The rutting and agonistic signals in foxes. Hunting foxes during the rutting season Mating foxes

Her mating season starts from the end of January - in February, and in the north and in March, although even before this one can often see a male and a female in pairs.

At the wedding time, in March, several males look after one female, and fights between them are a common phenomenon. During the rut, foxes are very excited, often yapping and howling, especially loners who have not yet found a mate.

The voices can distinguish between male and female. She makes a triple take-off and finishes it with a short howl, and fox barks more often and more, like a dog. Having retired, couples play a lot, even arrange peculiar dances: they circle one another on their hind legs.

Male foxes are wonderful family men. They not only take an active part in the rearing of young animals, but also touchingly take care of their girlfriends long before they give them lovely little foxes: they carry food, landscaping holes and, they say, even look for fleas from them.

It happens that a female becomes widowed before or after the sensation, then single males will certainly take on the role of a stepfather, and look after adoptive cubs and their mother no worse than their own father. And what's more, foxes take care of babies so much that sometimes they fight among themselves for the right to be a father or stepfather.

And the female is watching the fight and is mainly concerned that her children get a stronger beast, and the father or stepfather is indifferent.

Young in the litter is from 4 to 12, but most often 5-6. They appear after a 51-53-day pregnancy, usually in late April or in the first half of May. Puppies are born weak and helpless, deaf and blind, weighing only 100-150 grams, but grow quite quickly. In less than a month they already see, hear, weigh about 1 kilogram, leave the hole, and soon begin to play and frolic. Parents from this time on bring half-dead game to them, so that the children acquire hunting skills.

The foxes in their infancy are brown in color and very similar to cubs or puppies of a raccoon dog, but they have a distinctive feature: in foxes, as in adult foxes, the tip of the tail is white.

In the summer, father and mother have to hunt day and night to feed their lean, leggy and gluttonous babies. Within a radius of 2-3 kilometers from the nest, they destroy all or almost all rabbits, many birds, even mice, become noticeably smaller.

At this time, parents are extremely careful. Once a person even accidentally stumbles upon a brood hole, the next night the foxes will be transferred to another place, to a spare hole; there are usually several of them in foxes on the site. If puppies are in danger, adults will discover an amazing presence of mind.

Even when a person tears a hole with a shovel, they are trying to the last to save their children - to withdraw through one of the snouts. At the age of one and a half months, young growth begins to go hunting with their parents and quickly masters all the wisdom. At this time, energy and indefatigable fun overwhelm the foxes. They are constantly in motion, play among themselves, stick to the elders. Often they express their puppy enthusiasm with a squeal and barking, sometimes endangering themselves and the whole family - suddenly their people or wolves will hear.

By November, yearlings become adults and begin an independent life. Usually they scatter where and where. Males go away, for 20-40 or more kilometers, females an average of 5-10 kilometers, rarely further. Everyone is looking for a plot and a marriage partner. A mother occasionally lives on the same site with her children until the next "wedding."

In autumn, 40–70% of yearlings in the fox population. This indicates a high fecundity of the fox and good survival of young animals. It should be noted that foxes have a “poor sense of home”. If they are caught and taken away, they will not strive to return to their father’s house at all costs, but will settle in a free area. Of course, this does not apply to parents who feed offspring.

In captivity, the fox lives 10-12 years, while in freedom her age is much shorter. In the population, usually half of the population is young, a quarter is second-year-olds, 12-15% are those who are in their third year. For 3 years, few have managed to "pass" - about ten out of a hundred. And over four years old foxes in nature are very rare.

The economic activity of man does not only harm the fox, but even improves the conditions of its existence. This beast willingly settles where forests are cut down, in drained and open swamps. The expansion of acreage is also favorable for the fox. In terms of adaptability to a wide variety of conditions, a column can be placed next to it.

A fox is not afraid of a man, unless he, of course, pursues her. These very cautious and distrustful animals, it happens, live not only near villages, but also within the boundaries of large cities. Once I had to see a fox on the outskirts of Khabarovsk: she sat quietly at the side of the highway and looked calmly at the bus.

And when the car stopped and people began to get out of it with a noise, the patrikeevna slowly, looking around and as if smiling, trotted away. Once in the Amur-Ussuri Territory, I happened to observe how a fox calmly looked at a Tu-104 that was just tearing away from the runway with a roar.

In one of the busy districts of Odessa, a fox lived and even successfully bred for a long time. Her hole with five exits was placed in a dense shrubbery near a pedestrian road. Judging by the fact that in her brood there were nine foxes, she lived well in Odessa.

And in Novorossiysk foxes have chosen a quarry of a cement plant. They are so accustomed to people that they not only did not hide from them, but went out to meet them and took refreshments directly from their hands.

In some parts of England, foxes have fully mastered vast agricultural land, began to populate cities: they live in parks, eat at landfills, and they make holes under warehouses. They inhabit and successfully breed even in the center of vast London. In the big city of Birmingham, foxes lit a fair amount of dirt - after all, these animals are not very clean. The city’s veterinary service with the help of hunters catches foxes and takes them to the forest, and after a while the animals return to the city again.

It can be concluded: if people do not chase animals and are friendly to them, then four-legged animals easily get used to a person, are not afraid of him, live with him side by side. And not only foxes, but incredulous stone martens, and they settle in cities; there were a lot of them in Voronezh, their numbers increased in Berlin, Bern. In Magdeburg, there are more than a thousand of them; they began to hunt them right in the city.

The fox has always been and remains an interesting and valuable game animal. One thing is bad: it is a distributor of rabies and other infectious diseases, it harms sports hunting. In a number of countries they destroy her for this, believing that russians, partridge pheasants, even for fine fox fur, are too expensive.

It is obvious that strict control over its numbers is necessary. And one more thing: we must not forget that the destruction of many rodents, it brings great benefits to agriculture.

  Briefly about the fox.

The common or red fox is the most common and largest species of the fox genus. An individual site, which is occupied by a couple or a family of foxes, should provide them not only with a sufficient amount of food, but also places suitable for installation of holes. Meanwhile, permanent fox shelters are usually used only during the period of cubs' upbringing.

Like a wolf, a fox belongs to monogamous animals that breed once a year. The time of the rut and its effectiveness depends on the weather and the fatness of the animals. There are years when up to 60% of females are left without offspring. The female is often looked after by two or three males, bloody fights occur between them.

Note that foxes are good parents. Males, along with females, take an active part in the education of offspring, and also take care of girlfriends before the appearance of foxes. They equip burrows and even catch fleas from females.

In the brood, there are from 4 to 12 puppies, covered first with dark brown hair. Outwardly, they resemble wolf cubs, but differ in the white tip of the tail. See and hear begin at the age of two weeks. In general, from the time of the rut to the final exit, the foxes leave the burrow for about six months. At the same time, young animals that leave the parent's den are usually 2 to 30 km away from it.

Of the fox's senses, the most developed sense of smell and hearing; eyesight is much less developed - therefore, for example, a fox can come very close to a motionless sitting or standing person from the windy side.

During the rut and just in a state of excitement, the fox makes a jerky loud bark. The male barks, almost like a dog, without howling, the female makes a triple “take-off”, which ends with a short howl. In the wild, foxes rarely live more than seven years, often life expectancy does not exceed three. In captivity, animals live up to 20-25 years.

Source: http://www.viptrophy.com/

  The hunt for the fox.

We hunt many foxes. This is one of the most popular hunts. The methods of extraction are literally inexhaustible by imagination - from a horse enclosure and hunting with a golden eagle to luring a mouse squeak and baiting at a bait. With flags, the fox is hunted in much the same way as the wolf, but it is much easier to get it in this way, because its daily course is much shorter than that of the gray fellow. If foxes are known to hunters, then hunting can begin right from the salary.

The fox’s most probable places are circled around, keeping to clearings, sights, paths and roads, i.e. the most open places, so as not to frighten off the beast prematurely. If it is known that there are badger or fox holes in the hunting area, they must be “cut” from the salary or surrounded with flags, otherwise during the rutting the fox will hang out and it will be impossible to get it without normal dogs.

When salary, it is especially necessary to carefully examine the old tracks and hare paths, using which the fox can get out of salary before overframing. If, after the salary, the number of input tracks exceeds the number of output, the beast is considered taxed. It is more difficult to solve the problem with an equal number of input and output tracks. In this case, special attention is paid to the freshness of the tracks. If the morning, entrance track is fresh, the salary must be adjusted.

