A total of 4 masked bandits
showed up on one of our porches the other night.
Yup, coons!
A mama raccoon with 3 of her baby kits.
Skeeter's supper leftovers made a snack for them.
Mama got first dibs.
Each little coon kit took a turn.
Of course my camera battery was low on juice, dog-gone it! Plus, these coon critters were moving fast. The cubs were running around like crazy and exploring everything on the porch. So, I apologize for the very poor quality of these photos.
For those not in the know, Skeeter is our cat. She's a former feral cat who decided to semi adopt us about 9 years ago. I say semi because she's still fairly feral. Skeeter lives outdoors because she is terrified of coming in the house. She's fed her meals atop one of two "feeding stations" that fit on porch bannisters. For those of you shocked that she lives outside, please know that she has full access to a barn and our greenhouse. AND she has two fully insulated custom built "cat houses" - one on our back porch and one on our covered deck.
I also need to say that I know full well that I should never feed critters out of doors like this because it does attract wildlife. However, we live in the country and I've been feeding feral cats for many years. Because the feeding stations are so close to the house, we've not had wildlife bother them much previously.
Where were the dogs during this nighttime raid? At my feet wondering what the heck I was so excited about. Because there are no windows that look out on the scene and the door is half glass, they didn't see a thing!
They didn't get to see all the excitement?!! Well, I bet they'll be sniffing around that porch for quite awhile! BOL! Great mischief!
ReplyDeleteMa says "Holy Cr*p"! That is a LOT of masked bandits! They look cute but can be real nasty. One got in dad's work office last weekend, conveniently found in the lunch room...it took four people to scoot him outta there!
ReplyDeleteNow that is some serious mischief!
ReplyDeleteOh geez they had no idea what was going on outside. I'm sure they were quite confused the next time they went out and sniffed their bows :)
ReplyDeleteThe babies are so cute!
ReplyDeleteWe get night time visitors too...mostly into the avocado grove...but we have a fig tree too, so that makes for tasty treats.
ReplyDeleteHow cute! Mom loves racoons, but this time of year we see so many of them dead on the road, very sad.
ReplyDeleteYou took great pictures of this little family. I wonder if they'll be back tonight for seconds.
ReplyDeleteWe get some in our parking lot but I worry about Mr. N getting into a fight with them.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, they are pretty darn cute. Even keeping the cat food inside would be no guarantee... My sis had one come in the house through the kitty door!! Then when she locked it up, he'd come back and bang on the sliding glass door!
ReplyDeleteHow very cool to see that! I love raccoon's. Did you know I had four in my house as babies like 12 years ago. Norman loved them. They were little rascals.
ReplyDeleteHi Y'all!
ReplyDeleteBOL! Guess Skeeter's going to have to eat up or the Peep is going to take her food at dusk. Can't risk Skeeter gettin' rabies. We've had trouble with rabid foxes too. They start hangin' around the barn. Coons are the worst though. They get into everything. At my Dad's they came down the chimney and set up housekeeping in the carriage house. He had them removed and the chimney sealed, so they made a hole through the door. He had a metal door installed and that finally stymied them.
Y'all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
We ended up taking up the food at night and our outsiders got used to the new feeding schedule.
ReplyDeleteI think it's cool you feed a semi-feral cat and provide shelter for her as well. It sure beats the alternative!! My wildlife pictures are always poor, mostly because I'm usually so surprised that I'm not fast enough with the camera. :-)
ReplyDeletewe had one in our yard I was terrified it was rabbit because we are in the city and it was day light
ReplyDeleteretro rover
Oh goodness! My Pierson would be going crazy if those guys were on our porch. :)
ReplyDeleteI love raccoons, but they are certainly pesky!
ReplyDeleteThey're so cute!! It's tough to get good photos of wildlife, so I think you did very well!
ReplyDelete