Description
Scientific name: Procyon lotor
Life span: Up to 20 years in captivity
The raccoon is the biggest member of the procyonid family, measuring 40-70 cm in length and weighing 5 -26 kg. Its thick underfur-covered, grey coat serves as its primary form of insulation from the cold. The extraordinarily agile front paws, the face mask, and the banded tail of the raccoon are three of its most distinguishing characteristics. The raccoon is renowned for its intellect since tests have shown that it can retain information on how to solve problems for a minimum of 3 years. It typically feeds on plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates throughout the night.
Native Region/Habitat
Raccoons are endemic to South America, North America, Japan, and Asia. They inhabit mixed forests, coastal marshes, mountainous areas, and deciduous forests.
Behavior/Temperament
Raccoons are clever creatures with excellent memory and reasoning skills. They spend the night foraging for food. Additionally, they often keep their natural characteristics even after being raised in captivity or reared by people. That implies that taking care of them requires a lot of work. They struggle in enclosures and even tiny bedrooms when kept as pets. To be comfortable, they require room to move about, explore, and play. However, your equipment might be readily destroyed by their pointed claws and fangs. They could chew on your walls and doors, tear up bedsheets, and push over decorative things. If their interest takes control of them, raccoons are highly skilled at squeezing past locks and other guarded locations.
Raccoons will form bonds with their people, especially if they have been reared in captivity since they were young. And many do occasionally act quite affectionate or fun. When anything bothers or frightens them, they are frequently ready to bite—even their favorite individuals. Additionally, because they are carnivores in the wild, they could attack other pets you have in the residence, especially tiny animals or pets. So it is preferable to keep them alone.
Care/Grooming
Raccoons are too busy to stay happy for several hours in a cage. A pet raccoon should thus spend the majority of its time exploring, playing, and climbing around your home. Therefore, you must raccoon-proof your home. Raccoons have a penchant for gnawing on cables, scaling shelves, and destroying valuables. Therefore, everything that might harm them or cause damage needs to be taken out of the vicinity.
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