North American Badger (Taxidea taxus)
The North American badger has been labeled as a furious animal. They can be quite furious but they can also be quite loving & gentle animals too. The badger is NOT the pet for the novice. They require extensive time, well built cages, and a lot of loving. The do however make excellent educational animals and a wonderful single family companion.
The badger will seldom accept new comers into a single family setting. Yet if raised as a educational animal they do quite well in that setting. You do not allow the badger free range in the house as they will consume any smaller animals you have. Be it a sugar glider or striped mice, even the new kitten introduced into the house.
A badger was blessed with a rather extensive set of claws utilized for digging and is quite good at just that. The claws can be trimmed on a bottle raised badger if you start out trimming as a baby. If the animal is to be used for education then this is not a option as long claws is one of the trademarks of the badger. The claws have been used for centuries by the Native Americans for a number of things. The average size of a badger is 15 to 16 pounds but in captivity averages almost 20 pounds. At the writing of this article there were 29 badgers in zoo’s around the world. Out of all of these there was no reported births during the prior 6 month period which is the normal season for births. The badger breeds in the summer and early fall of the year. The implantation is delayed till December - February. With the young being born in March or April.
The primary diet of badgers is Prairie dogs, ground squirrels, rodents, and ground dwelling birds. They also eat reptiles & insects. The offspring of the badger are weaned at about 8 weeks of age with their eyes opening at about 4 weeks of age. They then travel and stay with the mother till they are approximately 4-5 months old. A badgers life span can be up to 25-26 years.
