There are many
people who have come out of their garbage can
one evening to find that a raccoon has gotten
inside the can it is now making your waste it’s
evening meal. This can be extremely frustrating
because these are dirty animals that not only
leave disease behind but also can make quite a
mess of your yard. You sure don’t want to find
orange peels, pork fat, and old spaghetti
noodles strewn all over your yard, but this is
the kind of path that a raccoon will leave as it
scurries away from your yard with its evening
meal.
You look through your garbage as you are
cleaning it up and wonder how could these
animals eat this kind of food? Is there really
anything that they will not eat? This may make
you wonder do raccoons even eat mice and rats?
That’s an interesting question. The truth of the
matter is that raccoons will eat virtually
anything. These animals are true omnivores,
which means that anything that can satisfy their
tummy will be food that they will eat. While not
as inclusive as say the goat, they still will
eat a diverse amount of food, because it is what
helps to survive.
In terms of such things as vegetation, raccoons
are known to eat berries, fruit, grain, nuts,
and vegetables. This is why you will frequently
find them rummaging through your garden to be
able to eat the wholesome fruits and vegetables
that you have grown. This is clearly something
no home gardener wants to see happen, but it
does occur frequently.
Raccoons are also known to eat meat as well. Not
only will they eat insects, especially larger
ones like crickets and roaches, but are known to
frequently take eggs from birds’ nests and will
eat birds, fish, frogs, and different kinds of
shellfish. If they can get it in their mouths
that you can guarantee that they will try to
eat.
So, do they eat mice and rats? The fact is that
depending on the environment that they are
living in they will eat virtually anything. If
there are better options available to them, that
they will look for those better options. What
better means here is something that is less of a
risk to them to try to capture and eat. They may
find that eggs or insects would make a
significantly better choice because they are
easier to get. However, if these food sources
are not available to them that it would only
make sense for them to look at rats and mice as
a meal if that is all that they have available.
Raccoons are not afraid to hunt and eat what
they have captured. They have very sharp claws
and their teeth are quite sharp as well. They
can easily puncture and control a rat or mouse
in virtually no time at all and make it their
meal. So truly no small rodent is safe from this
critter.
Read more:
Raccoon
Control,
how
to get rid of raccoons,
Raccoon
Feces,
How
to get raccoons out of the ceiling.
