What Are Baby Foxes Called? Learn More About These Cunning Creatures

The little cute creatures are very adorable, but at the same time, they are very cunning.

People might have read different stories about foxes. They may have observed that they are one of the most cunning creatures.

You may have wondered at some point what is a baby fox called, can we just call it a baby fox, or are there other names? 

Foxes are very closely related to the dog family. Foxes have some cat-like abilities, like being able to retract their claws. Their pupils are also similar to cats, unlike dogs.

They also have sharp canines. They have a very bushy tail. The female foxes are called vixens, and the male foxes are called tods. The male foxes are also called 'dog foxes'.

The little ones of the fox family are called fox pups, kids, and cubs. Fox pups are different from dog pups. A group of foxes is known as 'skulk' or 'leash'.

Just like other baby animals, the fox pups are also unable to walk and see anything. They are also unable to hear. At this time, the mother fox takes good care of them.

Since the mother foxes are busy taking care of their pups, the father fox hunts and feeds the family.

After reading some interesting facts about foxes, also check out red fox sounds and how long do foxes live.

How long do vixens carry their cubs before giving birth?

Unlike other animals that have babies many times, like dogs, cats, and fish, foxes have just one family in a year.

The fox has a particular mating season. The mating season for adult foxes generally runs from December to February. The cubs are born between March and May, depending upon when breeding takes place.

The fox mothers stay with them in their shades for a few weeks and then begin providing them with milk while the hunting is done by the father foxes.

Once conceived, a baby fox is born after 50 days. A cub is very small in size as a baby.

Animals have different gestation periods. Some have very long gestation periods with a span of several months, while others have short gestation periods of a few days. Foxes also have a short gestation period, which spans around two months only.

How many pups does a vixen give birth to?

Different animals have different ranges of offspring when it comes to their offspring. Some have only one at a time, while other animals can have many offspring at one time. Female foxes give birth to only four to five fox kits in one year.

When the fox cubs are born, they are too small to take care of themselves. Like any other offspring, the fox babies also stay with their mothers.

Foxes create their homes in a particular area where the fox babies are born. Like a lion, foxes live in a den.

The home of a baby fox is also a den, which marks the territory of the pups till they are young. The fox pups stay with their mothers for months.

The dens are made in a closed area, usually with any form of roof available. They stay close to their mother for about three to four months in this particular area, and after that, like other animals, they are also sent, so that they can look for their areas.

Fox babies are called pups, kits, and cubs. Different people prefer to call them by one of these three names.

Some people also call them fox babies, but there is often confusion with the names of fox kits and kit foxes. A kitfox is a breed of foxes. Kitfoxes are a species of fox, whereas fox kits are fox babies.

It is not just the fox babies who are called kits. There are many different animals whose offspring are called kits. Animals like squirrels, rabbits, and badgers also have offspring called kits. The term 'kit' is often confused with kids and kittens. Kids are little human beings, and kittens are the offspring of cats.

What do foxes prey on?

Foxes are well-known scavengers. Scavengers are carnivorous animals that feed on other animals and hunt for their food. Foxes are well-known scavengers as they feed on small animals.

Foxes are nocturnal animals. They stay awake at night and go hunting for their food at night. Therefore, they are scavengers of the northern hemisphere.

Foxes are omnivorous animals. A fox’s diet is very flexible. They eat anything and everything available in different seasons.

They are well suited for urban and suburban environments. Foxes have sharp canines that help them tear the flesh of animals. They eat different berries, corn, and fruits like apples and cherries, yet at the same time they can hunt smaller animals like squirrels, mice, birds, and rabbits.

A fox is known to be a lazy animal. Since a fox is a cunning animal, it is very smart in its practices.

A male fox is a well-known hunter. When they are hunting, they look for easy targets. They avoid prey that is hard to hunt and look for easier alternatives.

Foxes are also called smart creatures as they hunt in bulk and bury the food items to meet their energy needs when times are hard. So, food availability is never a concern, and food shortages are met effectively.

Foxes follow a wide variety of diets. It changes with the changing seasons and depends upon the availability of food items.

They rely on the vegetation of the northern hemisphere region in the summer season by eating fruits like cherries, apples, grass, nuts, corn, and more. In winter, their diets change to a more carnivorous practice.

Foxes have a variety of diets. Their diets change with the changing seasons. In the summer, they eat different berries, juicy apples, grass, cherries, and corn.

During the winter, they follow a carnivore diet. They eat other animals like mice and rabbits as food. Since foxes are nocturnal and have a very high range of hearing, they catch the movements of their potential prey and hunt in a wild manner.

They are very intelligent and smart beings. They notice and observe the range and marks on the ground to track the location of their potential prey. In winter they don't have to worry about food as they have a habit of burying their food in bulk and creating stocks.

Foxes are willing to eat anything. Foxes like to eat the same fruits and vegetables as humans do.

They are more than happy to eat the leftover food that humans provide, a habit that makes them scavengers. Since they are carnivorous, they can also eat dog food, cat food, and non-vegetarian pet food. They also like to eat food items like cheese, crackers, cooked vegetables and curries, and loaves of bread.

Do foxes attack humans?

Foxes are not violent animals. They avoid fights as much as possible. Just like we are afraid of them, in the same way, they are afraid of us.

It is very uncommon to find foxes attacking humans in the daytime. In the daytime, they roam around to find food, and they do not attack anybody until provoked. They often make a den in the backyard of a house. Foxes come close to human houses only to use the porches as their dens or to find food.

Foxes come out into the open only at night when they are out hunting. They are the best scavengers at that time, and if humans don't provoke them or harass them, they don't attack humans at night either.

It is recommended to not take the chance of getting hurt when people come across foxes. They should maintain a distance as foxes are wild animals and wild animals are unpredictable.

Foxes are not violent towards humans. In ancient times, people also kept them as pets in their homes. Animals are often scared of us, and foxes are no exception.

There are people who are so cruel that they enjoy killing animals just for fun. Humans have been killing animals just for fun, out of a passion for hunting to show that they are powerful.

Killing foxes is also a practice in this cruel human world. Since we learned that foxes have a short mating season and only three to five fox pups are born in a year from a single mating, the rate of fox hunting is alarming. Many species of fox have become extinct or endangered.

Did You Know...

There is no particular sound for the baby foxes. They have different sounds, approximately 40 in number.

As foxes are very closely related to the dog family, some of their sounds are very similar to those of dogs. Fox kits also bark like dogs when they feel threatened by a predator. By barking, the fox pups make their parents aware of the potential threat.

Fox babies often sound like human babies. Sometimes their voices are very high-pitched, and that makes people assume that a woman is screaming. When the fox babies are playing and interacting with other fox offspring, they make laughing sounds. They create the sound 'ack ack ack'.

Foxes' voices are mostly high-pitched. Their voices have a high shrillness. Fox voices are sometimes very scary to people.

It appears as if the foxes are screaming. People get scared of that, but they fail to realize that it is communication taking place between the foxes.

Fox screams are just a matter of a short time. It happens when the baby fox detects a potential threat from predators, as there are many predators of foxes, or at the time of mating, which happens for just two to three months.

It also happens when there are many foxes in a particular area. It creates competition, and the foxes become insecure about their territories and dens.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for what are baby foxes called, then why not take a look at where do foxes live, or do foxes make good pets?