Being nocturnal were all well arid good if I had no business to run. Since Higgins came into my life, my business has gone to rack and ruin. I spend my days washing linens and sterilizing feeding euipment and my nights waking to play games. But the loss of income is a small thing oompared to the delight of watching his life unfold. There is no greater value than the value of a life, and so rarely does one have the prlvilege of sharing a wild animals development His wild life meons more to me than all the contracts I've lost
Sunday 3 June. Higgins again refused his a.m. feeding, and did not seem to be hungry until 4.30 p.m.. It's hot, perhaps that explains his lack of appetite. Or maybe it's bec8use he ate soap - - Old $pice shaving soap to be precise. I caught him at this in the bathroom today1 and remembered that hesd been playing with it yesterday too. It is now I .30 a.m. as I write, and he just refused a second feeding. I decided to tempt him with something he showed interest in before, shrimp. He was delighted with this treat. He carried it around, rubbing it in his hands. Finally he began to chew on it. He chewed it all up into little bits and spat them out. Apparently the hard pert of eating solid food is the swallowing. Now my bed is covered in little pink pieces of masticated shrimp.
Higgins spent about four hours in his cage in the a.m., and the same this p.m. , with a snooze in the sofflt and some playtime with me in between. lie seems to have settled to the cage now , and does not trill or chitter much when I put him in it. He slept in the cage blanket this p.m. after dark. He is not fully nocturnal yet.
Monday 4 June. Higgins refused his a.m. feeding again today, and was not very hungry at 5 p.m. either. I poured some of his Esbilac into a saucer and, wonder of wonders, he lapped up about 2 oz.i A FIR3T! Previously, whenever I gave him liquids in saucers he just paddled in them. P have seen baby raccoons play paddling games in watrebowls before.
There's always a waterbowl on my back porch. One summer , a mother raccoon repeatedly brought her young 'uns to play while she ate and drank. The babies would push their way into the waterbowl beckwards, playing a kind of "bumpsy-daisy" with eaah other while keeping an aye on their feeding mother. As one shoved his buns into the bowl , one alr there was pushed out. The latter would run to mother for reassurance, then push his way back into the melee again. At one peint, five of them were pushing and shoving backwards and sideways into the bowl.
After his success in lapping from a saucer , Higgins made a complete dog's breakfast of the bowls of formula I put in his cage by tipping them into the pine shavings. He spent four hours, mostly asleep, in his cage this a.m. , then two hours in the afternoon, and four hours this evening. He took a regular feeding of 6 oz. Esbilac at midnight.
He does not favor the ideal raccoon log, which I so thoughtfully provided. He prefers hiding under the blanket He still trills a little after I put him in the cage, so he's not totally content with it yet , but he's quieter than before. I put some toys into the cage today - - a rubber ball with a bell inside, and mousie, now minus one e"e and one "Made in Korea" label as well as its tail. Higgins always acts happy and affectionate when I take him out of the cage licking me all over my face and hugging me, which makes me feel guilty for putting him in there. 26
His explorations of the kitchen equipment continue. I had quite e start when I looked up from washing his bottle in the sink arid saw two greenish-yellow eves and a black mask peering out from inside the toaster oven. lie's getting a handle on these things, literally. The toester oven does open easily, it has a lift-down handle, but he still had to figure out how it worked.
His exploration of orifices has now extended to the bathtub drain, Ovid his favorite, the garbage disposal. He lies flat in the sink with his arms d&igling down into the disposal , gleefully feeling around to find any interesting textures. I i've been keeping the disposal well cleaned out with plenty of detergent, even pouring hot water down it to semi-sterilize it, so he doesni't find much. After feeling around for a while, he pulls out his arms and pops in his head, turning a slow somersault until hei's upside down with his rear end and legs waving around in the sink. He seems to be developing all the right moves for a city 'coon. This upside-down technique for garbage investigation is precisely how local raccoons forage in trash cans.
Tonight, after his midnight snack, he retired to his soffit instead of snuggling under the covers in my bed. Mbe It is too hot for the bed to be comfortable. Anyhow, I'm wise to his tricks now, and have placed a large pile of kitchen towels on the countertop right under the spot where he peed in the soffit.
