does any one keep either if so how do they make as pets i ask because i have the chance to get one or the other both are hand reard so which one should it be

neither if you dont have time for them, and i wouldnt just keep the one there best in pairs.

I have dealt with Racoons and had friends who kept them and would not recommend dealing with them without a lot of thought. Even the usually good tempered ones were unpredictable once they became adult and one which had always been fine came galloping through the kitchen one day and took a good sized chunk out of my friends leg with a passing bite. In a temper they are pretty intimidating and so dextrous they are hard to control or keep away (one ran straight up a broom handle to get to me when I was trying to fend it off). I am sure some people have kept them without problems but I have never met one I would truly trust (after all there is a reason they evolved to have bandits masks and little black gloves ).


I did keep a female Coati for a number of years and she was a delight - tame, incredibly social and unbelievably smart but I took her on as a rescue because she was adult and could not be introduced into a group.

It is totally alien to female coatis to be kept alone (in the wild they never leave the family colony they are born into) and I would never do it if I had the choice. If they are kept alone they simply decide everything they live with (people, cats, dogs) are honourary Coatis and they go through archetypal coati behavior with their adopted colony. Once they have bonded it is incredibly stressful for them to be moved - so it really is a commitment for the life of the coati. When Bungle came to me she scatched all of her fur off and her skin raw with stress because she had lost her "family" - but she was 2 years old when she came to me - not a youngster. It took a lot of work to settle her in here.

Males do get driven out of the colonies at around 2 years of age and are solitary for much of the year so it may be less of an issue but they get much bigger than the girls. Though the ones I have dealt with were completly soppy I know of Zoo keepers who have fallen foul of them and they can do a fair bit of damage if they decide to.

Finally they are incredibly smart. I caught mine practicing working the bolts on her cage. she could open the freezer and pull out the drawers to steal her favourite snacks, and if she would steal anything she fancied as a toy but then hide it - so you could not take it back. They need a great deal of time and effort to enrich their lives and environments or they will find their own amusement - usually wrecking the house. My girl was taken out on a harness and leash to forage in the garden and loved snails and earthworms.

Probably my favourite animal - but not really a household pet and they need a lot of time and effort to meet their needs and keep them happy and interested.

Mark

Neither!!

Both are very sociable and highly strung.

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