What to feed a family of racoons

[m1chae1]

Hi there my neighbor has recently moved out and whilst rooting around in his shed I found a family of possums or racoons, I've got no idea what to feed them I've tried worms, maggots and babyfood but they're not interested what should I feed them? There are two adults and 6 babies, on a side note do they carry rabies as my wife was mauled pretty badly when one ran up her leg to escape from me. Thanks.
mike.

[pastafreak]

I take it you are not in the UK...we don't have them here.
Apparently they eat almost anything - http://animals.nation...mals/mammals/raccoon/

They may be fearful and stressed by your attention...maybe just leave them to it.

[RATTER15]

An English Q&A site is possibly not the best place to get advice on these creatures but you never know.

[sherrardk]

I am curious as to why you were rooting around in his shed.

[wildwood]

are you in the USA?

http://www.ehow.com/w...65_feed-raccoons.html

http://www.possum.us/...n-possum-feeding.html

The two are quite easy to tell apart. The racoon has a comical friendly face and the possum a ratty-like face. Do not bail either up as they can inflict serious damage when frightened. Just leave the food out and they will eat when ready.

[Buenchico]

Googling 'racoons care' will lead you to lots of information but I'll offer this site to get you started:
http://sybilsden.com/caresheet/raccoons.htm

If that's the wrong species, see here:
http://www.opossum.org/

Chris

[pastafreak]

By the way... Raccoons *can* carry Rabies-and are destroyed if they do.

[m1chae1]

Hi there pastafreak and ratter15 no I'm in the uk, the person in question done a lot of traveling and was an animal lover as he always used to bring back animals from his travels, one of his rooms had about 30 tanks to keep lizards and snakes and even incubate birds eggs.
Sherradk to see whether there were any tools I could have, I would've asked him but he left in a hurry for some reason
Thanks trimeserus, you say the adults will provide food for the babies but how if they're not eating themselves? They're skin and bone and must have starved for a while as the neighbors been gone a week.
Im not sure wildwood and buenchico as it's pretty dark in the shed, Ill take a picture tomorrow and upload it for you to see.

[m1chae1]

Pastafreak should I get the wife to the hospital or will she be okay as she had a tetanus shot last year?

[sherrardk]

I don't think tetanus covers rabies.

[m1chae1]

I'm not sure either sherradk, Ill get her to the doctors first thing just to be on the safe side

[sherrardk]

You might like to have a look at this - http://www.nhs.uk/Con...ges/Introduction.aspx

[m1chae1]

Thanks it says it's spread mainly by bats and dogs and the wife hasn't had any of the symptoms but will see gp just in case as rabies sounds quite serious and only one person has ever survived the virus, I had better get to sleep so I can be up at the crack of dawn as I don't want to take any chances with this, thanks for the link and good evening to you and all other helpers.

[tinkerbell23]

Am i being silly here...would a zoo or an animal sanctuary/ vet be interested in these wee creatures if we dont have them in the uk usually and they arent doing too well!?? I be trying to feed them
Too cuties xx

[tinkerbell23]

Awww just looked at links...id LOVE a racoon!

[m1chae1]

They don't appear to be a native of this country tinkerbell so rather then tell the vet or animal sanctuary I'd bet there are folks here that would pay an absolute fortune for a pet racoon, does anyone know whether they are legal as pets here and how much is the usual going price? Where would one buy and sell racoons, gumtree has a pet section but I can't remember seeing anything like this there, ebay?

[tinkerbell23]

Dont think ebay. Gumtree does.... Not sure how legal it is though to sell a racoon!...its mabye best they get treatment if theyre skin and bones like you say .. For their and your safety x

[starone]

This is a joke isn't it?

[m1chae1]

Tinkerbell I think they just need a good feed, relaxing surroundings and some warmth, I have an old dog basket and will try to bring them upstairs and put them in a spare room. Aha, maybe they'd eat dogfood or catfood? I'll try that tomorrow.

[pastafreak]

They are not native,but can be kept as pets. There have been sightings of them in recent years.
Yours may be a former pet

http://www.telegraph....ady-to-go-native.html