Raccoons are unusual family pets to have at home. Many families do take in abandoned baby raccoons and bring them up as pets or take care of them till they can be released in the wild again.
Before you decide to take in a raccoon as a pet, check whether it is legal in your area to keep wild animals like raccoons as house pets. In most places it is illegal.
If you are allowed to have one as a pet, you can either buy a raccoon from the breeder or if you have come across an abandoned baby, adopt it.
Remember though that raccoons can live to be 10 to 15 years old in captivity. So a raccoon is a long term responsibility which may not be easy to take care of if you want to go for vacations or have to travel quite a bit.
Also pet raccoons can’t be expected to live in the wild after years of being cared for by humans.
Either way it is better to take in raccoons as a baby before they have been weaned. The raccoon bonds better with its foster family when they have been bottle fed by the family and then weaned to solid foods.
Baby raccoons need plenty of care and the young ones might need to be fed commercial cat milk up to eight times a day when really small.
Over time they can be weaned with the help of human baby food like mashed banana, baby cereal mix and other such food. Soon they will graduate to everything and anything as they are omnivorous.
Raccoons are intelligent animals and are naughty by nature. They are also prone to biting. So be prepared to have your favorite possessions destroyed and guests being bitten.
Raccoons are known to get destructive when not fed on time or being ignored by the busy foster family. It might also be difficult to find a vet who will take care of them.
They may not be the easiest of pets to have but they can be funny and fascinating companions.
