Baby Raccoons in Chimney | August
Last week’s blog post was all about baby squirrels: more specifically, how August is the time when a second round of squirrel births gets started.
This fact of squirrel reproductive biology sometimes surprises our clients. For us, it is a given.
This week, though, we share our own little reproductive biology surprise as Ryan was called to perform a chimney removal of a mother and baby raccoons.
Baby raccoons in August too? Yes, it does happen. But, as Ryan notes in the video below, we don’t usually find babies this late in the year.
Late Raccoon Births
As Ryan mentioned, we do most of our baby raccoon removal in April, May, and June.
In one of our archived posts from March 24, 2014 we tackled the question, WHEN DO RACCOONS GIVE BIRTH? In the post, we noted that raccoon gestation is 65 days and that females were just getting ready to give birth after breeding in the winter.
This year, we posted a blog on April 6 which has a video clip of Ryan doing a hand removal of some newborn raccoons. It can be found here: BABY RACCOONS & SQUIRRELS These were the first baby raccoons we encountered in 2018.
Then, on May 15, we posted this blog RACCOONS IN CHIMNEYS, in which we noted that the past few weeks (late April and early May) we had been getting a lot of calls for removal of raccoon babies from chimneys.
The timing of those posts coincides with and discusses the usual birth times of raccoons here in Northeast Ohio.
Why do later than expected births happen?
As Ryan noted, the female raccoon could have given birth at the “regular” time but lost the litter due to predation. Biologists tell us that when this happens, a female can cycle back into heat and become pregnant again.
Also likely, is that the female raccoon is a one year old who just became sexually mature. If she was born later in the season last year, it makes sense that she would become sexually mature late in the season this year.
With that said, this August baby raccoon removal is a good reminder for all of us that the “less than usual” happens in nature all the time; probably more than we know. In fact, one study we found online noted that births may happen into September!
Sure, we are taken off guard when the “unusual” occurs. But, it gives us a good reminder that with nature it never hurts to expect the unexpected.
Anytime Raccoon Removal | Akron, Canton, Kent, OH
The good news for clients in the Akron, Canton, Kent, Ohio area is that Frontline Animal Removal performs raccoon removal at all times of the year.
If you are having a raccoon issue and you want the problem solved, contact Frontline Animal Removal today; we have the experience to accomplish the job.
For more on raccoon removal:
