Fur Farming / A book of Information about Fur Bearing Animals, Enclosures, Habits, Care, etc.

by A. R. Harding

In their search for food they sometimes start out quite early in the evening, but are probably most active in the early morning when all animal life is on the move. Then it is that the rabbits and other nocturnal animals are seeking their places of rest and the birds, etc., are commencing to move about and the fox stands a better chance of securing some article of food.

Their food consists principally of small animals and birds, such as rabbits, partridge, quail, chipmunks and mice, but they also eat fruit, such as apples, wild grapes and nuts. However, they are more strictly carnivorous than the gray fox. They are fond of eggs and often rob the nests of ground building birds, of eggs and young, and in the settled sections have acquired a decided liking for poultry of all kinds.

The food of the gray fox is practically the same as that of the red variety but they are more given to eating fruit and feed extensively on grapes, apples, etc., and in some sections they feed on green corn. All foxes will eat fish with a relish when they can get them and will refuse scarcely anything in the line of flesh, being especially fond of muskrat, skunk and opossum. In captivity they take very kindly to a vegetable diet.

The Arctic foxes live chiefly on lemmings, small animals which are found quite plentifully in the far north, but in captivity they thrive on fish and cooked corn meal.

The mating season of the red fox comes mainly in February and the beginning of March and the young, from five to eight or nine, are born in April or early in May. The young of the gray fox are born in May, the mating season of this species being somewhat later than that of the red fox. The breeding dens of the fox are usually located on some gravelly hillside but in places where the country is broken and rocky. They use natural dens in the rocks. It is only during the breeding season and while the young foxes are still quite small that these dens are regularly inhabited. At other times they may spend an occasional day there or seek safety in the dens when hard pressed by hounds, but for the most part they prefer to rest out of doors.

Foxes prefer the rough hilly countries and are usually found in good numbers in the hilly farming sections where there are old pastures and an occasional patch of woodland. The gray fox is most at home in the wooded districts but the red species, including the silver, cross and black prefer the more open stretches of country. In the north they will be found most plentiful in the barrens and sections where second-growth timber prevails.

The two species do not appear to be on very friendly terms and not given to mixing one with the other. In some sections where red foxes were once numerous and the gray variety were unknown, the grays now predominate, having driven out the red variety. In other parts the reds have supplanted the grays. This, however, is only in the central and southern districts, as the gray fox is never found far north.

Fox Farming.—Fox farming has been attempted by various parties from time to time and those who have given the business considerable study and have persevered have generally been successful. Many of the parties, however, were men who have had practically no knowledge of nature, having gone into the business too deeply in the start and being ignorant of the nature and habits of the animals when found in a wild state, have as a consequence, failed. Very few of those who have made a success of breeding the valuable silver foxes have gone into this business in the start, but have first experimented with the less valuable red fox, and as the silver and red foxes are of the same variety their nature and habits are also the same, and the knowledge of their habits gained by experimenting with one is of equal value as applied to the other.

The Arctic foxes are being raised successfully on many of the islands off the coast of Alaska. As the seas never freeze over there, no enclosures are necessary and the business has proved comparatively easy from the start. Such islands are not within the reach of the average fox farmer and other means must be resorted to. The breeding of silver foxes has, thus far, been carried on mainly in the Canadian Maritime Provinces and the state of Maine, but it has also been undertaken to some extent in Michigan, Alaska, Labrador and Newfoundland.

We are certain that if one will give the matter sufficient study, learn the habits and nature of the animals thoroughly and act accordingly, success is sure to follow and that the red, cross and silver foxes may be bred and raised successfully. Experiments should be conducted on a small scale, for otherwise failure would mean a great loss. We would advise that the amateur conduct his experiments with red foxes, learning their habits thoroughly before attempting the breeding of the valuable silver-gray.