To attract foxes, a bait is laid out - usually this is the carcass of a fallen pet. It is best to place it on a high and necessarily open place, but not far from the forest, shrubs and other places favorable for a day of foxes. If the bait has tall solitary trees, magpies and crows fly and sit on them, helping the animals to find the bait. In addition, it has long been noticed that the fox is more willing to bite the birds pecked by birds than to the untouched one. Saturated, the fox settles down on a day at a relatively small distance from the bait. For hunting a fox, a two-kilometer set of flags is usually enough. In those places where animals didn’t hunt with flags, small salaries of up to 1 km can be made .. Flags are hung so that they touch the surface of the snow with their ends. It is advisable to carry out the hunt in a vicious circle, and two people are enough to participate in it: an arrow and a beater.

You need to drive the fox calmly, without screaming. Touched from a prone position, she walks along the line of flags in search of a way out and, in the end, stumbles upon an arrow.

Hunting can be simplified with some experience and in those places where the beast is not frightened. Laying the beast, a cord with flags is not hung on the bushes, but laid directly on the surface of the snow. You can hunt with flags until the end of the hunting season. Of great interest to the hunter is the hunt for foxes with hounds. For this hunt, a dog is needed quite frisky and, most importantly, viscous, able not to leave a mark, even if the beast led her away from the owner. Go hunting before dawn to catch a fox feeding. When a fox is lifted from a lying position or intercepted while walking, it often leaves in a straight line for a considerable distance, sometimes up to 5 km., Leading the dogs along. As a rule, after some time, the fox returns back to the area of \u200b\u200bits permanent habitat, which is more familiar to her, and continues to walk in small circles here.

The size of the fox circle depends on the terrain and on the quality of the dogs. Frisky or, as they say, “paratrooped” dogs force the fox to make large regular circles, and “walking” hounds allow the beast to walk for a long time in a small volume, on small irregular circles.

Hearing the approaching race, the hunter must quickly get up on the alleged beast manhole. Such a hole can be a crossroads, an intersection of a road and a clearing or two clears, narrow valleys. If the hunter “saw” the fox, but it is out of the shot, you should carefully move to the place where it just passed: the fox loves to follow his trail. The fox avoids open, clean places during rutting. She crosses glades in the narrowest places, taking advantage of the cover of individual bushes and uneven terrain: ditches, hollows, and even road ditches.

Choosing a hole, the hunter should leave as few traces as possible on the rut. It is necessary to stand quietly on the hole and not make sudden movements, even raising a gun when approaching the beast should only be done when it is already within the limits of the right shot.

Often during such a hunt, the fox takes refuge from the hounds in its hole if the entrance to it was not previously hammered by hunters. Some hunter-lovers use normal dogs - dachshunds and terriers in order to get the fox.

The duration of the fox hunt with the hound depends on the conditions of the year. They start it with the opening of the hunting season for fur animals, and end when the deep snow makes it difficult for the dog to work.

Hunting with hiding is a difficult, but interesting and very sporty way. Before snowfall, it is almost impossible to notice a mice fox against a background of yellow-brown vegetation, so hunting begins with the appearance of a white path. The most convenient places for such hunting will be open areas with a soft relief: meadows and fields interspersed with small copses, islets of shrubs, ravines and lowlands overgrown with weeds, wide floodplains of large rivers, etc.

Go hunting with dawn, when the fox is still feeding. Carefully inspecting the terrain, the hunter moves around the land, trying to stay against the wind. Field binoculars and a camouflage robe can be of great help here. When a feeding fox is discovered, the hunter must determine the general direction of its progress and, depending on the terrain conditions, either hide the beast using natural shelters, or try to go ahead and wait for it to approach.

When hunting a fox from an approach, some hunters use a decoy, with which they imitate the squeak of a mouse, or imitate its squeak, sucking in air, pressing the back of the palm to the lips. The fox picks up a squeak of a mouse at a distance of up to 300 m. It is not necessary to cast a voice often, at intervals, and freeze when the beast is alert. The success of this hunt depends entirely on the endurance and skill of the hunter. In some areas, using the decoy, they imitate the cry of a hare.

In the years of the abundance of mouse-like rodents, foxes feeding in daylight are rare: they are quite content with night hunting.

