Do raccoons eat rats or mice?

Raccoons can eat almost anything, however, they are mostly fond of eating animals inside water, including fish, frogs, and water snakes. Raccoons can eat dead animals, including dead rats and mice, as well as slugs, birds, bird eggs, fruits and veggies. Raccoons can eat pet foods and can also turn garbage cans upside down for food.



Raccoons often catch live mice and rats for sports, and they eventually eat them. The Fact that rats and mice are very smart often make it rare to see them close to raccoons , and it often takes the smartest raccoons to catch rats and mice. First of all rats rarely stay outdoors, they prefer to hide in attics, decks, porches, garages, even inside the kitchen and bathrooms, therefore, rats rarely go outdoors to hunt for food , but they are skillful in searching indoors.

Raccoons are omnivore, and like humans they have teeth that can grind nuts, seeds and grains, likewise their teeth are designed to tear flesh of animals. They do have ever-growing claws that allow them to grab and claw on surfaces, therefore they are skillful in using the claws and teeth to tear the meats of mice and rats. Raccoons are very fast and intelligent when it comes to capturing their prey. In most cases, raccoons don’t eat mice and rat at the same point they kill them, rather they drag them into a secluded place , safe from onlookers and other raccoons or animals.

Just like the way cats play hide and seek for rats, raccoons also do the same when trying to catch their prey. They often hide on top , bark or on branches of trees and watch mice and rats from far distances before moving quietly close to them. Rats that move outdoors are normally the unfortunately casualties of attacks from raccoons. When rats are lured by pet foods outside, they make themselves susceptible to attacks from raccoons, however, some rats and mice are smart enough to trace back their routes into their hiding places before they are caught by raccoons.

Raccoons don’t normally enjoy rat and mice meals, they often hunt the animals when they are extremely hungry and seem they have no option. There has been cases of transmission of diseases from rats and mice to raccoons, especially when a bite is involved, and for this reason raccoons are quite intelligent and skeptical when it comes to attacking rats and mice.

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