Understanding Raccoon Mating

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Females will normally keep their guard up when male raccoons are hanging around; until mating season comes, of course. This is in the early to mid-late spring in most places, but it is known that southern states have slightly earlier mating periods than the northern ones.



Males are very aggressive during these mating seasons, and will fight with other males for mating rights and territories. The extra hormones will make the raccoon more likely to be aggressive towards other animal species also, including people.

After a pregnancy that lasts for a couple of months (10-14 weeks), the new mother will have around 2-5 little blind, deaf, and virtually furless bundles to take care of, and she'll do a good job at it too, occasionally coming together with other new mothers to keep everyone safe together.

Female raccoons are fiercely defensive and will not let you get to her babies without a pretty solid fight. She will even fight another male to defend her youngsters, to the death if necessary.

Not all kits will make it to a year old. If she were to have a litter of three, it is likely that only one would survive. It is not uncommon for female raccoons to abandon kits that don't seem to progress as quickly as their peers. She will focus all of her attention on the kits that are probably going to survive, seeing her love for a runt as a waste of effort.

Kits stay with their mother for about a year, but the males will usually wander off before their female siblings do. It isn't uncommon for females to stay with their mother for sometime, even having groups congregating together as female gaggle-groups. They will share details of food supplies, stashes, and even the best or worst den and nesting sites, and will return to the same nesting sites for many years if it is still available.

For more information, you may want to click on one of these guides that I wrote:
How much does raccoon removal cost? - get the lowdown on prices.
How to get rid of raccoons - my main raccoon removal info guide.
Example raccoon trapping photographs - get do-it-yourself ideas.
Raccoon job blog - learn from great examples of raccoon jobs I've done.
Raccoons in the attic - what to do to solve the problem.