Higgins' Journal(Part Four of Twelve)

The life and times of a young raccoon

being the journal of Alex Snow

copyright Alex Snow (1998)

Tuesday 22 May. I restarted weaning Higgie again by mixing his Esbilac with baby food: pureed cereal with apple and banana. He likes it, though he chokes a bit because I made the hole in the nipple so b ig. He took four feedings: 5 oz., 3 oz., 4 oz., and 1oz.. Today while I was ea ting lunch, he climbed up my chair and lunged from my lap onto the table, where he began paddling in my salad. Finally he licked a piece of lettuce clean of it s creamy dressing and retired looking very satisfied.#He wet the bed again early this a.m., and I had a stroke of genius. Perhaps, I thought, his litterbox and bedwetting problems are due to his litterbox being in the wrong place. It is c urrently located alongside a bedroom wall between the main door and the closet d oor, with easy access on both sides. The spot he had chosen in the corner of th e room behind the bedroom chair is hidden. Making sure the carpet was clean, I put the litterbox on his chosen spot.When he is active, he is very, very acti ve. By contrast to his whirlwind movements, I feel like a huge lumbering whale, slow and heavy. His little heart pitterpatters so fast, and his little legs pu mp away so daintily that I feel like a rhinoceros watching keystone cops. He bo unces around on legs like bedsprings.This a.m. while I was making his formula , I set him on the kitchen countertop so that I could keep an eye on him. I loo ked away for a moment and in the twinkling of an eye he was gone. I couldn't se e him anywhere. A second or two later, I heard the pitty patter of feet in the soffit above the kitchen cabinets. I figure he snuck up there via a space in th e corner behind the microwave oven. He paddled about up there, taking his own s weet time to find a way down. He discovered an opening above the window, where I climbed up and hauled him out. This evening some friends came to visit, wh om Higgins had seen before. He stood on all fours on the bed and lowered his he ad in the gesture I have seen adult raccoons use when allowing other raccoons to take food first at the dogchow bowl. I interpret this headbowing as a gesture of submission.Later this p.m., he climbed up the bookshelves in the basement den , and unfortunately fell off the top all the way to the floor, about eight feet. He didn't seem badly hurt, but he was rather subdued afterwards, and ate only 1 oz. of formula at night.PAs we were going to bed a storm broke, for which I wa s thankful. It has been 85F and very humid, the kind of day when everything sti cks to one's clammy skin. I carried him to the back porch to watch the rain, bu t he was frightened, cowering on my shoulder under my hair. I put him beside t he windowscreen in the bedroom, but he ran back to his favorite sleeping place u nder the pillows and hid.

Wednesday 23 May. No bedwetting today, he used th e litterbox. He drank 5 oz. at breakfast and 5 p.m., and only 1 oz. at 11 p.m.. I had the feeling he was too excited to eat at the late feeding. He was very a ctive all evening. Out in the yard he clung to my shoulder at first, the way he usually does, then I persuaded him to walk on the grass with the leash. We exp lored the entire yard and he urinated under the blue spruce. Whether this was c oincidence, that is he happened to need to urinate at that point, or wether he w as scent-marking I don't know. Several cats routinely scent-mark under that tre e. He sniffed excitedly at the wild cherry tree which other raccoons use to clim b up to the roof, then he climbed up as far as the leash allowed, coming down s ideways. He sniffed and climbed several pine trees, somehow managing to stick a pine needle up his nose. We walked around and around the house till after twi light. A couple of times he scrambled up my legs, charged up to my shoulder, a nd hid under my hair when a car went down the back alley.CBack in the house, he was all psyched up and going a mile a minute. He made a wild lunge at the kitch en cabinets, and practically flew up the front of the drawers by grabbing the ha ndles. Then he repeated yesterdays trick, climbing up to the soffit through the triangular space behind the microwave oven. He sat there paddling and playing for about three quarters of an hour. I hauled him out from the opening beside t he light over the window.As I was getting ready for bed, he rushed into the bath room, shot up the front of the drawers onto the countertop, and dived into the washbasin. He was instantly soaked under the running water. He loved it. He pl ayed with the soap, ran in and out of the cascade of water, and slid all over th e counter. As I write my notes, he is still hyperactive, buzzing around on my b ed alternately attacking my notebook and my feet, like a demon. His eyes have d efinately grown larger during the last few days and his sensitivity to sounds is much greater. He stops, looks, and listens to the slightest sound, be it a bir d call, people walking around, or whatever. This a.m. the bedroom window was op en and out in the back yard a squirrel began to moan and sputter the way they do when they see a cat. Higgins heard this cawing noise and hid behind me in frig ht.

