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Anonymous
>> It's only the most informative website on keeping raccoons as pets. The Remo Raccoon writer is forthright and does not minimize the difficulties. Keeping a raccoon is only for the extremely devoted, and the website goes out of its way to explain the complications of owning one. Raccoon-proof is a relative term. They explain that if you want one as a pet you will have to accept the occasional destroyed house item, put locks on pantries, ovens, and refrigerators, and give it its own room in the house. If you have nice wood furniture then you shouldn't consider one, but if you are obsessed enough to want a raccoon as a *companion* and are willing to change your lifestyle accordingly, then you should keep them in the house. Putting them in a (huge) pen for their whole lives is an option, but they develop a less personable temperament.
Well, mostly true. I have some issues with Remo Raccoon's website, though. I think that a decent pen is quite essential and keeping them in the house the whole time is not really appropriate to the species (and to the furniture). At least there should be some devices usable as den and for climbing and a watering hole/tub. It mustn't be an outdoor pen, an indoor pen is okay, too. I think the best thing is an outdoor pen with access to a smaller indoor pen (for example a ladder to a window of the house) which is next door to the apartment which is always open when one is present.
There is also this sentence in the FAQ that raccoons should be kept alone because they are typically loners. Since that's often not true in the wild, there are now other owners who oppose this statement quite strongly.
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