Raccoons are carnivores for most of the year but if food gets scarce they are willing to eat other things like berries and nuts and even vegetables. Raccoons eat specific amounts of food based on their size, they drink a specific amount of water every day and if they do not get enough they could die. This is why they are so capable of getting onto human properties and accessing not just their food and water but also their attics, their decks and under sheds and even in your crawlspace. There is no end to the threat of a raccoon on your property. If they find a consistent source of food and water they will move in and getting them out is a very expensive affair. Especially if they get into your attic during baby season. Raccoon baby season start with females looking for dens. They often use human homes. They will invite a mature male into their den and mate with it. They will do this repeatedly until they know they are pregnant. The male will then be chased out of the den violently and will leave to go kill the babies of other raccoons, not truly knowing if those babies the mother is going to have are even his. It is not uncommon for a male adult raccoon to murder its babies which is why the females chase them out.
If you have a raccoon on your property there is a lot you can do to keep them off. Most raccoons will go straight for your garbage. However, they will eat food dry but their preference is to wet it first. This can sometimes look like they are cleaning the food, but they are not. They wet it to make it easier to digest just like humans do in hot dog eating contests. Wetting food makes it much easier to eat, swallow, chew and digest. That’s why soup and stew are such enjoyable foods. Dog food is also a favourite for raccoons. Dry food they will wet in the water bowl but wet food they will devour, cat food especially as it tastes a bit like rot. Raccoons have a disease that affects other mammals but not raccoons. It’s called a raccoon roundworm and the number of infected raccoons is going up. If you have an animal on your property they may end up eating your garbage and then defecating feces all over your property endangering you and your family with an incurable parasite.