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Is it possible??

Probably after a couple hundred years or so of selective breeding.

Wild animals do not make good pets. No way, no how. Dogs have lived with Man for tens of thousands of years and have developed a mutual dependency - dog hunts for Man, Man feeds dog. Now look at the Cat. Cats have been with Man for thousands of years. At present the cat is about half domesticated. About twenty years ago, I read that the Russians were working on domesticating the Eland, a large African antelope, to use for meat. Since I have not read anything about this in years, it looks like it was a flop.

They're insanely cute, yes, but raccoons aren't pets.

Although some of them are willing to put up with humans just for the free food.

i won't mind to have a raccoon, monkey, or dogs.

I had one as a pet - and others that I just fed. They are moody and suspicious, even when tamed. I also had a possum (they dont live very long) and a fox.

jesus christ! you HAD a fox or you ARE a fox? i think i have the vapors... i need a mint julip, pronto... chop chop!

Really!? A fox!? =D How did that happen? Did you find him? Where'd you keep him? Did he have a name? What did you feed him with? How was he, personality-wise?

OMGAFOX!!!!111uno =D

In my psychology textbook, I read about how a person who had a pet raccoon for a long time (since it was a baby) got two of his fingers bit off because the raccoon reverted back to its natural instincts.

Maybe not the best choice for a pet, though my mom had a pet monkey, and my uncle had a pet squirrel. =P

I will laugh at your rabies.

Like most animals, they're incredibly cute and sweet as babies, less so once the hormones kick in.

When I was young I had a friend who had a pet raccoon that he'd raised from infancy. They do not really tame well. It was good with him even though I would occasionally bite him if it was not in a good mood. They are also very destructive as it had done far more damage to his house than any dog or group of dogs I'd ever known.

I had a pet skunk years ago and I found that they far more capable of domestication. They tend to be like dogs in temperment although everyone assumes (incorrectly) that they are like cats.

Raccoons are cute, but they don't make good pets.

They are cute but kinda mean even as babies. On the other hand my friend says they taste good.

Rent the Documentary "Grey Gardens"

They are ok for just a little while when they are young but never could be a great pet. They are very defensive and distructive but so dang cute. We let ours go after raising them for about 3 or 4 months. One still comes around about every night but he is no pet LOL.

No no no no no. No way.

crinnigan saidRent the Documentary "Grey Gardens"

"Raccoons and cats become a little bit boring," sighs Edie Beale towards the end of Grey Gardens. "I mean for too long a time."

Because of fur trapping where I grew up, there were many pups of various creatures that were found and often kept and raised as novelty pets, given to local kids who would care for them. The issue of rabies never came up....we were more afraid of armadillos and warned of leprosy. Most of these creatures lived/were raised outdoors and would come around and eat cat food/scraps with all the stray cats that were fed. Ones that were considered pets would be let into the house, but never allowed to stay in for the night and could not be house trained. But you could pet them and hold them.

One of our fellow RJrs has a squirrel as a pet. Cute as hell!

msw1 saidBecause of fur trapping where I grew up, there were many pups of various creatures that were found and often kept and raised as novelty pets, given to local kids who would care for them. The issue of rabies never came up....we were more afraid of armadillos and warned of leprosy. Most of these creatures lived/were raised outdoors and would come around and eat cat food/scraps with all the stray cats that were fed. Ones that were considered pets would be let into the house, but never allowed to stay in for the night and could not be house trained. But you could pet them and hold them.

You mean they actually got along with the stray cats? Or did some of them flee at the sight of the other?

Fable - rabies is not so bad, keeps me trim, although the foaming can be embarrassing.

As for getting along...they were not close. They would be side by side while eating sometimes, but that is all. I dont remember any major conflicts, not even with the dogs.

Have you ever watched the animated version of Pocahontas? What an obedient, helpful racoon she had as a pet, who also latched well to John Smith. Pity her little hummingbird pet did not cotton on to him so well and buzzed around him like an annoying insect!

