I could have taken in twenty baby raccoons today, and that doesn’t include yesterday and the day before that, etc., etc. In one sad situation, mom fell out of the tree and died, leaving five little ones peeking out of the hole where they lived.
The ones I have are so cute and doing very well. I start them on formula when I get them. They quickly move to solid food. One of my current baby raccoons at first didn’t want to eat. Through the years I have learned several tricks to encourage feeding such as giving them blueberry yogurt. They absolutely love it! I noticed this particular one appeared to be teething so I spread some blueberry yogurt on a pretzel. Not only did the blueberry yogurt help, but the crunchiness of the pretzel gave his teeth relief.
I have also found that two together will stimulate each other’s eating. They tend to be more content with at least one other one, too.
Right now I have sixty-three animals. I released twenty baby squirrels recently, and several starlings took flight. I am averaging thirty to forty phone calls per day. People are finding lots of baby animals needing help. I advise many who call about raccoons that they are able to be on their own sooner than you think. Take them to a stream, and they are usually okay.
Thanks for caring about the critters,
Patti