4 Important Life Habits You Must Know for Raccoon Dog Farming

The raccoon dog's life habits have the following four characteristics

(1) Gregariousness: wild

Raccoon dogs usually live in pairs in dens, with 1 male and 1 female per den, though there are also cases of 1 male with multiple females or 1 female with multiple males. The parents and pups of neighboring dens usually play and frolic together, and mother raccoon dogs sometimes even nurse each other's young indiscriminately. Under domestic conditions, this characteristic can be used to group weaned pups into groups of 10~20 and raise them together in pens.

(2) Nocturnal

This characteristic is very obvious in wild raccoon dogs. They sleep in their dens during the day and come out around dusk and dawn to move about and forage. Domestic @#@252@#@ can be active throughout the day, basically having changed the nocturnal characteristic. Domestic raccoon dogs have a smaller range of activity and mostly move back and forth in a straight line in their cages, with a sluggish and docile temperament. When people approach, they show suspicion and fear.

(3) Defecating at fixed spots

Whether wild or domestic, the vast majority of raccoon dogs excrete their feces at fixed locations. Wild raccoon dogs mostly defecate near the den entrance, accumulating into piles over time. Domestic raccoon dogs mostly defecate in a certain corner of the cage or pen. A very few defecate or urinate into the food bowl, water bowl or nest box. Once such raccoon dogs are found, measures should be taken promptly, otherwise once the habit is formed, it will be harder to break.

(4) Winter rest in the wild

Under wild conditions, in order to escape the severe winter cold and endure the extreme shortage of feed, they often dwell deep in their dens, with a reduced metabolic rate, consuming the subcutaneous fat accumulated since autumn to maintain their lower level of life activity, forming a non-continuous hibernation, manifested as eating little, reduced activity, and a drowsy state, so it is called semi-hibernation or winter rest. Under domestic conditions, due to human disturbance and sufficient feed, hibernation is not very obvious, but most have reduced activity and decreased appetite. When domestic raccoon dogs overwinter in the Northeast region, feeding can be reduced from twice a day in other seasons to once a day or once every 2~3 days.