Tuesday 5 June.
My trick worked. The towels were still damp when I got up this morning. I've got Higgins' feeding figured out. He eats at night and when it is cool. When it is hot ( today 88F ) he's not interested. Today he had no desire for an eorly a.m. feed. He lapped about I /2 oz. Esbilac with an ice cube around midday, but mostly he played with the ice cube. He drank his usual 6 oz. at midnight.
Last night he sneaked into bed with me in the wee small hours and settled on the pillow above my head. He's slept in This position often before and I thought nothing of it. But he slipped CiDwn onto my head and I awoke feeling very hot. Here it is hot and humid in June and 11m lying sweating in bed with a raccoon hat on. Even at twenty below zero I don1t need a fur hat so warm. This baby is like a ft&rnace heating my brow. So P movd away gently. It was a foolish move. He instinctively dug in his claws to prevent himself from falling. One of his claws went into my right eye. It looked messy for a while, but today it is just a red spot slightly smaller than the iris. I appeer to have two eyes in one, a blue iris and a red one both in the same eyeball. I guess that's an occupational hazard of raising a clawed animal.
Higgie finally took advantage of his first-rate cage furniture. He snoozed inside his ideal raccoon log, peeking out the "doors" or "wlndows" noo' and then to check on the sunshine. I gave him a bowl of cold water with ice cubes, which he paddled in. He must ha'e been in the cage six hours todey, including three hours in the evening. I gave him some sliced pitted cherries and he dowsed some in his waterbowl , but did not eat any. Just chewed and spat.
He practised flushing the toilet todey, just for the fun of it. After he left the bathroom , I thought he smelled awful good. I reelized he'd been digging in the Old Spice shaving soap again and had covered himself with it. Fortunately he loves taking baths. His face seems to be elongating, the pudgy baby face is gone. It looks more like a fox's face every day.
He is active and strong enough that he could easily do a lot of tree climbing, but I'm afraid to let him loose in the yard for fear he climbs too high in a tree for me to reach him. His ineptness in climbing down things is a problem. He falls off the kitchen countertops onto the floor , same in the bathroom , bec8use he hasn't figured out how to climb backwards down the drawerhandles he went up on. If he were stuck high in a tree ( the green ash is about I 20 feet high) my ladder would not reach. I can just imagine the fire department's response if I called to ask for a long ladder to get a raccoon out of a tree -- "Lady, raccoons live in trees !" A mother raccoon can always clamber around on the branches to grab an errant infant by the scruff of the neck and carry him. Ican't
Wednesday 6 June.
Higgins is eating less and less each day. I am worried about this. Today he lapped about I /2 oz. Esbilac from a saucer in the evenIng and took 2 oz. at midnight. rlaybe its the heat - - 90F today and very humid.
While purchasing Esbilac at various petstores I find myself coming across more and more people who have raised raccoons. Seems everybody and his uncle has found a baby 'coon or two and raised them. All proffer advice. Try him on bread soaked in milk , try Tender Vittles moist catfood, and so forth. All this is interesting when you consider that keeping a wild animal as a pat is illegal in Franklin County.
As I watch Higgins romping on my bad, I can't help noticing what a mixture of characteristics a 'coon has. The face of a fox, the mask ofa ferret, the back feet ofa human baby, the sitting posture of a bear , the,purr of a cat, the trill of a chipmunk , the growl of a dog, and the intelligence of a monkey.
Tonight Higgie broke with his tradition of keeping the front bedroom off limits. lie walked along the hallway, stopped at the threshhold of the room , sniffed at the boundary, then suddenly scampered into the room. He climbed up the bed, the bench, the blanket chest, and the bedside table. A frenzy of exploration. I guess he felt daring tonight.
