• Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          Yeah? I never knew anyone with a pet raccoon. I’m going to look into some communities and separate the fact from fiction.

          It isn’t like other pets don’t rip open your food and tear up your furniture and s*** everywhere anyway.

            • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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              5 months ago

              I’ve heard about this dexterity, but i remember looking it up and finding out that they don’t have thumbs. So maybe not homosapien level there.

              But I never looked up videos of raccoon dexterity. I bet there’s interesting puzzle solving stuff on YouTube.

              Maybe it’s their intelligence that makes them appear so dexterous.

              I’m okay with a smart pet.

              • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                Well they’re not domesticated, so regardless of how you raised them, they’ll always be pretty wild.

                They don’t have thumbs, but they can do a hell of a lot with their little grabby hands. Have you seen those old school closing mechanisms for ice chests? They had a flap with a hole in it that folded down over a pin with a hole in it, and a little rotating pin that went through the hole. Hopefully you know what I’m talking about, but if not, just try to picture it. Anyways, on a camping trip one time we had an ice chest like that. Inside the ice chest was a carton of eggs. We knew there were raccoons in the area, so we pushed the ice chest under the truck on the off chance that they could figure out how to open that complicated mechanism. Welp, they somehow pulled the ice chest out from under the truck, opened the ice chest, neatly opened the carton of eggs, and ate every single one of them. I already knew they were smart, but after that I was amazed. I wouldn’t have believed it if I wasn’t there when it happened.

                Edit: I found a picture of the type of class closure I’m talking about. It was like this except it was plastic.

                • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                  5 months ago

                  I know mechanism you’re talking about.

                  But see they’re after confectionary ingredients again, I’ve already solved the riddle.

                  That is a very cool story, thanks.

                  I’m okay with an undomesticated pet as long as it’s okay with it, and these raccoons seem pretty comfortable inside a house.

                  But this raccoon trainer says you have to rub its belly so it can crap sometimes. I’d rather make cupcakes than raccoon cakes.

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I hooked you up with proof as a reply up above before I saw that you were specifically requesting it. That should be all the proof you need. If you need more, here’s some.

        When you leave them alone they open all of your cupboards and tear all of your food boxes open, eating a little of everything. They open your refrigerator and eat all the eggs and spill the milk on the ground. They do not close the door. When they’re done doing that they go turn every faucet in the house on. Then they shit and piss on your pillow.

        • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          Hahaha, thanks, I totally missed that video. I need more videos like that.

          Not the deterrent you might imagine, and definitely not more destructive than other pets.

          I always have too many eggs left over unless I use them up baking, and he thoughtfully provides the cupcake tin at the end. Same issue with milk, it expires too quickly to cry over when it’s spilled

          I just have to remember to bake more frequently, so that their rambunctious nature will be somewhat tempered.

          • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            They’re probably really fun pets because of their intelligence, but they’re nocturnal, so they get into all sorts of trouble when you’re sleeping. I used to work with someone who had one as a pet, and she mostly loved it, but she sometimes wanted to shoot it. She definitely didn’t seem to have the same sort of bond with it that you would form with a dog. I guess her relationship with it was like a relationship with a semi-psychotic cat. She ended up needing to crate it when she left the house because it was literally tearing her house apart. That’s not good for the animal, since they’re not content in there like dogs are.