Hamcamsterball 2: The NEXT "Next Great Thing"!

[DejaxBlue]

How cute . My raccoons use to eat out of my hands and the babies would scramble across my lap. I miss them so much. I would feed them dog food and they had their own pool :)

[taburineagle]

@DejaxBlue - That is so absolutely awesome! I would *love* to have a raccoon family visiting me like that some day - I've never really had the chance to befriend even one like that, because all I can do is tape them now, but I would *love* to do that some day!

[gmonday]

I'm ready for my closeup Mr Demille

[SuperGospelGangsta]

Pretty cool, that's what it's all about . . . hidden camera, night IR, Love it! Can you do it again with a wide-angle lens or fisheye . . . that'd be awesome. I love the sound . . . you can hear them munching away.

[taburineagle]

@SuperGospelGangsta - Thanks! I would love to do this with a much better camera (a fisheye lens would be an awesome POV shot for something like this!) The cam I shot this with was an old eBay reject Digital-8, but I could just imagine what it would look like in HD too - :)

[MissDolittle]

Zach, wanna be my next door neighbor??? ;-p

[taburineagle]

Hehehe... that would be *awesome*! :)

[jungian9111]

This is cute! They never seem to get enough to eat!

[taburineagle]

Thank you! I think the main one (she's known as Sleepy coon in other videos, she's got a very nice facial mask, very distinctive whitish circles *around* her black mask) is either pregnant in this video, just became pregnant, or recently mated, because she grew quite a bit in the months to come after this was shot!

[junkb0x99]

All the while the raccoon was wondering if he had the right size allen wrench...

[taburineagle]

2/8"! Not 1/8!" #$@%%#! :)

[mspossum]

OMG! Re-score with appropriate scary music, and you've got part of a horror film here. It has that dizzying, hand-held "Quarantined" video look. The Blair Coon Project?

[taburineagle]

I could see that! Actually, I wanted to do that from the beginning, but couldn't find any piece that I thought worked with it, so I did it this way... that would be awesome though!

[mspossum]

Try this YouTube vid as a soundtrack: PIANO VERSIONS OF THE PSYCHO THEME & THE SIMILAR RE-ANIMATOR THEME (I tried pasting the link here, but my reply didn't come up). Start your vid at the coon, and the other vid at 1:45, and let them both play. It also works well syncing your vid at 1:40, the other at 1:45. The right-hand part of the music underscores the frantic coon movements pretty well. This guy's version works much better than the original score.

[JohnDoe0329]

realy good video. Nice to set a camera there. Racoons are nice animal. *****

[taburineagle]

Thank you! They are - raccoons are my main mammal that I study, and gulls are my main birds that I study. Raccoons are definitely interesting creatures to watch!

[NukeTheMongoose]

Raccoons are such cute and beautiful animals ^_^

I hate people who shot them because they think they're pest or whatever... and they think they're filthy when they actually wash their hands.

I love you for posting videos about animals and not thinking anything bad of them ^.^

[taburineagle]

Thanks for saying so! I absolutely love raccoons - :) I hate that too, there is a *lot* of hatred towards raccoons - some people think they're pests, some people just have this conception that they *all* have rabies, etc... and then there are coonhunters (if you don't know what that is, you probably don't *want* to :() but they are very interesting creatures... they do "wash" their hands, they have very tactile senses - I've read that the majority of their brain activity is devoted to touch.

[NukeTheMongoose]

I don't see how those heartless people can just shoot an animal D: So how long have you loved animals?

[taburineagle]

Heh - coonhunting is commonly much worse than just shooting them - :( In the most extreme cases, people sick dogs on wounded coons, and then just let them tear them to death as they scream... *that* is heartless!

I've liked animals for at least the last 15... 17 or so years, but I really got started at videotaping them in 1998. That year is when I started my bag feeder project - it was so cool to see the squirrels come up to the bag feeder for the first time!

[NukeTheMongoose]

That IS heartless D:

Watching animals eat is entertaining :3

[jtoaks86]

how darling! thanks for posting

[taburineagle]

You're welcome! I'm glad you liked it!

[redihpeach]

Cute crunching critters! Thanks for the video!

[taburineagle]

You're welcome! I'm glad you liked it - thanks for the comment! :)

[StarPir1315]

I like the way the raccoons eat with such gusto!

Imagine if you could record them washing in water like this. The camera would be at the bottom. That would really be wild. Great video.

[taburineagle]

Thank you! Me too! YES!! I've actually been thinking for the last few months on how I would achieve a shot like that! I have all kinds of grandiose ideas, but I don't know how I would actually get them to work - :) I think the easiest idea I have right now would be to get a lipstick camera (one of those cameras on a helmet cam) and stick it (on an angle) next to one of the corners of a water dish - hopefully one of the coons would find that corner interesting enough to paw around in!

[horsesinnyc]

I had to see the video again. I really respect your channel. This is the best way for us and especially children to learn about nature and animals. Not by removing them from their natural habitat and putting them in cages. Great stuff

[taburineagle]

Thank you so much for the nice comments! I believe so too - the problem with raccoons though is they have such a stigma attached to them, so a lot of people freak at even seeing one - "is it rabid", "is it going to attack my dogs", "my kids aren't safe", ... that kind of thing. They're not vicious killers, they can attack when they need to, but people just have this general paranoia about them... hopefully my videos show a counterpoint to that!

