How big do raccoons get?

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Raccoons are quite bizarre little creatures. They have pretty adorable black masks, almost making them looking like bandits. And they are bandits when you think about it. They are garbage bandits, rummaging through it, eating the good stuff, throwing it all around your front or back yard.



As well as being a total nuisance, raccoons are also very smart, and super inquisitive. They have paws that they use very much in the same way as we humans use our hands, and they have also been known to “wash” their food before eating it. Again, this is much like we humans do. Usually nocturnal, they usually last about two or there years in the wild. In captivity raccoons have been shown to live for ten years and longer. They are often killed in the wild by cars, humans, trappers, predators, and even dehydration, starvation, or hyperthermia. That's before you think about disease, of course.

Alongside that black mask, raccoons will generally have white eye patches, and also rings on their tails, in mostly darker colors. From being a baby to the average adult, they can grow to about twelve inches in height, and it can weight anything from 10 pounds to 25 pounds. If a raccoon has a good, steady source of food, it will continue to eat and continue to grow. If you were to lie the raccoon down and measure it from the tip of the tail to the tip of the nose, it would measure in between 20 and 40 inches in length.

This is about the same size / weight as your average fat house cat, or a small to medium sized dog. With those sharp claws and teeth, and the size of the animal itself, you definitely don’t want your household pets to get too close to this wild, furry beast.

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
Raccoon information