| General Groundhog Facts Groundhogs, also known as woodchucks or whistling pigs, are members of the squirrel family and are found in the great bulk of the c entral and eastern United States as well as Canada. Groundhogs usually live 2-3 years in the wild, but can live up to six. They have great eyesight and very sensitive hearing.
Groundhog Body
Groundhogs or woodchucks have heavy bodies with short and strong legs. Curved claws on their front paws make for easy burrowing. Groundhogs have four toes on the front foot and five on the back. The closer it is to autumn the fatter a groundhog will become as it prepares for the coming winter. Groundhog Diet
Groundhogs weigh an average of eight pounds and can eat approximately 1/3 of their weight in vegetation each day!  A groundhog or woodchuck's diet consists of grasses, clover, garden vegetables, leaves, twigs, apples, berries, and dandelion. In your garden the groundhog seeks beans, peas, herbs, strawberries, pansies, and impatiens. Groundhog Habits
During hibernation a groundhog's temperature will drop from 99° F to 40°F, its heartbeat slows from 80 beats per minute to 5 per minute and its breathing reduced from 12 breaths a minute to about 4.  Weather has nothing to with a groundhog emerging from hibernation, they appear when the mating season begins.
Looking for effective groundhog control? Havahart® offers several choices of traps and repellents for groundhog control. |