The Raccoon Nursery Cam

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The cage at night under a red light, two young raccoons crouched on the floor at the front with their paws in a bowl

Thursday, September 23, 1999, 3:15 a.m.

This is what goes on while we sleep. Under the red light, two of them (#1 and #5, I'm nearly sure) are down on the floor with their front paws in a bowl, feeling around for the last of the supper, heads down, fingers going. That dark shape at the very top is #4, upside down on the roof wire, looking for the staple she's going to pull out someday. The hammock is empty. At 3 a.m. it always is.

Raccoons' front paws are almost like hands, and they feel for food more than they look for it. On a creek bank they'll sit for an hour turning over stones with their fingers. That's what the crayfish are for.

Looking down into a plastic tub lined with a blue towel, five tiny raccoon kits curled together in a fuzzy pile

Thursday, June 10, 1999, 7:50 a.m. The very first frame.

Where it started. Before Howard built the cage, the five lived in this tub on a heating pad on his workbench, and the camera was clipped to the shelf right above, looking down. They were about three weeks old here, their eyes just opening, their masks just coming in. Each one fit in the palm of my hand. Every few hours, day and night, one of us came out with five bottles. In July, when they moved into the cage, I turned the camera around to face it.

I keep this one taped to the refrigerator. It's the only sentimental thing I allow myself about them, and you'll notice it isn't even in the house with them.

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Last updated Sunday, September 26, 1999