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Everything is BLOOMING - soon the Ground Squirrel Population will be BOOMING!

Burrow Blocker, Ground Squirrel Control, Get Rid of Ground Squirrels

A Little Lesson on
Ground Squirrel Reproduction
To better understand the pending ground squirrel boom, we need to talk about sex...ground squirrel reproduction that is. Their mating system is officially called: polygynandrous. That means they are promiscuous litter critters that mate with up to 4 others. If you were wondering why you haven't seen them on their dates, it's because they copulate underground. 

When ground squirrels emerge from hibernation the first thing on their mind is sex. Is it surprising that the males emerge a few weeks earlier than the females? They just can't wait. This is their big chance because the females only produce one litter per year. (I've heard from a few biologists that they sometimes mate again if they lose their litter, but I can't find that in writing.)
In California, breeding season runs from December - April. The further south, the sooner the ground squirrels start breeding. After 25-30 days gestation, the female has a litter of 1-15. Yes, you read it right...up to 15 ground squirrels! Fortunately for us and the female, they usually have 7-8. Could you imagine caring for 15 little rodents underground? It's bad enough dealing with 8 of them above ground.


Burrow Blocker, Ground Squirrel Control, Get Rid of Ground Squirrels
Now is the time to prepare for the new wave of destructive diggers. After 6 weeks of growing up in their burrow, the litters will emerge from their nests. The young look like miniature lighter colored versions of the adults. They stay near the nest until about 6 months of age. Then young ground squirrels will move into old abandoned burrows or scatter off to new territory. Ground squirrels have been known to travel up to 5 miles to start a new colony.

After they find the best location for their burrow, most ground squirrels will then get ready for hibernation. Then they get to repeat the cycle all over again. Let's just hope that it isn't repeating on your land. Oh, and I forgot to mention that ground squirrels live up to 6 years in the wild.
  

Need Help Preventing the Ground Squirrel BOOM? 
Call or email me @ (925) 634-9204 or lisa@burrowblocker.com

Until then...enjoy the beautiful blooms & spring weather!

Lisa


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Comments

  1. UnknownJune 22, 2015 at 8:00 AM

    A wonderful blog about the detail information of squirrel. Particularly this post is awesome as it gives a nice stating lesson of the creature. After reading this post, I'm doing to dig more info/post in this blog if they're can handled properly and stay out of house. In the mean time, I would like share a share a video I found somewhere else and I believe you'll find it interesting. Find the video link in Attic Pest Authority, it also gives some detail info regarding squirrel's other factors too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. james brownnJuly 10, 2016 at 6:09 PM

    Your blog provided us with valuable to work with. Each & every tips of your post are awesome. Thanks a lot for sharing. Keep blogging..
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