Animal foods are most important during late winter and early spring. In spring and early summer, the raccoon's diet is high in protein. Crayfish, frogs, salamanders, turtles, and insects are eaten in large numbers. By late summer and during autumn, plant foods make up as much as three quarters of their diet. The raccoon's habitat determines what foods it eats.
Raccoons living in lowland wet areas consume large numbers of crayfish and occasionally berries.
The raccoons living in upland areas consume berries and large numbers of grasshoppers. All raccoons enjoy crayfish. In summer when water levels in creeks drop, the crayfish are trapped in shallow pools. These are ideal wading and fishing conditions for the raccoon. Where crayfish are common, a raccoon might catch one every three or four minutes.