At the end of winter, in February, when foxes start to rush, hunting from the approach is most prey. During this period, foxes often walk in the afternoon, and are found not only in pairs, but also in groups of 3-5 individuals. Hunters call such groups a "fox wedding." They usually consist of a female and several males chasing her. Having noticed foxes, the hunter tries to identify the female by their behavior and, having dispersed the animals, pursues her, stealing them for 1-1.5 km .. Then, having disguised himself on the female’s trail, the hunter waits for the males to return.

Mice foxes are hunted together, combining an approach with surge. In this case, one of the hunters is trying to quietly go forward along the beast, and the other - carefully point him at a friend.

Experienced hunters successfully hunt foxes by tracing in fresh snow. By the nature of the legacy, they determine the fox who graduated from the hunt and headed to the bed. In the forest, a fox lies near a tree trunk, on bumps, stumps or under a root eversion, and in open places among fields - in ravines, in bushes and weeds. Well-fed foxes sleep very soundly and often let close shots. It is easier to approach them in the soft snow in warm weather and on windy days.

The foxes also shoot, stalking them at a specially laid out bait - they fell.

One of the biological characteristics of fur animals is strict seasonality, their reproduction. Maturation of germ cells (egg cells in females and seed in males) in foxes, arctic foxes and minks occurs in the winter or early spring months.
  The fox’s race usually starts in the second half of January and ends in the second half of March. In foxes, it occurs on average a month later, and in minks - mainly in March, although females can cover much earlier - in the middle and even in the first half of February.
  All of these types of fur animals during the year have only one short period of sexual activity (for foxes and arctic foxes, 2-5 days), and if the female is not covered during this period, then they remain sterile throughout the year.
  During the rutting season in females, hunting (estrus) does not occur simultaneously. Of great importance are the conditions of feeding and keeping the females in preparation for the run. Females, well prepared for the race, provided with a sufficient amount of complete fodder and the necessary amount of vitamins, come to the hunt, as a rule, earlier, and give birth to more puppies than poorly trained females. In young females entering a race for the first time, hunting usually occurs later than in adults. The time of the onset of hunting, especially in foxes and arctic foxes, is of great economic importance, as puppies born earlier tend to develop better.
The estrus is determined by the condition of the external genital organs of the females and by the behavior of the animals. Viewing the external genitalia of female foxes should begin in the first decade of January, and foxes in the first decade of February. In minks, loops are not visible. The first sign of changes in the external genital organs of females is a slight increase and pinking of the loop. In the future, the loop increases even more and swells. Before pairing, the loop darkens somewhat, becomes almost round, and its swelling decreases slightly. Viewing a loop in female foxes and arctic foxes should be done no less than every other day (preferably every day), and as soon as females in estrus are identified, they should be planted in the male. In some females, especially young ones, estrus occurs with very slight changes in the loop. Therefore, such females should be planted in the male, without waiting for sudden changes in the external genitalia.
  Planting females to males is carried out in the morning. The female, who is on the hunt, plays with the male, turns her tail and allows cover. If a female having altered genital organs does not respond to the presence of a male, then such a pair should be transplanted, and replanting should be repeated the next day or, in extreme cases, every other day. If the male does not react or is hostile to the female that is placed in front of him and is in evident heat, then such a male must be replaced by another. The coated female should be re-blocked 1-2 days after the first coating in order to increase the fertility of the females. Experience has shown that once coated females have slightly lower fecundity and a higher percentage of misses than females coated twice.
  Before and during rutting in males, the development of the testes should be checked. Males with poorly developed testes are not allowed to cover, as this can lead to the omission of females. To ensure good sexual activity of males and to increase their fertilizing ability in fur farms, during feeding, males are fed with well-digestible and nutritious feeds: minced meat, liver, eggs. Feeding is given to animals after coating.
  Well preparing males for the race, production leaders have made great strides in expanding polygamy. Cases of fruitful coating by one male of 12 or more females are known. Males, the most sexually active, can cover two females in one day. Males can be active and successfully cover females for 30-40 days or more.
Planting of female minks and males should begin in the northern and central regions from March 5-7. In most minks, egg maturation occurs in two stages, at intervals of 7-10 days. Therefore, the female mink, covered in the first period of the hunt, should be covered again after a specified period after the first coating. It is more difficult to fix the female cover in minks than in foxes and arctic foxes; therefore, it is necessary to carefully monitor the behavior of a deflated pair in order to accurately determine the presence of a coating.
  In foxes and arctic foxes, mating occurs with combing, as in dogs. Mating in foxes and arctic foxes can last 20-30 minutes, and in minks even more. The duration of mating, if it was not too short (3-5 minutes), does not affect the fertility and fecundity of females.
  During the rutting foxes and arctic foxes, females are usually planted in the male’s cage. During the rutting of minks, this method can be used, and, conversely, replanting the male with the female. The latter system is often used on large farms, as this accelerates the identification of females in heat.
  In preparation for the race, you must carefully monitor the fatness of animals. For a correct judgment on the fatness of animals, they should be probed in order to determine the development of the fat layer. Probing should be done in the chest, sacrum and inguinal region. The bones should be palpable, but at the same time not protrude, that is, the subcutaneous fat layer should be well developed. Before rutting (in January), female foxes should weigh 5.3 - 5.5 kg, arctic foxes 4.7-4.8 kg, mink 800-850 g. In the spring and summer months, animals lose weight, losing up to 30% by July its winter weight.

