Raccoons are omnivorous and opportunistic eaters that will eat anything and everything they find. The food sources that raccoons can eat include fruits, vegetables, meat, grains, and a few types of nuts. So, if you happen to own a pet raccoon? or you are the framer trying to save your crops from the pest, you must be wondering; do raccoons eat peanuts?
Yes. Raccoons, monkeys, squirrels, mice, pigs, woodpeckers, crows, deer, and blue jays, enjoy munching on peanuts. Plus, raccoons are diggers and burrowers. The peanut crop will be an easy source of food for them. Peanuts consist of vitamins, fats, and carbohydrates. All of these nutrients help raccoons survive in the wild and during winter.
The article will discuss the raccoon’s love for peanuts, so read till the end.
Why Do Raccoons Eat Peanuts?
Raccoons eat almost everything, including organic products and packaged products. They will eat peanuts they find in the wild or inside your pantry. Months before winter starts, raccoons begin storing fats. Peanuts are rich in fats, carbohydrates, and vitamin E.
Eating food items rich in nutrients like peanuts helps them get through the winters. Raccoons eat peanuts to build a thick layer of fat on their body and to store fats.
This layer of fat will be utilized during cold temperatures when they cannot find food. Fat deposits on the skin will keep the mammal warm in harsh weather conditions.
Are Peanuts Safe For Raccoons?
Nuts, including peanuts, are safe for raccoons except for macadamia nuts. Raccoons enjoy eating peanuts which provide them with many health benefits and are an easy food source.
Therefore, if you own a pet raccoon, you can feed it with peanuts. The cold winter is survivable for raccoons when they eat plenty of fat-containing food items, including peanuts.
What Kind Of Nuts Do Raccoons Eat?
Research of Paul D. Curtis and Kristi. L. Sullivan says that raccoons are omnivorous and have a mixture diet comprising fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts, acorns, corns, insects, worms, fishes, birds, eggs, and small animals.
Raccoons can eat many nuts, including acorn, peanut, walnuts, hazelnuts, cashew, and ripe chestnut. They enjoy munching on acorns more than other nuts. Nuts are an easy and fast source of nutrients.
As raccoons are omnivorous with sharp teeth and claws, they will have no issues opening or chewing on the hard shell of the nuts. Peanuts and many other nuts grow underground. Therefore, an accessible food source for raccoons. During winter, they depend on the nuts.
What Nuts Can Raccoons Not Eat?
Although raccoons can eat a variety of food, but they are allergic to macadamia nuts, chocolate, onions, and raisins. A raccoon can die within minutes if it eats a macadamia nut because it contains a high amount of cyanide.
Cyanide is toxic for mammals as it suffocates the animal to death. It prevents the cell’s animal body from utilizing oxygen, leading to suffocation. A mammal can die within fifteen to twenty minutes after munching macadamia nuts.
An experiment in California on the sodium-cyanide spring-loaded ejector to control coyotes ended up accidental capturing and killing raccoons. Therefore, it proves that cyanide is toxic for raccoons.
Are Peanuts Good For Raccoons?
Peanuts are good for raccoons as they are high in nutrients that raccoons require surviving winters. The high quantity of fats in the peanut helps raccoons store excess fats inside their body. This fat assists in insulating and keeping their body warm.
Compared to other animals’ raccoons do not hibernate during winters. Instead, they do wake up at night in search of food. However, the food is scarce in harsh weather, and raccoons are lazy. So, the stored fats will help them survive through the winters.
Peanuts are packed with proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Protein is required for building muscle mass and is utilized when the fat store depletes. The other constituent of peanuts is; biotin, copper, niacin, folate, manganese, Vitamin E, Thiamin, and phosphorous.
Do Raccoons Eat Peanuts in The Shell?
Raccoons have five digits on their paws and sharp teeth. Plus, they are intelligent to know how to open a peanut and remove it from its shell. The animals that eat peanuts from its shell are squirrels and woodpeckers.
A starving raccoon in the wild can devour the shelled peanuts. However, it is unlikely for a raccoon to eat peanuts directly without opening the shell. A raccoon invading your house may steal a bag of peanuts on its way out.
Can Raccoons Eat Peanut Butter?
You are not the only one that enjoys peanut butter sandwiches. It is not astonishing to find a raccoon munching on your leftover peanut butter sandwich.
Raccoons love peanut butter. It is sticky, sugary, and addicting. Many times, raccoons are lured to the poison by using peanut butter as bait. Peanut butter is high in fats and proteins. Both are essential nutrients in the raccoon diet. Therefore, if your pet raccoon has eaten a jar of peanut butter, do not worry.
Can Raccoon Eat Peanuts At Night?
Raccoons are nocturnal and go for a food hunt at night. If you are a farmer annoyed with the animal ruining your peanut crop, the chances are the culprit is a raccoon. To confirm raccoon presence on the land, you can identify them through the footprints, droppings, and damages.
They are destructive animals and avid eaters that will ruin the area within minutes.
Plus, peanuts grow underground which is easy access to raccoons. Plus, they have sharp claws. That will help them in digging underground and taking out the peanuts.
Can six-month-old Raccoon Eat Peanuts?
After two months of birth, a baby raccoon can have solid food. A baby raccoon can eat many things, vegetables, fruits, fish, corn, berries, peanuts, acorns, beechnuts, and walnuts.
A young raccoon in the growing period will require food items high in energy. The items containing fats, proteins, and vitamins are essential for baby raccoon. Peanut is an ideal diet for a six-month-old raccoon.
Even in the wild, a mother raccoon will search for a small and easily chewable diet like peanuts for its babies.
Conclusion
Raccoons can eat pretty much anything except the poison. Compared to the food sources they eat, poisons are just a few.
Along with many other food items, raccoons eat a variety of nuts, including acorns, peanuts, and walnuts. The most favorite raccoon nuts are acorn, and they are allergic to macadamia nuts which are high in cyanide.
Peanuts are high in fats, peanuts, and vitamins. Fats are an essential nutrient for raccoons. They require fats from winters when the food is scarce, and raccoons need a lot of insulation to keep themselves warm.