Thursday 24 May Estimates vary concerning the weaning age of raccoons. I consulted three standard references. One stated that it was between seven weeks and four months, another mentioned four months, and the third said two months. Not much practical help! Higgins is taking a mixture of two teaspoons of babyfo od (mixed cereal with apple and banana) per 5 oz. Esbilac feeding (i.e. 5 oz. to tal). He took three full 5 oz. feedings today, and used his litterbox consisten tly. iHis external ears look huge compared to a couple of weeks ago. He wiggles them around all the time to listen to sounds both near and far away. The ridge I had felt in one ear a while back has gone. Perhaps it was a little scar that healed. PfOAt lunchtime he leaped up the kitchen cabinets into the soffit again , and did not want to emerge when I went back to work in the afternoon. So I le ft him there. When I returned just after 5p.m., he appeared in the opening besi de the window light, looking drowsy and yawning. I guess he just snoozed up th ere all afternoon. Subsequently, after I took him for his afternoon walk, he cl ambered up there again and was only coaxed down by my shaking and waving his bot tle at the opening. He has not yet learned to come down the same way he goes up . The opening by the light gives him no toeholds to climb down as the side of t he cabinet is smooth. I have to grab him and drag him out, which is not comfort able for him. Finding this special place where I cannot go is a gesture of inde pendence, but he will need to learn how to get down alone.This evening he examin ed the back door threshold for some time, sniffing around the steps and door. W henever I picked him up and set him down on the back patio he ran back to the st eps. Then he ran across the patio to the gate at the east side of the house and spent a while exploring the fern patch behind the little fence there, then back to the steps. I took him to the green ash tree on the southeast side of the hou se, allowing him to climb as high as the leash will reach. A couple of times he came down rear feet first, but twice tried to descend headfirst. Then, of his own accord he ran back to the fern patch and hid. He sniffed around a bit and t hen ran back to the doorstep and into the kitchen.KHe seems to like little hidey hole dark places. Perhaps he feels safe if he thinks nobody can see him. After his outdoor exploring he climbed up to his soffit hideaway and peered down from the window opening at me as if beaming with pride in his prowess.P He seems tir ed after these adventures. For once he is too tired to bite my toes or attack m y notebook. Last night I could hardly calm him down. Then I remembered the old saying,"Music soothes the savage breast." I sang him a lullaby called "Over th e Sea to Skye." At first he just stared at me in amazement, no doubt wondering what on earth the strange noise was. He seemed to relax as I hummed. Before I had completed the tune three times he had ambled off along the bed and lain down to sleep. Worked like a charm.

Friday 25 May At his three meals, Higgins ate 3 oz., 1 oz., and 5 oz. respectively. He was quiet all day, spending most of i t sleeping in his soffit. He did not want to go outside.

Saturday 26 May. Today Higgie made up for yesterday's lethargy. He ate two 1 oz. and one 5 oz. feedings, and got into everything. He licked strawberries, ate macaroni, and attacked a pineapple. I had set a pineapple on the kitchen countertop, and when he climbed up the front of the drawers onto the counter and saw it, he froze. Cautiously, he danced skittishly towards it in a threatening pose with his back arched. He backed off and lowered his head. He stared at it for a while, then ran worriedly around on the countertop. Suddenly he lunged, in a surprise attac k. To his own apparent amazement, he brought it down in one swipe. He crawled all over it, biting and scratching until it was clearly rendered harmless. He was very excited at this victory. To show off he then attacked and subdued a sp onge, a box of tissues, and finally defeated two ovengloves. ouBut this was not enough. He was on a roll. He wrestled manfully with a bottle of dishwashing li quid and rolled a jar of handcream furiously along the counter. Finally, ah the sweet rewards of battle, he found a honeyjar. I unscrewed the top so he could smell the honey, and swoosh, in he dived. Such pleasure he took in licking the sweet stuff off his arms and feet. He adjourned to his soffit to contemplate hi s prowess and ferocity.SOut in the back yard he did not do so well. I attached his leash to a washing line stretched across the yard and let him wander. He du g in a mosspatch, visited the fernpatch, and tried hard to wriggle out of his co llar. I offered him bread soaked in Esbilac, but he was not interested. When I brought him in to the house he showed more interest in a bowl of catchow soaked in Esbilac. He slurped about half of it down and paddled about in the rest. D1 When two neighbours came over to see him, he growled and sputtered at them. Thi s is the second time he has done so. Other friends do not seem to bother him. Eventually he calmed down, sat on my shoulder, and sniffed their clothes. My ne ighbour noticed how much bigger and fatter he is than he was a couple of weeks a go. His measurements now are: body 15", tail 7 1/2", total length 22 1/2", rear feet 3 1/2", forefeet 2 1/2", nose to neck 5", between ears 3". These are appr oximate measurements, as he was moving around and it was hard to hold him still.