Earlier, we went walking in the woods opposite the house, much farther than we had gone before. Much ofAhe way I carried him , as the weeds and undergrowth were so tall and thick it was heavy golng for him. The woodlot has numerous briar patches. He went through the middle of every one. He climbed a couple of trees, both oaks, as far as the leash would go. he also spent a good while sniffing around the base of a squirrel tree, and playing with nutshells left over from the occupants' meals. He was eager and happy to take this ramble in the woods. He only showed hesitation when when the foliage was too thick for him to see where he and I were going. $ome of the time, when the path was clear ahead, he was leading me for a walk.
Thursday 7 June.
Higgie took 3 oz. early a.m. while it was cool outside, aftar spending most of the evening outside In his cage, then 6 oz. at midnight. tie refused early p.m. feedings. He had diarhea in the corner of the bedroom rug today.
For several days now I've offered him tasty bowls of formula mixed with eggyolk , baby cereal mixedwith cherries, finely chopped vegetables, catchow, and dogchow. Today I read the book Wild Otpban Babies by William J. Weber DVM. , who suggests weaning racns on canned dogfood. Irs worth a try. Dr. Weber notes about bottle feeding: "$ome animals just don't
like to give it up. They seem not only to enjoy the formula as food, but also the companionship and attention they receive at feeding time. Even some adult animals enjoy a bottle of formula."
Today the inevitable happened. While Higgie and I were taking our evening walk, he jerked the leash out of my hand &w1 rushed up the wild cherry tree beside the chimney. Wild raccoons use this tree as a point of descent from the roof to the garden. In a twinkling he was fifty feet up. I watched with my heart in my mouth as the leash swung around, terrified that it would twist around a branch and snag him , possibly hanging him by the collar. Fortunately no such disaster occurred. After about 45 minutes he came down, headfirst, without incident I consider this a gesture of independence on his part, his wey of saying that he knows the terrain well enough to explore it on his own. And so he shall. On future walks I shall let him off the leash to climb a few trees at his leisure. He still needs the leash to keep him near me when we are near the road or the alley, where the cars are.
Friday 8 June.
Higgins took a 5 oz. plain Esbilac feeding at midday, and 5 oz. at midnight. He was In the house all last night and all this morning The air-conditioning kept the atmosphere inside at ?8F compared to 90F outside. He had diarrhea in the swne corner of the rug again this aftarnoon. Another shampooing! I made an appointment with veterinarian Don XXXXX for Monday.
While in the yard he climbed three spruces and one pine. He found some dried out raccoon scat and sniffed it a lot Racns seem to be either feverishly active or zonked out asleep. When Higgins is in a playful or exploratory mood it is hard to hold him. He still sucks furiously on his bottle and gives himself hiccups every time. Burping him helps a bit He's still very playful in the house, beingvery fondofwater sources, such as the bathtub, washbasin, andkitchen sink. Today he jumped into the toilet and took a quick bath.
Saturday 9 June.
Higgins stayed out all night in his cage, and drank only 2 oz. Esbilac at midday, and S oz. at midnight. Despite his low appetite, he's active and seems to have lots of energy. I gave him some si-letti noodles with a pinch of Parmesan cheese this p.m.. He ate eagerly. I had remembered his interest in a macaroni and cheese meal earlier1 and the night he paddled in my 5 tti dinner and spread sauce all over my slacks. Also, Tom XXXXX had mentioned to me one time that the racoon he raised liked noodles. Maybe Higgins Is a secret Italian. I'll have to try him on Chianti. No discernible bowel movements today. I cleaned both littarboxes yesterday, one in the bedroom and one In the cage. They are only damp from urine.
Walked about in the sun this p.m. for a photo session. Not the most comfortable on I've ever been in , the temperature was 9 1 F. Nonetheless, Higgie had a good time climbing three spruces, onecharry,andonebeachtree, right to the tops. He had a hard time with the beech. Heclimba farup the trunk first, then dBscends to the lower, thicker branches and ventures as far out as he can go towards the and of the branch. He crossed the street In front of the house eagerly and deve into the woodlot thicket. He climbed a young beach tree and dropped twigs on my head while I sat on an ol
He seems to be fond of the Colorado Blue spruce in the front yard. He bites the spots where sap and resin seep out of the branches.
Watch this space intently for further developments
More meanderings ...