From Sanctuary to Nursery

What I am blogging about here may not thrill that many people but hey, it's our property, and part of the reason for my animal blog and much of my social media posts is to share about living with wildlife, that we can coexist.

So, about 6 years ago the neighbour a couple doors over gave me his old doghouse.  He was putting it out to the sidewalk, asked me for help to move it, and I asked him to help me move it to our backyard.  It's not a massive house like a few that I went and looked at prior so this was perfect.  We don't have a dog so why the heck would we want a doghouse?  It was my intention to be a shelter, a place for a wild one to hide if need be.  We have opossums in the neighbourhood and with how harsh our weather can be in the winter, especially February, I've always wanted to offer them something.  I even went as far to pack it full of straw for warmth.

The house has seen a lot of action over the years.  Random nights I have put my trail cam out there pointed at the house to see what is going on.  Raccoons, skunks and a few opossums have used it for a day or two over the years.  No one has ever been long staying, calling it a "home" and that's okay; it's there for when an animal needs it.

Well this spring the doghouse has come in handy to an animal who really needs it.  A female raccoon has had her young inside.  I discovered this about two weeks ago when I was way down in the back of the yard after work one night.  I heard funny chattering coming from the box.  Check out this short video I took and you can hear them.

In this stream of photos you can see that they are secluded and out of sight.

A view from our back deck.

Almost near the shed.

Now we are at the side.  Squirrels currently are using that house in the back.

Little Al the screech owl used it for a day too!  Did you catch my blog the other day, he came back!

Now we are behind the shed.  There's the house (pardon the mess).  The yards that back onto ours all have garages and sheds so those neighbours cannot see what is going on back there either.  I only mention this because I don't know what any of them think about raccoons.  Raccoons used to live in that garage roof further back in the photo; they were in there for two years!  I told the home owner but he never did anything.  It's only us and the house right next to us, if they ever decide to go that far down into their yard, that could see them.  I use that broken piece of concrete stump for my trail cam.  Nothing can knock that over so the cam stays positioned.

Mother raccoons are very good mothers.  I've seen some great videos of them helping their young in difficult situations.  No one gets left behind.  I just did a quick YouTube search and cannot find the ones that I remember but here is a short one.

So with our mother here at home, I can tell by my camera footage that she's going to be a great mother too.  She doesn't go far from the doghouse or for very long either.  Late March we had a last blast of winter with a bit of snow and some bone chilling real feel temps of near -20 C.  

Mom spent over two full days in the doghouse, keeping her babies warm and fed.  I assume she went into a deep sleep, almost like a hibernation.  I cannot imagine laying in bed for over 48 hours and not getting up; that's how I see it.  Unlike some other animal species, the male/dad raccoon is basically a dead beat dad.  The old "wam, bam, thank you mam" and he's gone.  He doesn't hunt for food and bring it back to mom and the kids.

This guy here looks like a deadbeat dad, doesn't he?  I envision a beer or cigarette in his hand.  LOL!

Some cam images...

Coming home for the night.  She did not emerge again throughout the rest of the night.

A skunk wonders if there is room for him in there?

I won't post a lot of cam pics here but just enough so you get the idea of what's happening.  Here she is going into the box just before midnight.

She comes back out a couple hours later.

Probably went for a pee, to have a stretch and groom herself.

Then back to her young.

Out for a pee break I assume.

Ten minutes later back inside.

There hasn't been any other creatures coming through this stretch in the last week.  No skunks, no opossums and no other raccoons.  Just mom.

Occasionally I go down behind the shed to have a look and a listen.  I cannot wait to see a young one peeking out from that opening.  Right now mom has them tucked away in the furthest back corner of the house away from the opening.  I cannot see them but can hear their cries and grunts from that spot.

I hope for a photo opportunity or two before they vacate the house and our backyard as they get bigger and spread out.

The same mother raccoon as above taking a break in our yard.  Watching four kids is a lot of work.

Young raccoons are very cute and curious.  It was fun watching them play with our garden hose this one morning.  Even when we don't see them, some mornings there are signs that they were here with things moved about in the yard.

We often call our backyard "the sanctuary" but occasionally it turns into "the nursery" as wildlife have their babies here.  Our list isn't long but we've had a few including one house sparrow nest, three black-capped chickadee nests and twice squirrels have been born in one of the boxes.  

If you are in the mood for more reading, here is my blog about the time I was home when the chickadees fledged from the nest box.  It was an amazing thing to see and something I will never forget.

Come back for an update in a few weeks.  I will have one.  I promise!