Sunday 27 May Higgins had a quiet day today, spending most of it snoozing i n his soffit. He seems to alternate a day of activity with a day of rest. Good idea. Wish I could do the same. His only mischief was climbing inside a kitch en drawer and peeing all over the paper and plastic products inside. This took a while to clean up. He ate two 5 oz. feedings of Esbilac and baby cereal, and is now baulking at a third. He's been so quiet all day that his energy must hav e stored up. Now he's racing all over the bedroom like a fairgrounds dodgem car . Climbing the curtains is the favorite amusement this evening.sHe came down fr om his soffit by himself this afternoon -- the quick way -- by falling down the way he had gotten up, via the triangular space in the corner behind the cabinets . He landed thunk on his rear end on the countertop behind the microwave oven, and did not look too pleased about it. Subsequently I pulled him out by the o pening at the light fixture again. nPerhaps his late night activity is the begin ning of being nocturnal. He moves so fast. I hear him rustling the plastic on his litterbox, then two seconds later he's in the diagonally opposite corner of the room scratching his way among the magazines in the nightstand. Faster than a speeding bullet. The days are gone when all he wanted to do was suck on his feeding bottle, then sleep on the towel-covered hot water bottle in his little house. All of his senses have become so much more acute. He now displays that characteristic behaviour of raccoons, feeling an object with his hands while st aring into space.

Monday 28 May Higgins seems to have settled on a twice-a-day feeding routine. He refused a late p.m. feeding today too. He took 5 oz. at b reakfast and 5 p.m., Esbilac mixed with cereal/apple/bananas. Last night I trie d him on pureed sweet potatoes, but he did not fancy that at all.P[$He spent muc h of today in his soffit, coming down only for evening meal, and to see visitors . These included two children, the younger of whom, aged three or so, has a very high-pitched voice. It frightened him. Every time he heard it, he scurried be hind my head to hide. PH[0 He carried some playthings up to the soffit. Many ye ars from now, the next owners of this house will remodel the kitchen and find to their surprise, way up above the cabinets, one baby bottle nipple, one piece zw ieback toast, and some dry catchow. What will they make of that I wonder?P[N>At present, Higgins is subduing the kitchen equipment again. He swipes the pineap ple every time he passes it. He no longer sleeps after meals, but runs around. His biting has become serious, and his play is now energetic fighting, so I sle ep with socks on to avoid severe toe bites. It must be time to get a cage.3I fi nd that lullabies quieten him down. Tonight is the third time I have been able to soothe the savage breast with ancient airs and tunes. He automatically settl es down under the bedcovers when I start to sing. Maybe he is just plugging his ears!

Tuesday 29 May. He ate two 5 oz. feedings, and refused one in the late evening. He showed an interest in playing with dogchow and catchow today, but h e just rolled them around on the counter and did not eat them. This evening I m ade him a sort of cream of chicken soup with Esbilac and a teaspoonful of pureed chicken baby food. One sniff, and he turned his head away.CRAHaving an outdoo r cage for Higgins would allow me to sleep at night. He wakes me every couple o f hours, biting my ears and toes. He has a cheery way of waking me up at about 3 a.m. by digging in my ear canal with his claws and then looking brightly into my half-closed eyes as if to say "Wake up ! It's time to play!" Also, an outdoor cage would accustom him to the sights, sounds, and smells of the natural enviro nment. He is still afraid of the rain, for example. On several occasions I hav e taken him out on rainy evenings, and he burrows under my chin or hair to hide . He will not walk around on the ground by himself, or climb trees, when it rai ns. He needs to get used to the weather, and to the other animals out there to o.He peed in the soffit late this evening. It dripped through onto the kitchen countertop, where I caught it on a pile of paper towels. I had a hunch that sooner or later this was inevitable.Raising a baby raccoon is not like raising a human baby. For one thing, you can not buy pampers small enough for raccoons. For another, human babies do not wake you in the night by digging their claws into your ear canal. But the biggest difference is that you are never likely to come home from work in the evening to find a human baby pattering about inside your basement ceiling with no visible means of getting down.

Wednesday 30 May. I write these notes at the end of the day, sitting in bed. Higgins attacks my pen, which he loves to bite and tussle with. He had an active day, taking two feedings of 5 oz. and 6 oz. at 7.30 a.m. and 10.30 p.m.. PVEWe took a mid-evening bath. I put bits of dogchow in the bathwater for him to play with, and so he did, but no eating. He enjoyed some frosting from my carrot cake later, though. This guy has all the makings of a sugar junkie. He paddled about in my gin, too, as he's done before. He enjoyed licking it off his fingers.cA good trick for getting him out of the soffit is holding up a nice soft pillow for him to climb onto. Now he comes down frequently, instead of staying up there for hours. He seems to like being carried down like an Indian potentate on his cushion.I obtained a cage from Tom XXXXXX at XXXX Nature Preserve, and put it on the front porch. It measures approximately 5'x4'x3'. I have used this cage for a raccoon before, and it works well. Tom originally built it for an orphan 'coon he raised himself. I put in suitable furnishings -- pine shavings, and logs of various sizes, including the all-time ideal raccoon log borrowed from Ann XXXXX. She found it last year, and has not had a chance to use it for her intended purpose -- for owls -- as I have commandeered it for raccoons. It has a nice hollow interior, two "doors", one at either, and one "window" on the side.

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