Raccoon Biology and FAQ

The North American Raccoon is a common sight throughout Massachusetts, as well as the entire northeast. They are the perfect example of urban wildlife, as they have adapted flawlessly to live in and among humans. There are multiple sources out there that say you will find higher population densities of raccoon in urban areas than in forested areas. The abundance of shelter (buildings and structures), food (human trash, litter, fruit bearing trees and shrubs, insect loaded lawns), and water make it easy for raccoons to be successful in and among us. Raccoons are omnivores, meaning their diet consists of both meat and vegetation. The ratio of how much of each supports their main diet varies based on some different factors including geographic location and food availability.

Raccoons are nocturnal by nature, but seeing them out in the day is not uncommon and does not necessarily mean they are diseased. Different pressures throughout the year will force raccoons out during the day. They weigh on average 15-25 pounds and will bulk up and appear larger in the fall and early winter as they bulk up for the colder weather. They do not hibernate, and thus are still active all winter. During periods of extreme weather, they will enter states of torpor, which is a slowed state but not a complete hibernation. They can go without eating or moving for a few weeks at a time if necessary, although they prefer to still be active and continue feeding all winter.

Raccoons here in the northeast typically mate between January and February, with gestation periods of 62-65 days, and thus typically giving birth in March and April. I say typically because there are always outliers to this cycle, and we’ve seen young much earlier and much later than the typical times. After mating, male raccoons take no part in raising the young and the female will spend the next 10 months raising the kits. The kits will typically disperse from the adult female in fall, but often will come back and spend the winter with or near their mother.

Adult male raccoons are typically solitary and after mating will go off on their own again. But if a male raccoon comes across a female that has already had kits, they will often times kill those young and mate with that female. A male raccoon’s goal is to pass along their genes to create offspring of their own, and kits that don’t belong to them don’t do any good for them. It is a brutal cycle, but that’s nature.

Raccoons do extremely well in suburban environments, and during the cold winter months and breeding season we get loaded up with calls for raccoons in attics, chimneys and fireplaces, and foundation level locations such as under decks and crawl spaces. One of the most characteristic signs of raccoons is the noises they make. When you have multiple, they will often chatter as a way of communicating and you may hear this often. Females climb down chimneys and give birth above fireplace dampers very commonly, and the young become extremely vocal after 3-4 weeks. The use of a product called “eviction paste/liquid” is a useful tool that we use to evict females with young from these types of places every spring. A female who is pregnant or raising young wants to protect them at all costs, and this eviction paste uses the male pheromone smells to trick the female into thinking a male is nearby. As I mentioned before, a male raccoon that comes across a female with kits will often kill them and mate with her. So the eviction paste encourages her to take the kits somewhere else, and we see success with this strategy roughly 80% of the time during the spring months. Knowing whether or not you’re dealing with a female raising kits, or young first year siblings, or a solitary adult male are all questions that need to be answered when putting the plan together for the eviction process, as well as planning out the work to seal up the entry points after they are out. This is why it is still highly encouraged to call a professional such as ourselves to eliminate a raccoon problem you may have on your property, and not cause further damage.