# Coatis and Catnip???



## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

Just read something about coatis going mad over toys filled with catnip! Anyone heard of this? Or even tried this?
:2thumb:


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## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

Also just read a rumour that there is a group of about 10 coatis living wild in Cumbria.......anyone else heard of this? Or seen them?


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## Serenity's_Fall (May 27, 2011)

Not sure on the catnip thing, but there were confirmed sightings of coati's in cumbria, a few of them were in south cumbria near where I'm from. Hasn't been any sightings in a few years though so it's not clear whether they are still there or not. I'm assuming they will have escaped from private collections or zoo's/wildlife parks in the area, a certain zoo owner in particular isn't too great at keeping his animals in lol (we get frequent escapees near me as we live pretty much right behind it).


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## Serenity's_Fall (May 27, 2011)

Interestingly a few of those seen were babies I believe, suggesting the possibility of a breeding population, would be interesting to know if that had been verified or not.


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## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

Serenity's_Fall said:


> Not sure on the catnip thing, but there were confirmed sightings of coati's in cumbria, a few of them were in south cumbria near where I'm from. Hasn't been any sightings in a few years though so it's not clear whether they are still there or not. I'm assuming they will have escaped from private collections or zoo's/wildlife parks in the area, *a certain zoo owner in particular* isn't too great at keeping his animals in lol (we get frequent escapees near me as we live pretty much right behind it).


Is that South Lakes?

When I worked at Banham Zoo, we had free-ranging prairie dogs. They used to appear in people's gardens in the neighbouring town. The really unlucky ones burrowed through into the tiger enclosure!


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## Serenity's_Fall (May 27, 2011)

mrcriss said:


> Is that South Lakes?
> 
> When I worked at Banham Zoo, we had free-ranging prairie dogs. They used to appear in people's gardens in the neighbouring town. The really unlucky ones burrowed through into the tiger enclosure!


Yup, my house is basically behind it and down the hill a bit (pretty awesome having somewhere like that right on the doorstep when I visit home, now I'm in Liverpool most of the time I have to drive ages to get to the nearest zoo, boo!). From memory the most dangerous/biggest escapee was probably one of the rhino's. The lemurs/kangaroos and various birds escape regularly, the odd monkey has got out, thankfully none of the big cats though, yet...lol.

Oh dear, wouldn't want to be the prairie dogs that met the tiger! :whistling2:


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## Samiwolton (Jul 10, 2011)

Yeah I read about the ones in Cumbria too,

If you do try out any catnip toys let me know if yours likes them and then il try them with my little one, I don't usually buy catnip toys as my cats don't bother with them, but if coati's like them then I will get my little boy a few


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## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

Nice to hear of another coati keeper......sometimes, there doesn't seem to be too many of us:2thumb:

Do you have any pics of yours?


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## Samiwolton (Jul 10, 2011)

Yeah there doesn't seem to be many of us, iv only had him a week and he is only a baby but I am totally smitten with him and his cheeky little attitude

Iv got a couple of pictures of him, il put a few up later 

Does yours love phones? Mine always tries to steal my phone


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## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

Samiwolton said:


> Yeah there doesn't seem to be many of us, iv only had him a week and he is only a baby but I am totally smitten with him and his cheeky little attitude
> 
> Iv got a couple of pictures of him, il put a few up later
> 
> Does yours love phones? Mine always tries to steal my phone


Yup......not only steals my expensive iPhone, but also steals phones from stranger's pockets when we're out walking! I never apologise....it's their own fault for letting him into their pockets! 

Looking forward to the pics! Does he have a name yet?


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## Samiwolton (Jul 10, 2011)

Yeah, he tried to get my friends iPhone out of her pocket haha
Another thing he likes to do is pull people's lips down and lick their teeth, he is so funny

Yeah iv named him Caan


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## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

Samiwolton said:


> Yeah, he tried to get my friends iPhone out of her pocket haha
> Another thing he likes to do is *pull people's lips down and lick their teeth*, he is so funny
> 
> Yeah iv named him Caan


eh???  You won't be letting him do that when his teeth grow! :lol2: Kenny's teeth are really starting to shoot out now, and it can get a bit ouchy when he nibbles


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## Samiwolton (Jul 10, 2011)

Oh no I'm trying not to let him now, but he throws such a tantrum if you try to stop him, so hopefully by the time his teeth get huge I will have managed to stop that behaviour 

I bet they are, I can't wait for Caan to get big but I'm not looking forward to him getting humongous teeth haha


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## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

Samiwolton said:


> Oh no I'm trying not to let him now, but he throws such a tantrum if you try to stop him, so hopefully by the time his teeth get huge I will have managed to stop that behaviour
> 
> I bet they are, I can't wait for Caan to get big but I'm not looking forward to him getting humongous teeth haha


Aye....they are starting to un-nerve me a bit. I guess that because they took so much longer to start coming through than my friend's raccoon's did (which is the same age....maybe even a bit younger), I kinda forgot that they get massive fangs! Kenny's never bitten down hard, just playful nibbles when I reckon he thinks he's grooming me.


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## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

Looking forward to hearing loads of updates:2thumb:


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## Samiwolton (Jul 10, 2011)

That's good then, hopefully he won't ever bite you too hard, Caan only bites when he is playing at the moment, and he is so tiny you can't feel it, not like my baby Raccoon dog, who bites and shakes her head around ( she is only playing) but even though she is small it does hurt quite alot

When we were deciding to get a coati or not, I was very concerned about the size of their fangs and I did wonder if I would end up being nervous of him but seeing as iv got a fair amount of time until the fangs grow huge I figured I will have got used to his personality and how to read his mood so I wouldn't be nervous of him

He is currently fast asleep on my lap bless him


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## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

Yeah, don't worry. You get into the habit of reading their moods (although I find it can change in an instant...especially if you try take away a toy or food!) I think the claws are often worse than the teeth, but as I say to people when they ask if it hurts, you kinda get used to it!


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## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

How does he get on with your raccoon dog? Have they met yet, or do you keep them very separate?


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## Samiwolton (Jul 10, 2011)

Well the raccoon dog is kept in the house and Caan is kept in an enclosure in an outbuilding, but he comes in the house while I am at home, so every evening for at least 4 hours but normally more, I try to keep them as seperate as possible, but they have met each other, they both want to play with each other but the Raccoon dog is a little too rough for Caan at the moment, Caan loves the cats though he climbs on their backs clings on, the strange thing is the cats seem to like Caan, they don't hiss, or attack and they come up to him and sniff him and are intrigued by him, but the raccoon dog on the other hand one of them doesn't mind her and will tolerate her well, and will occasionally play with her, but the other cat hates her he hisses and tries to hit her, not sure why he hates the raccoon dog but actually quite likes the coati


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## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

That's the weird thing about keeping animals.....you never know how they're going to react to each other. I've seen a video of a coati, a ferret and a prairie dog living in perfect harmony!

I daren't let Kenny interact with my skunk. They tease each other through the mesh, but I can't tell whether he wants to play with Rosy...or eat her!


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