Take a look at the underground world of this fox family.
The video shows mama fox moving one of the pups in, in the middle of the night, and we then explore the inside of the den and watch the 4 pups playing. They liked to sleep all piled up inside the hollow log entryway and then they made the main area of the den their playground. There’s lots of space there for little ones to run around.
The parent foxes know this den is a safe place for their pups – coyotes can’t get in – and they use it every year. When the adult foxes are not inside with their little ones they usually keep watch outside in the playpen area.
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I love all your narrated videos, and I really enjoyed the recent compilation of all the animals that have come through/visited to underground den.
These foxes are so cute, are they close enough to the house that you can hear them when they’re playing?
They are beautiful little animals, aren’t they? The dens are not that close to the house, so they would have to make a lot of noise for us to hear them, but they’re actually very quiet. We have microphones in a couple of the dens and all we pick up is little squeaks and whimpers (and the sound of scuffling). When mama visits, the mic will pick up the sound of nursing (energetic slurping). Foxes seem to be a quiet bunch. If we hear barking, it almost always means there’s a coyote.
I’ve been meaning to comment about the 3rd adult fox with the current fox family. It’s most likely a female from the pair’s previous litter, so Aunt Fox. 😃
They have been known to stick around rather for the first year or 2 before finding their own mate, and they help take care of mom and dads new litter.
Unless, of course, times are tough and food is scarce thus competition for survival takes priority.
I’m so sorry I never replied to this Cassie! Your theory made most sense to us, too, when we first noticed adult #3, but we could see in this case it was a male, and probably not young (his ears are totally chewed up – from fights, we assume, but we don’t know). He and the Papa Fox were such diligent care-takers for the pups. Always on guard, playing with them constantly, and taking food. Mama would come by from time to time to feed everyone and then disappear again. It does seem as though it would be an unusual set-up. Now they’ve gone – Uncle or Papa occasionally spend the day in a hollow log den, and they’re coming in for food at night, but no more pups and Mama.
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Thank you for letting us know. We’re trying to figure out what might be going wrong but can’t replicate it. Any chance you could send a screen grab to us at texasbackyardwildlife@gmail.com?