Dandy & the extended family.

Well it has been far too long since updating you on my extended family sharing the woods with me!

Lets begin with one of my favorite success stories...Dandy! If not for Dr. Bruce and Dr. McGrath, she would not be out there today bringing her adorable new family in for a visit! THIS is why we do what we do!

Then we have the bachelors. All the older males....you know those loners who don't socialize and kill kits whenever they get the chance. HA! These guys have been hanging out for a couple years together, and they made sure Dandy and her kits were long gone before chancing a meal!

Then we have Dandy, Quinny and Scrappy all eating peacefully together. All from different releases....none knew each other prior, Dandy a new protective mom, Quinny a seasoned adult male now and Scrappy the new kid on the block.

Having recently had conversations on the Raccoon Network regarding the so called "experts" who decided what the social lives of raccoons were like....I'm always curious as to how the hell they came up with their info. Because to be honest with you, it's all a load of crap! After years of observing them out there...in person and on video....it's obvious one of them probably saw one lone raccoon one evening and spun the tale of the elusive procyon lotor, with something less than an intelligent imagination! LOL

For all you Dandy fans out there!

Checking in on the gang out back all looks great! Lots of big, fat, healthy coonies hanging out.....and my little pug-nosed friend Dandy lookin' better than ever! Every time I see her now and think about the ordeal of her surgery I remember why I do this and I get all warm and fuzzy inside! :)

Though it is hard to tell who is who out there with this camera, there are a few (like Dandy) that have distinguishing features or faces that make them easy to pick out. Quinny and Popeye would be a couple of them and they were also out and about and looking as HUGE as ever!

An update on my extended family!

My coyote pair has grown! Near the end of the summer looks like mom and dad brought the kids out to show them the best places to visit.Looks like the kids learn fast! This little guy decided to beat the crowd and came back on his own early the very next night. Isn't he the cutest, most handsome thing! Absolutely gorgeous!
I'm happy to report everyone is behaving and getting along well....at least while visiting mom's house! LOL
Here we have one of the little stinkers, a coonie and one of the red fox's. How do I know there's a fox there you wonder??

Surprise! LOL

The coonies and the stinkers pretty much have no problem with each other and often visit together. Here is Quinny politely enjoying a meal with a stinky guest!

Even more incredible........

Yup....no one screws with the skunks....at least not at mom's house! LOL How amazing is that? We could learn a LOT from our wild friends!!

And a special thanks to Kristen and all the wonderful people who send over goodies for the gang. As you can see the occasional sweet treat is greatly appreciated by the coonies who are not about to share it with anyone!

I'm outta here and I'm takin' the pie with me! Ha ha...what piggies!

A grey fox visits.

OK....so what started as a temporary feeding station up near my front yard for the skunks after their release may have to become a little more permanent. I'm just getting more sitings of some of the gang that's not frequenting the main feeding station....and then some!!!

Button is a regular up here....

...and one night her brother Outlaw was with her! In one picture there was a third set of glowing eyes coming out of the woods while the 2 of them were eating so although I have no hard evidence, I am assuming brother Charger is still with them and I can't tell you how thrilled I am to see them doing so well! Big and beefy they are, packing on the winter fat!

It turns out Quininy is also a regular up here now too! He's sometimes with someone else also, but I never get a good shot so no idea who it is, but again-totally thrilled to see Quinny boy doing so well!

And the biggest surprise of all.....I've got a grey fox hanging around and finally got it on video! I had a chance encounter with it one night....thought there was a cat over there, shone the flashlight over there and to my surprise it started walking closer to me. Turns out it was getting a good whiff of some leftover pineapple cake I was bringing out to the coonies and wanted to investigate. Came within about 20 feet...enough for me to get a perfect look at it, then got a whiff of me over the treat and left. (I might add that the coonies were hanging out in the same area with the fox without any clashes.) As a result of that encounter I started putting the coon cam up by this "temporary" feeder to see what I could and it's been nothing but wonderful surprises since!