[horsesinnyc]

Yes, your videos are very educational and will help negate all the misconceptions. a rabid animal will not approach people and any species including us attacks when under attack or fearful of harm. peace and love.

[taburineagle]

It's just sad that so many people have such misconceptions - I saw some message on an "expert's" video on raccoon behavior where someone wrote "if it's out in the day, then it's definitely rabid" and the "expert" replied back "yep, completely true" - there are many reasons why a raccoon might be out in the day, it doesn't mean they're rabid! It's a good practice to *pay attention* to an animal when it's is out in the day and wouldn't be normally, but it doesn't make it sick by default...

[taburineagle]

Me too!  Hehe... the whole raw footage lasted 45-50 minutes, I wanted the best shots of them eating like that - you can definitely see how their paws can do some damage at the end though (when the shot is sideways - :))

[luvdabun]

somebody needs a pedicure.. lol.. way fun watching this. thank you for sharing it

bunnies rule

[taburineagle]

Hehe - thanks! Yeah, I think it's been awhile since they've had a trim - :) I'm glad you liked it!

[KMRagan]

Wow, very cool. Shounds like Tatter Chips !!!

Peaches the Skunk

[taburineagle]

Hehe... thanks Peaches! :) It does, kind of - but it's corn flakes... hopefully a little more healthy for them than the former - :)

[MoaMolly]

I love it :-)

Fantastic close-ups from their hands!!!!!!

Good to see your idea works this year!

[taburineagle]

Thanks! Still inspired by your Geschickte video from last year! I want to try it again, but I need another camera angle to do that, and my other motion sensor board isn't working... :( It's in the shop now... for the better part of 4 months!

[horsesinnyc]

I love his paws, so long, what a great video. It sounds like he won coins from a slot machine. love the video.

[taburineagle]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! Isn't that awesome? I was trying to get shots of them pawing at the lens, which they did a few times, but it wasn't as focused as I would have liked... the shots of them eating are great though!

Hehe... coony slot machine! :)

[thummmper2u]

Zach you amaze me with what you come up with, that was great, I was just out feeding my wild coonies and came in to watch this after it downloaded, I had 12 coonies tonight, I haven't seen Granpa coonie for about 2 weeks now I think he has crossed the bridge, last time I saw him was at 8 am and I gave him some food and a egg, then followed him he was walking very slow, last I saw of him he was going into a large blackberry bush.

[taburineagle]

Aw, that's sad - :( I had a very old coon a year ago that I called Wolfy, she had a very light facial mask and you could tell she was old - she was so gentle and her moves were much slower and deliberate, but I haven't seen her since late June last year... I'd like to think she just moved away, but I'm not sure...

I'm glad you liked the video! I've been waiting to try this project out for years - :) Hehe... I got the camera in December, and it was all built then, but I didn't do it until now!

[mojaemon]

great video!

[taburineagle]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

[winkycoon]

love those coonie feets!!!!!!!!! as usual, great work.

[taburineagle]

Me too! :)  Thanks for saying so!

[selvatico3]

great video, very attractive! - 5*

[taburineagle]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it, thanks for the rating too - :)

[selvatico3]

My pleasure you make a very beautiful videos!

[PaintedRavensong]

Okay...you inspired me. I just put up the armadillo vid. Hope you like it!

[taburineagle]

Cool! I'll check that out now!

[pantherbaby787]

aww! i love this! great work!

[taburineagle]

Thanks for saying so! I want to try it again with 2 angles (so you can see the coons moving the ball around), but that won't be for a few months (my other motion sensor board is being fixed now)

[Inky261]

good 5*

[taburineagle]

Thanks! :)

[screamingcockatoo]

That is pretty darn cool!

[taburineagle]

Thanks for saying so!  I'm glad you liked it! :)

[handmudra]

i loved seeing it's paw!

[taburineagle]

Me too - that's one of the best parts! :)

[Tstormer]

hah, looks like hes reaching into a potato chip bag

[taburineagle]

Hehe... kind of - corn flakes though - being that close though, they sound similar!

[Tstormer]

lol, yeah it does. Great close ups.

[StarPir1315]

This was great taburineagle. So intense. It was funny and strange. Don't ever get in front of this raccoons's food!

[taburineagle]

RIght! Hehe... moster coon is gonna eat you! :) It would have been a better video if I had an alternate angle to show what was going on around it, but my other motion sensor board is on the fritz... the one coon was growling because there was another one next to it, but you can't see that very well when it's so close... :) Thanks for the nice comments, I'm glad you liked it!

[LucidRmot]

Lols, reminds me of some people when they first wake up in the morning ;D Great job Tab +5

[taburineagle]

Hehe... especially people just getting out of the shower, all groggy and not wanting to go out... :) Thanks Lucid!

[PaintedRavensong]

Wow...for a few years now I have watched you and this is just too cool. How the heck did you manage this? I still need to put my armadillo footage up!!!

[taburineagle]

I'm looking forward to seeing it! I'm glad you liked the video - for this project, I bought a large hamster ball, a $20 eBay reject videocamera and I had my father build a shelf inside of the ball to stick the camera in - the camera was then fed 2 wires, one to kick it on (it's still controlled with motion sensors) and one to feed the output of the camera to a little hard-drive capture device... last year I tried the same thing, but the camera didn't work - but feeding the camera to a deck did!

[Neurolanis]

*Laughing* Wow, what a capture!

[taburineagle]

Thanks! :)