The raccoon who's been staring in my window almost every night was back again

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

and it turns out she's a mom. Tonight she brought her two babies (Pups? Kits?) with her, and they are just impossibly cute. I'd left some peanuts out for the chipmunks earlier and a few peanuts were left - and the babies picked them up with their tiny little hands and ate them. Squeee!

[sprinkleeninow]

1. Sez awws! eom

[bobbieinok]

2. German word for racoon is so great--Waschtier ie literally wash animal, or animal that washes!

For skunk---Stinktier, ie animal that stinks

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. The Norwegians have a similar word:

Vaskebjørn, or "washing bear." Raccoons have invaded Germany and are something of a nuisance there (they aren't native), but AFAIK they haven't become common elsewhere in Europe.

[bobbieinok]

26. Cool word. Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, English, German---all sister languages

Interesting info about racoons

Also Boer sp? spoken by Dutch settlers in South Africa

And I just have to share another set of cool German words

* Eich English oak

* Eichhorn English acorn

* Eichhoernchen English squirrel

I find this progression from Eich hysterical!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. And similarly:

Norwegian: Oak = eik; Acorn = eikenøtt; Squirrel = ekorn

[drray23]

30. in french it is raton-laveur

i.e the rat who washes themselves.

[3catwoman3]

35. Oh, I love this!

Thanks for this delightful tidbit.

[lastlib]

20. Rule #1:

Skunks ALWAYS have the right-of-way!

[MissHoneychurch]

31. Its actually Waschbr

aka a "wash bear"

[Bayard]

4. Yeah, our's keep coming back too

They eat the catfood, and terrorize the barn/porch cats. We put all catfood away at dusk, and bungee the lids down tight on all the feed cans. Last night, he chewed through the bungee. My husband looked out the bathroom window earlier and came eyeball to eyeball with him.

We're trying to get them all trapped again. Mr. Bayard hauls them to the garbage dump and lets them go.

[3catwoman3]

5. That must be so captivating to watch.

I’m jealous.

Of late, I feel like a raccoon - I wash everything.

[Cracklin Charlie]

6. Watch out.

Them rascals can be mean. And they have sharp teeth. I think someone on DU got bitten by one on their back porch one night. It was a bad scene.

I wouldn’t encourage them hanging out next to my house, and I have all kinds of animals around, because I live near some woods, and Missouri thicket. All the wild things. Last week I found a box turtle in my fairy garden that was 8 inches in diameter. Biggest one I’ve ever seen.

Please be careful.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. I'm leaving them alone but they aren't a problem.

They can't get into the metal tins where I keep the birdseed and peanuts, and I don't go out on the porch when they're there or bother them at all. I'm in a densely-populated residential area in a large city, but we also have wild turkeys, opossums and even coyotes, and a Cooper's hawk grabbed a cardinal off my bird feeder six feet from my window. That was kind of disturbing, but watching the critters sure can be interesting.

[orleans]

17. you sound like you live in the western burbs of chicago

coyotes - check
opossums - check
wild turkeys - check
cooper's hawk - check & check
raccoons - check
skunks - check
red tail foxes - check
geese - check

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. No, south-central Minneapolis, not far from downtown.

But there are so many lakes and parks that all kinds of critters are everywhere. A neighbor saw a deer the other day 2 blocks from here. Geese are common; I haven't seen (or smelled) skunks but they are probably around. I heard a screech owl a couple of yards down from me the other night and I've seen eagles flying over my neighborhood.

[orleans]

27. yes. there are deer around here too.

ah nature, right?

oh, so about raccoons -- one took a brick, laid on the roof and banged and banged onto the house (aluminum siding and wood) until it knocked a fucking hole in side of the house! middle of the night. i thought someone was breaking into my neighbor's garage and called the police. they said they saw the biggest raccoon they'd ever seen running across the roof. we found the hole to the attic the next day. (it was winter so i guess it wanted a warm place to live)

years later another raccoon set up shop on a back gutter. i was out in the yard, looked up and saw half a loaf of french bread! lying in the gutter. (not my bread btw)

they're cute but they can be a pain in the ass.

[Fresh_Start]

33. we have them in California too

and mountain lions and deer and millions of lizards
but best of all hummingbirds almost year round

[tblue37]

36. That was Archae, I believe. nt

[smirkymonkey]

7. Awww! They are very cute! Especially the babies.

Were you able to get any pics? It would be great to see them if you could. I just love furry little woodland creatures.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. I'll try to take a picture if they come back and it's not too dark.

[MLAA]

8. Dear Velveteen Ocelot

How adorable! Would love to see the babies with their little hands and long fingers 🙂

[MontanaMama]

11. I know they're cute...

Raccoons are HELL on cats and chickens...I’m sure you know that already. They’ll eviscerate a cat in a heartbeat. If you have a kitty or chickens, keep the, safe.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. My cat is an indoor cat and I don't have chickens.

We're all good.

[MontanaMama]

14. Yay.

Enjoy.

[lastlib]

21. I had to rescue my cat from a raccoon one night--it was ugly, and

a little scary! Fortunately kitty wasn't badly hurt, except for her pride, and she stayed VERY close to me that night! Kitty would have charged Hell with a cup of ice water, but she was pretty overmatched that night--it was a big coon, and kitty didn't have any front claws.

[Fresh_Start]

34. my outdoor cat has a truce with raccoons and skunks

my indoor cats get riled up

[fleur-de-lisa]

39. Seems to be a truce between my feral colony

of six cats, several possums, and a couple raccoons.

I keep hoping the cats will chase the others away but no such luck.

[MoonlightHillFarm]

12. Raccoon visitors

I had a mama raccoon bring her two babies into my house through the cat door. They ate all the cat food in the dishes in the kitchen. I was home. Boy, we’re we surprised to see each other when I walked into the kitchen!!

[smirkymonkey]

19. Welcome to DU, MoonlightHill!

Cute story. But you must have been kind of shocked to see them inside your house!

[lastlib]

22. I had a raccoon right at my deck door a couple nights ago!

Kinda surprising that it was so bold as to look in thru the glass!

[orleans]

29. omg! i would have freaked!

did they just turn around and exit through the cat door?

[LunaSea]

15. Well....

[fleur-de-lisa]

38. LOL!

[littlemissmartypants]

16. How sweet! I wish you had a critter cam. I'd love to watch them. ❤ nt

[perfessor]

23. "Pups" is the word.

Haven't seen any this year, but in past years there have been some. Once I was walking down the driveway in the dark, carrying 50 lbs of astronomy gear, and startled a family. They all scattered into various trees, chittering the whole time, must have been 4 or 5 of them plus mom. It was a bit freaky.

[certainot]

24. dang racoons still get onto the critter-proof deck and last year i heard one

up there and went out from the basement to scare it off and i looked up and it was a bear looking down at me......

[BigmanPigman]

25. They have nimble little hands, almost like monkeys.

They are damn smart too. If I could train one to tune up my car engine I'd be thrilled. I bet they could break into Fort Knox, given the opportunity.

[sl8]

32. Consider leaving out a bowl of water.

Watching raccoon kits playing with a bowl of water us one of the more entertaining things I've ever seen.

[fleur-de-lisa]

37. Yep, it's all squee and cute until they find a way

into your attic and take up permanent residence.

Good luck getting them to leave. They’re too smart for mere humans.