So my temporary skunk feeding station has shown not one single skunk! LOL But lots of other things...including a possie. I finally know I have possies because I have been doubtful....since I moved here in 2006 I have not seen a single possie,nor track or sign of such either! Nothing! I finally got a nice big fat healthy one on the coon cam! Time to get another coon cam to put back down by the main feeder to keep an eye on the coons down there, because I definitely want to keep one up here too!

The first wild kits sighting.

Another day checking the feeders, another pleasant surprise! Spotted 2 kits hanging out in the tree by the main feeding station.

Mom wasn't far though! In the box right below them keeping an eye on things. I think it's Brownie but I'm not sure. She's one of Ringer and Belles sisters and didn't have an issue with Belle who was eating on the platform right below her.

Mom keeps checking in on the kits.

While Tosser and Quinny also make an appearance. Everyone got along fine...the boys didn't bother mom and the kits and mom just kept her eye on things but pretty much knew the boys were no threat. Tosser was too busy following me around anyway!

And Quinny seemed to have his hands full trying to get down this huge tree to bother with anyone!

Mohican was also out there. He wouldn't come down to say hi to mom, but he was getting along fine up there and climbing well despite the cut on his hand.

Irish raccoons?

These were taken on St. Patty's day, so maybe this is Rollo's version of a jig???

Toto lounges in the 65 degree weather!!

Let's see how good your teeth look Quinny!

Mo loving his visits with mom......

How beautiful is he!!! He's got distinctive eyebrows...

Spring is definitely near....their coats are getting all crappy again....the moulting has begun with bare spots and fur clumps coming out.

Red still loves mom & Diner at JoAnn's

Managed to stay awake long enough to actually head out back and visit. Daisy and Foxy were hanging out together. Ringer came in with her 4, and Red was THRILLED to see mom again!

Walked over to me and took some treats from my hand, then worked her way into my lap, then just hopped into my arms. So I spent some time walking around down there with Red lounging in my arms enjoying scratches all over! She was happy as a pig in you-know-what! She looks beautiful!! Nice full healthy coat and packing on the body weight already for the fall. Absolutely gorgeous! Big difference from her scrawny, ratty looking self a few months ago when she was in for her foot injury!

Myself, Laurie and Mary had a great dinner at JoAnn's the other night!! It was awesome JoAnn! Thanks for all the goodies. Got a chance to check up on Quinny too while I was there. He's doing great and so thrilled to have Rollo to play with! Also a chance to check up on the kids everyone else is taking care of!

This is one of Mary's little charges.


Also one of Mary's...this guy is about the same age as the group of opossum's we got a while ago.....

....and these are those very opossums grown much bigger now. They are back at Mary's now and will be reunited with their siblings soon! Here are the messy buggers just after an evening romp through their dinner!

This is JoAnn's Luna. She's had her since she was a pinky and she's doing great!

Finally my little Quinny and Rollo! They are living the good life at JoAnn's right now. Quinny has the lighter face.

Quinny & Rollo

JoAnn has Quinny right now for a while. Her single boy Rollo needed a friend close to his size as did Quinny. I miss him terribly....but look how much fun he is having!! He and Rollo hit it off great and they are both happier for the companionship! Quinny is the smaller of the two, but that doesn't seem to phase him at all.





A very BIG thank you goes out to Zoo Creatures in NH.....they donated tons of frozen mice to us for feeding our various menagerie and it is greatly appreciated! It will help get them used to the types of things they will find to eat out in the wild.

Playtime with Quinny.

Quinny is doing great! He's up to 826 grams and had his first walk outside yesterday. He wasn't thrilled, but he'll get used to it. He's out of quarantine also so I brought him in to see the little kids, Tosser and Mo. Mo couldn't be bothered and Toto peed himself! ha ha He's so brave!

Here he is exploring while I set up a bigger cage for him.