Catching the real baby groundhog age is an uphill battle as you must observe them for a LONG hour. Some say check the teeth or legs to know the age which I find not helpful to understand the young woodchuck’s age.
So, how to tell how old a baby groundhog is? You can understand the age of woodchucks if looking at their physical and behavioral growth. A baby kid from 1 – 42 days develops their behavior of resting or sleeping as well as growing the body parts like head, fur, and so on.
Look beneath to know to understand the matter clearly and professionally!
Determine How Old a Baby Groundhog Is by Doing This.
Under this segment, I’ll explain the pin-point info of the age of the baby groundhog (from birth to 6 weeks) with the activity so that you can observe and know quickly:
The Physical Growth
At The Age Of 1 – 10 Days
When the baby groundhog is born, it has 2.5 mm (0.098”) size hair on the chin, head, and other places. They mostly can’t see anything but are able to feel.
On the 10th day, they reflex and make movements in the limb to develop the behavior. Sometimes they can use their fore paws on the wood stick to play.
At The Age Of 11 – 29 Days
During the 11th day, they tend to slowly grasp the stick as growing to understand the movement. Currently, the groundhogs fail to walk or make a stable movement without losing their balance.
However, they start to walk or climb in the wire mesh at the age of 23 days. The woodchucks get used to it for a couple of days.
At The Age Of 30 – 40 Days
They learn sitting, walking, hearing, sensing, seeing, stretching, and other activities at the age of 32 days.
In the next few days, they start to dig the land which comes out naturally as they are growing gradually.
For another 5 days, the groundhog develops upper and lower body movement in a better way. During this period, they also start to sniff anything and observe nature.
When they are 38 days old, the groundhog tent uses the fourth pose by moving one paw to the chest to stand on 3 legs. The next day, you’ll see them drinking water from a bowl all by themselves.
After that, the groundhog starts to jump without losing its balance at the age of 42 days (6 weeks).
The Behavior Growth
1 – 10 Days Groundhogs
From a behavioral perspective, they will try to move slowly to curl into their stomach if finding it hard to get up or stick to the side.
On their 2nd day, they round up to crawl to find their mom or siblings in the nest. They keep on doing this kind of stuff for a couple of days.
Both males and females will do the same in most cases. But it is still an ongoing debate about male vs female groundhog behavior as they are different than each other after growing older.
11 – 30 Days Groundhogs
At this age, you’ll see the groundhogs grow their comfort and social behavior in different sectors. These includes:
| Age | Comfort Behavior | Social Behavior |
| 20 days | Resting pose (lying in tuck) | Indirect defensive jump |
| 27 days | Washing head with one or both fore paws | Whistle or clap |
| 28 days | Body shaking | Direct defensive jump |
| 29 days | Sprawled lying | – |
| 30 days | Sleeping pose (round sitting posture) | – |
31 – 43 Days Groundhogs
At this age, they start to groom, stretch, and rest frequently. Just observe its behavior of grooming to ensure its age whether they are above 42 days or not.
Here is what the groundhog does at the age of 43 days:
- Lick and chew the fur.
- Scratch in motion using their claws.
- Rub the head using the fore paws.
Once You Find a Baby Groundhog Alone
- Understand the age of the baby groundhog before doing any step.
- Put on a thick cloth or fabric piece to hold the baby woodchuck.
- Avoid putting it inside your home. Rather than this, keep them in the roomy cage for the safe side.
- Place an electric heater near the cage so that they feel the needed warmth.
- Urinate the baby groundhog once before and after feeding anything.
- Give the baby groundhog Esbilac powder (make the mixture to use for 24 hours and store it in the freezer) using a 1cc or 5cc oral syringe.
- Flip the baby groundhog upside down and slowly rubs the groundhog from nose to back while holding it in the towel. Do it for 5 minutes or more. It should stop sneezing and breathe calmly.
- Use a damp towel to wipe the face.
Warning: As it’s a baby, it’s best to call Animal Control experts. If it gets older and starts to harm the land, you’ll need to find ways to get rid of groundhogs through ammonia.
The Season When Groundhogs Have Babies
Once groundhogs complete their hibernation process, they look for their mate to make kids. Then, one adult male with 2 female woodchucks stays in a single den to complete the mating needs in March or April.
The gestation period of a female groundhog takes 30 to 32 days nearly 1 month. That means they carry babies in the belly for the April or May months. And then, they successfully deliver babies!
In case you don’t know how many babies does a groundhog have, they give birth to more than 2 to 6 babies at once.
Groundhogs Carry Their Babies in Their Mouth
There are literally a few reasons why the groundhog does this kind of act. It may seem like they are trying to eat their own babies, but it’s not the case.
You see, the mam groundhog secures their babies under burrow. Sometimes they also shift from one den to a new home.
To protect their babies from any type of disaster, they carry their babies in their mouths safely and walk to the new den to keep them safe.
Another reason why they do this is due to the baby groundhog usually can’t see or walk at a young age. So, it requires their mom to carry them.
Wrap Up
To properly care for them, it’s required to know how old a baby groundhog is by seeing their behavior and physical growth.
After finding the age of it, be sure to properly treat them in a nice and safe way by following the correct method. It would be even better if you get the proper knowledge of them and then start to try the caring techniques.
Hope you like this guide to get some real piece of detail.
I’ll Catch You with A New & Interesting Topic Soon!
