The North American ground hog is a exceptional animal. When bottle raised it becomes quite affectionate and bonds to a person quite readily. As with any other species of animal it will bite when bothered from sleep or when it just wants to be left alone. The ground hog is a easy animal to feed with any good protein ( 14%) dog food . They also love corn, both dried and fresh. I feed a diet of dog food, whole corn, fresh vegetables and alfalfa hay.
I house my ground hogs in cages 3 foot by 5 foot with large nest boxes. Ground hogs have their litters in the spring with litter size being 4 to 5 animals. The gestation is 28 days. The babies are weaned at 2 months. The ground hog is also known by the name of woodchuck. The woodchuck mates as soon as it comes out of hibernation and this is the only time the male and female will share a den. Dens are usually about 5 foot deep and up to over 25 foot long. Their dens can be under buildings, large rocks and in the middle of pastures.