Rock Chucks: What Are They And What Do They Do?
The proper name for them is “Yellow Bellied Marmots” or the scientific name Marmota Flaviventris. The most important question is what are they going to do with my property?
They eat meat and vegetables. Most of their diet is grass and plants (like the flowers in your garden). As well as grasshoppers. Feed on bird eggs and grasshoppers.
Rock chucks are anywhere from 3-11 pounds and burrow underground. They are 4 to 6 inches in diameter and leave behind a mound of dirt when they dig their home.
They are known to stay on a property until they eat whatever they want before moving on. If you have a lot of plants, they will probably be around for a while and will eat whatever you offer.
So, how do I get rid of this annoying animal? Contact Barrier Pest Control ASAP! We can determine that you have rock cartridges and start trapping them. We will come and set our traps and we will also remove them from your property. Gardens, plants, and flowers are more likely to suffer damage if you wait too long. So feel free to call Barrier Pest Control today! 6507-914-208.
Family, Description, And Size:
Rock Chuck. Or Yellow-Bellied Marmot. is a type of ground squirrel that belongs to the Marmot family. The Latin name for the family is Sciuridae. To which chipmunks and squirrels also belong.
It has a strong. Fat. pear-shaped body, and thanks to its shape it is easily distinguishable from its slender. Tree-dwelling cousins. Its underside is distinguished by the yellow fur from which it derives its name. It has a short and somewhat fluffy tail and a beaver-like head with four long teeth and small ears.
On average, a yellow-bellied marmot weighs 3.5 to 11 pounds but can be fatter while hibernating. There is a range of 18.5 to 24 inches of body length for this animal.
Range and Habits:
Yellow-Bellied Marmot prefers dry, open habitats in the western United States and western parts of Canada, including the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. She loves meadows, ankle fields, and even open spaces near deciduous and coniferous forests. Yellow badgers build their burrows under rocks so that their predators cannot easily see and capture them.
As diurnal animals, yellow-bellied marmots spend most of their time active during the day. Rock chucks are omnivores, eating grass, flowers, leaves, fruits, insects, and eggs whenever they can find them.
The animals can only be seen from April to August, as they spend the remainder of the year hibernating inside their burrows. To survive such a long period of hibernation, a badger must eat voraciously during the four months of its active life. It’s great that Yellow-Bellied Marmot can do this on such a low-calorie diet.
General Information:
Yellow-bellied marmots breed when they are two years old. They live in large communities called colonies, which can reach up to 20 strong heads. A male badger will dig his hole as soon as he wakes up.
from hibernation. By summer he will have found up to four females to breed and live with him in his burrow. The male will have 3 to 5 young with each female from his “harem”. Its reproductive method is called a polygamous harem, which means that one male will fight for and protect several females at the same time, with which he will reproduce alone.
Predators, Mortality, and Lifespan:
The main predators of yellow marmots are wolves. And foxes. Coyotes. Domestic dogs, and humans. They are often hunted when their colonies are expanding near farmland because the damage they do to crops can be severe. The open space and abundance of food found in farmland are very tempting to the Yellow-Bellied Marmot and they often colonize such spaces.
Badgers live on average for up to fifteen years, yet many will die younger due to starvation, disease, and predators. The Yellow-Bellied Marmot has a very healthy population despite all of this and is on the list of least concerned endangered animals.
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