The last remaining baby (Matilda) took immediately to the bottle, and filled with hope, we began researching Raccoons.

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As well as learning what to feed  her, we watched countless videos. Some were cute and funny, some were informative and some that almost frightened us into deciding it was not a good idea. 

One I will always remember was titled “I Hate You” We told ourselves we were up for the challenge.

A challenge it was indeed. We quickly discovered the undeniable truth that there is no such thing as Raccoon Proof. 

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We had one room that was a staging area for all of our boxed possessions. 

It did not matter how much tape we used, how many gaps we thought we had filled and blocked off - the sound of us calling out “where’s the baby” was common.

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We tried from a young age to modify Matilda’s sleep pattern to match ours, and we did have a certain amount of success however that nocturnal instinct is strong enough so that we have learned it is much easier to modify OUR lives to better suit theirs.

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We have found that Raccoons are not inherently destructive by nature, but rather curious enough to want to touch and manipulate everything within reach. The ONLY thing Matilda ever intentionally destroyed was her first IPOD - which was my fault as I had left it within reach! More on that later.

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We socialized her, and years later learned the hard way that we never should have done so. (more on that later too) 

While we had friends and family that she did like, there were some who would bring out the Tasmanian Devil in her at the mere sound of their voices. 

As it turned out….she was a pretty good judge of character.

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She grew up with Dogs and Cats - her best friend was Kim’s American Bull Dog *Rush* who was the most noble of beasts. 

Matilda is the one that discovered his Mouth Cancer. She would paw at him and stick her head in there which gave us cause to look and sure enough…….

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She would watch us in the bathroom, and without prodding she began using the toilet as it was meant to be used. We were thankful that she did not learn to flush. 

Because she had learned to use the commode so well, one of the first things we outfitted her Coon Room with was a Porta-Potty which was the only place she would go.

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She hated the sound of running water and did not care much for cars. She did however love riding on the motorcycle with us. She would ride inside my vest and fall asleep until we got wherever we were going.

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We would  put on a pair of my heavy Winter riding gloves and “Play Play” with her. She knew that when we had gloves on she could bite and scratch and be as rough as she wanted. The moment we took the gloves off - she would calm down. She just knew.

 

She understood what was being said - and proved so many times how super intelligent they are. Telling her NO was still a long shot depending on what the undesirable activity was, but I have a video of me telling her,  “cover yourself up - I don’t want to see that Coon face” while sitting on the couch with her - and she brought the blanket up over her head as told.

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She loved helping herself to dog treats, and would protect her Denta-Sticks with the most vicious look on her face that would prevent me from even thinking about taking it from her.

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