My neighbors had a pet racoon that they raised from birth, it was really nice and never bit anyone.

It was like a weird cat emotionally.

Why would you guys want a pet that is the animal equivalent of a.....

....

As far as the commentary about foxes go, there was a good experiment on domesticating them. Dimtri Belyaev decided to domesticate the silver fox in order to study the process of domestication and the impact on organism. By selectively breeding the individuals who were the tamest, he essentially turned fox cubs into puppies, spending the last 26 years of his life on the project, though it continued after his death. Under very strict selection criteria (about the 5% tamest males and the 20% tamest females each generation), it only took about 10 generations for the foxes to eagerly seek out humans in non-aggressive ways.

Probably not.

They look too cute not to be pets, but I'd imagine it to be extremely difficult to domesticate a raccoon. Plus, they're evil . Even if it was possible to keep one as a pet, there is also that possibility that they can act unpredictable, aggressive and develop rabies.

And besides, who wants a raccoon chewing on their crap anyways?

In the mid 70s when I was a kid my family was given an orphaned raccoon by a forest ranger. My mom nurtured it until it was able to take care of itself. Over 2 years it came and went at will, sometimes visiting for long stretches -- it had taken over an abandoned rabbit hutch behind the barn. It never interacted with me or my siblings, but it had a strange relationship with my parents. When my mom fed it, she would set out a bowl of water or milk so it could dip its food into it because raccoons - as I sort of remember - are not able to produce saliva. It would also sit in her lap and with its paws take the ice cubes out of her gin gimlets. It would also go swimming in the lake with my dad. I have a photograph on my dresser of the two of them treading water at the end of the dock. There was also a bear that would come around and sit in our yard - just sit there, upright, legs splayed out, looking at the sky, the clouds, the sun and birds.

eyland saidIn the mid 70s when I was a kid my family was given an orphaned raccoon by a forest ranger. My mom nurtured it until it was able to take care of itself. Over 2 years it came and went at will, sometimes visiting for long stretches -- it had taken over an abandoned rabbit hutch behind the barn. It never interacted with me or my siblings, but it had a strange relationship with my parents. When my mom fed it, she would set out a bowl of water or milk so it could dip its food into it because raccoons - as I sort of remember - are not able to produce saliva. It would also sit in her lap and with its paws take the ice cubes out of her gin gimlets. It would also go swimming in the lake with my dad. I have a photograph on my dresser of the two of them treading water at the end of the dock. There was also a bear that would come around and sit in our yard - just sit there, upright, legs splayed out, looking at the sky, the clouds, the sun and birds.

Wow that sounds so cool! =O
This thread made me want a pet raccoon, squirrel, fox, and chinchilla. *_*
The power of youtube....

hahhahahah thats way too funny

My understanding from other animal trainers is that until they reach sexual maturity (I'm guessing around 18 months), raccoons can seem like pretty good pets. After that they have a tendency to be pretty nasty - even if they were apparently tame before. And they are equipped to inflict severe - even life threatening injury. Also remember, raccoons are notoriously prone to rabies.

Squirrels and chipmunks on the other hand are pretty easy to tame - especially if you get them young. Again, in the US I wouldn't mess with them without a rabies vaccination.

All in all a captive born ferret, rabbit, or rat is a lot easier and safer. A rat would be my choice

In 1968 a friend of mine had acquired a baby raccoon as a pet, I forget how. As noted in messages above, as it got older it got meaner, and had to be confined to a large cage. One day it bit off most of the first joint of my friend's index finger. Fortunately I wasn't there to see it happen.

My friend went through a series of operations to reconstruct his finger, involving skin grafts to create a new finger tip. But back then they couldn't give it any feeling, since the nerve endings were gone (don't know what could be done today for it).

So he had this ugly little finger tip that had no feeling in it, and he got rid of the raccoon. I wouldn't recommend them as pets.

Raccoons=Rabies