Washington Raccoon facts.

Animal Evictor is the best choice in Raccoon Control in Washington State. Below is some interesting facts about raccoons, if you have a raccoon question that is not answered on this page please feel free to contact us anytime and Advice over the phone is always free.

The raccoon (Procyon lotor) is a native Washington mammal, measuring about 3 feet long, including its 12-inch tail. Because their back legs are longer than the front legs, raccoons have a hunched over appearance when they walk or run. Each of their front feet has five dexterous toes that allow raccoons to grasp and manipulate food and other items. Raccoons prefer forest areas near a stream or water source, however they have adapted to various environments throughout Washington. Raccoon populations can get very large in urban areas,  Due to Washington hunting and trapping restrictions, not many predators, and human supplied food. Adult raccoons weigh 15 to 40 pounds, their weight being a result of genetics, age, available food, and habitat location. Males have weighed in at over 60 pounds. A raccoon in the wild will likely weigh less than the urbanized raccoon that has learned to live on handouts, pet food, and garbage. As long as raccoons are kept out of our homes, not cornered, and not treated as pets, they are not dangerous.

Raccoon Food and Feeding Habitats

• Raccoons will eat almost anything, but are particularly fond of creatures found in water—clams, crayfish, frogs, fish, and snails.
• Raccoons also eat insects, slugs, dead animals, birds and bird eggs, as well as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Around humans, raccoons often eat garbage and pet food.
• Although not great hunters, raccoons can catch young gophers, squirrels, mice, and rats.
• Except during the breeding season and for females with young, raccoons are solitary. Individuals will eat together if a large amount of food is available in an area.

Raccoon Den Sites and Resting Sites

• Dens are used for shelter and raising young. They include abandoned burrows dug by other mammals, areas in or under large rock piles and brush piles, hollow logs, and holes in trees.
• Den sites also include wood duck nest-boxes, attics, crawl spaces, chimneys, and abandoned vehicles.
• In urban areas, raccoons normally use den sites as daytime rest sites. In wooded areas, they often rest in trees.
• Raccoons generally move to different den or daytime rest site every few days and do not follow a predictable pattern. Only a female with young or an animal “holed up” during a cold spell will use the same den for any length of time. Several raccoons may den together during winter storms.

Raccoon Reproduction and Home Range

• Raccoons pair up only during the breeding season, and mating occurs as early as January to as late as June. The peak mating period is March to April.
• After a 65-day gestation period, two to three kits are born.
• The kits remain in the den until they are about seven weeks old, at which time they can walk, run, climb, and begin to occupy alternate dens.
• At eight to ten weeks of age, the young regularly accompany their mother outside the den and forage for them selves. By 12 weeks, the kits roam on their own for several nights before returning to their mother.
• The kits remain with their mother in her home range through winter, and in early spring seek out their own territories.
• The size of a raccoon’s home range as well as its nightly hunting area varies greatly depending on the habitat and food supply. Home range diameters of 1 mile are known to occur in urban areas.

Mortality and Longevity

• Raccoons die from encounters with vehicles, hunters, and trappers, and from disease, starvation, and predation.
• Young raccoons are the main victims of starvation, since they have very little fat reserves to draw from during food shortages in late winter and early spring.
• Raccoon predators include cougars, bobcats, coyotes, and domestic dogs. Large owls and eagles will prey on young raccoons.
• The average life span of a raccoon in the wild is 2 to 3 years; captive raccoons have lived 13.

This information is provided by the WDFW, Russell Link, and Michael Holmquist 

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We provide Raccoon Control, Raccoon Removal, Raccoon Repairs, Get rid of Raccoons, Raccoon Trapping, Raccoon Exclusion Work and all other Raccoon pest control needs to the following areas and more! Aberdeen, Auburn, Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Black Diamond, Bonney Lake, Bremerton, Buckley, Bucoda, Burien, Centralia, Chehalis, Cosmopolis, Des Moines, DuPont, East Port Orchard, Eatonville, Edgewood, Elbe, Elma, Enumclaw, Federal Way, Fife, Fircrest, Fort Lewis, Gig Harbor, Graham, Grand Mound, Grayland, Hawks Prairie, Hoquiam, Kelso, Kent, Lacey, Lake Forest Park, Lakewood, McChord AFB, McCleary, Manchester, Maple Valley, Marysville, Mercer Island, Midland, Milton, Montesano, Napavine, Newcastle, Nisqually Indian Community, Normandy Park, North Yelm, Ocean City, Ocean Shores, Olympia, Orting, Pacific, Parkland, Pe Ell, Port Orchard, Puyallup, Rainier, Renton, Rochester, Roy, Sammamish, SeaTac, Seattle, Shelton, Spanaway, Steilacoom, Sumner, Tacoma, Tanglewilde-Thompson Place, Tenino, Tumwater, University Place, Vashon, Westport, Wilkeson, Woodinville, Yelm 

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