or pneumonia on a long-term basis. To avoid this from occurring feed in a quiet room, go slowly and watch both the raccoon and the bottle. Feed the baby belly down on a towel or blanket on a counter top or on your lap; do not place it on its back, as this can cause aspiration leading to pneumonia and possible death. Don’t overfeed! Raccoons will overeat when nursing. Overeating can cause bloat and/or colic resulting in death. Stop nursing the baby when it stops sucking vigorously, stops searching for the nipple or if its little belly feels full. It is better to feed more often than to overfeed. Baby raccoons can drink 1-5% of their body weight in cc’s at a feeding – better you stop before the animal is overfilled and refusing. Gently rubbing or scratching the back of the neck or lower back, where the body meets the tail, may stimulate it to nurse. After feeding is finished, wash its face well with a damp face cloth as the formula dries quickly and will cause fur loss. You will have to burp the baby, by laying it over your shoulder or lap and gently patting the upper neck, and manually stimulate it to eliminate for another few weeks. Use a warm rough paper towel and gently swap or tap the genital area from front to back. Place a soft piece of material between you and the baby so that you don’t get dirty. If diarrhea occurs, dilute the strength of the formula. WEANING DIET: (6 to 8 Weeks) You should be feeding 4 times a day now. TREATS (Sparingly) Fig Newton’s, cookies, wafers, raisins. LITTER BOX: Once a raccoon can walk, you can train it to use a litter-box. If you use a water bowl instead of a water bottle, the raccoon will eliminate in the water bowl. It will then «wash» its food in that same water. Remove the water bowl. Place a litter box in the enclosure. If you are still weaning the raccoon to solid food process, place a small tin with kitty litter next to the feeding area. If the raccoon starts to eliminate, immediately place it in the litter. This will help speed up the process and keep it from using its food bowl as a toilet. Raccoons will share a litter-box. They do not bury their feces, but may knock over the litter-box for fun. Place a piece of concrete under the litter to weigh it down. Practice proper hygiene at all times, as raccoons pass harmful parasites through their stools. On KMR, a normal stool is golden brown, with the consistency of peanut butter. Promptly flush any fecal matter down the toilet and immediately practice proper hygiene. Once the baby feeds from a dish, this should no longer be necessary WORM THE COON with Pyrantel Pamoate, orally at (5mg/pound) or 11mg/kg. BE DILIGENT ABOUT WORMING. DO NOT MISS A SINGLE DOSE UNTIL RELEASE. Pyrantel pamoate is very low in toxicity because it is not absorbed from the intestine. It is sold under the trade names Nemex, NEMEX-2, and Strongid. Give NEMEX-2 @ weeks 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, and then give 1 X monthly (Don’t be late) arcforwildlife.com
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