Reflections from Crumbly Acres: Fred Groundhog

2024

March 30th – first sighting by the shed, then he hoofed it under the deck.
April 1st – Fred April 1st 📹
April 2nd – When I was ditch diving I found some holes across the gully
April 13 – Fred Groundhog is here for the summer! 🖋 His 4 cettes in the yard.

Fred appeared in the spring. We've seen other Freds, but this one seemed special. One day there was a Fred Groundhog roadkill, but it wasn't our Fred. There was a meeting of two Freds one day. These are mostly videos, some are blog posts 🖋.

Fred on It is Mother's Day here!🖋 chewing on the deck.
May 18 he was grinding the deck wood fred
May 19 Fred raided my pansies Fred is busted
May 21 Fred Groundhog on the back deck. Cinnamon bonked me, and knocked over the bugle.
Fred groundhog
Fred is a selfie star! 🖋 May 29, including his 8th inning stretch.
Fred and the turkey hen, June, 2023
Fred groundhog June 5, nest building
Fred June 10
Peeking out from under the deck fred
June 11th – they were bringing in leaves.
Fred yawns June 18
Fred jun 27
Fred June 30th
Fred from Jennifer Jilks
Fred is on the fence! 🖋
Fred July 5
Fred – Jul 11
Fred – July 15
July 16th – taking fresh grass into the burrow. Little Fred kits drink milk for 3 weeks.
July 17 – from the back deck they did Bear, standing up on hind legs.
July 21 – a new entrance and a new exit
July 27
July 29
Aug. 3 – leaf gathering
Aug. 17 – peering down at its new hole.
Aug. 18 – back garden
Aug. 21 – Cinnamon watching Fred
Aug. 20 – Fred watching Cinnamon
Aug. 21 – Busy as a beaver

Fred, June 30th

2022

Fred and the milkweed (2019)
Fred groundhog (Aug. 2022)
Fred groundhog (Aug. 28 2022)
Fred Sept 2 , 2022
Fred under the deck (2022)

2012

I did a search on groundhogs. Most of the links include how to get rid of them!

Groundhogs, according to National Geographic, build extensive burrows, 1.8m deep and 6 m wide. 6' - 66' long, with more than one entrance, various rooms, including a bathroom! The burrow is also called a 'cette!'

They move an average of 275 pounds of rock and soil to build, and can climb trees, and swim. They are solitary, and hibernate. They will only roam 15 - 30 m from dens in the daytime. Herbivores, they are happy little eaters, which is why they piss off gardeners!

I was curious about their breeding habits. I am a bit skeptical about them, as they also say that a mated pair remains in the same den for the gestation period. Babies are blind, pink and hairless, and are called pups, kits or cubs. They have 3 - 6 pups, but can have up to 10. That'll be fun. They are weaned after 44 days, however, and are solitary critters. They won't hang around.

They are solitary beasts. They are susceptible to being roadkill.

I'll start at the beginning. I noticed sand and large chunks of gravel between the propane tanks.

I was deeply suspicious. Gravel spilling out from between the propane tanks.