Will a raccoon be active if it’s raining?

If you’ve been keeping a close eye on these critters in your neighborhood, you will notice an odd change in their behavior when it looks like it’ll start to rain. What’s more confusing, however, is that as far as you can tell, their behavior during the rainy season isn’t even consistent. One time you’d see them actively hunting for food in the rain, the next you’d see them cowering under a shed, afraid to even step out lest they get wet. So, what gives?

To be honest, raccoons don’t like rainfall and would rather step outside only after it’s stopped. However, a raccoon MAY be active while it’s raining, but it depends on three things:



1 - The time of the year

Believe it or not, whether raccoon steps out during the rainfall may depend on whether it’s the breeding season or not. Generally speaking, a raccoon’s habit and environment preferences differ significantly in the breeding season than it does in the off-season, which is why a slight increase or decrease in temperature and pressure caused by rainfall could change their movement patterns when they’re in this state.

2 - Hunger

A bigger reason than the first (and one that’s applicable throughout the year), a raccoon that hasn’t had the chance to fill his belly for quite a while wouldn’t let a little rain stop him from searching for food and hunting small animals. Survival is, after all, it’s top priority, so it’s quite understandable to find a starving raccoon fervently scratching away at the ground looking for scrubs in even the heaviest of rains.

Not to mention the fact that a lot of the animals and insects the raccoon likes to feast on are made especially accessible during rainfall, something which would be enough to tempt many animals to put up with a little rain in return of the rewards. They even sometimes rely on heavy rainfall to cause flooding, which in turn gives them access to even more prey in the form of fish and frogs to fill their bellies.

3 - Is it warm enough?

If hunger isn’t an issue, then it all boils down to one factor that defines a raccoon’s activity during rainfall: the temperature. Raccoons may be resilient creatures, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t try to avoid the cold if they could.

Since rainfall usually brings with it a significant drop in temperature, it is quite understandable to see a raccoon retreat into a burrow or shed to take shelter from the cold. Their aversion to the cold doesn’t stop here; raccoons are even known to be less active in the fall and winters, especially during snowfall, when they prefer to hibernate over staying active throughout the season.


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