   Read the author's essay: Red Cheat   and essays: Common fox:; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

FOX BIOLOGY: Reproduction Yu.A. Gerasimov(Zagotizdat, Moscow, 1950)

In the south of the Soviet Union at the end of winter, usually in January and February, and in the middle latitudes in February and March, the mating season begins in foxes - the rut. At this time, you can often hear a kind of hoarse cracking. This is foxes barking.

Well listening to the voices of several animals, you can notice the difference in them. Three abrupt hacking, ending with a stretched monophonic howl, belong to the female. The barking of males, more frequent, jerky, does not end in a howl and very much resembles the short-term barking of a small mongrel. Such hacking foxes characterize the beginning of the rut.

With a large number of foxes and under favorable conditions for their existence, you can regularly bark for one to two weeks every night for one or sometimes several foxes at once. This indicates that the animals have wintered well and their race runs amicably. In such a year, with a favorable spring, one should expect numerous fox broods with a large number of healthy puppies in each.

During the mating period, foxes often gather in groups and run in a row, forming the so-called "fox weddings". Usually the female leads the wedding, followed by several males. Between males, fights ensue, which sometimes take on a fierce character. From the traces left in the snow, one can imagine how the animals fiercely gnawed, then standing one against the other on their hind legs, then clutching as they rolled in a ball, leaving shreds of wool on the snow. If the rivals meet in a hole, a no less fierce struggle is tied up underground, usually ending in the flight of the weaker.

Mating in foxes, as in dogs, is accompanied by binding, as a result of the formation of a male bulb - thickening at the base of the genital organ from a rush of blood to the cavernous bodies. Male and female in a bound state can be up to half an hour. If at this time the foxes suddenly scare, they will run away.

After mating, some pairs sometimes diverge briefly. In such cases, before mating, the males again compete with each other because of pregnant females. After this, the foxes finally pair up, and the male, together with the female, actively participates in the preparation of the hole and in the upbringing of the young.

Foxes most often arrange pores in elevated, dry places with a deep arrangement of groundwater levels, digging them in a wide variety of landscape conditions. Burrows are fairly evenly distributed among fields and arable lands, in forests and on forest edges, among hay and grazing meadows.

In steppe and desert areas with vast open spaces, foxes prefer the slopes of ravines, valleys of rivers and streams, overgrown with shrubs, where they usually dig holes or occupy free badgers.

In the spring, a couple of foxes sometimes clears several holes in the territory of their hunting area. This can easily be seen on freshly scooped heaps of sand and traces of animals left on them.

In damp and swampy areas with a limited number of places suitable for erection, fox broods are often located in adjacent burrows located at a distance of 100-200 meters. There are even cases of the settlement of two broods in one hole.

How often foxholes are found in various zones of the Soviet Union can be judged by the following data. In 1939, in the Spitsovsky district of the Stavropol Territory, an area of \u200b\u200b40 square kilometers accounted for up to 50 holes, and in the Arzgir region, up to 100 holes in the same area. In the Ural-Emba desert in 1935, only 3 burrows were found on the same area.

According to our research, in the Brovarsky district of the Kiev region, an area of \u200b\u200b40 square kilometers accounted for 8-9 holes in 1948/49, and in the Moscow region (Losinoostrovsky farm) in 1938 - 12 holes.

In the taiga regions of Eastern Siberia (in the upper reaches of the rivers Ushmuna, Borun and Zund-Dzhily and beyond the Yablonovy ridge to the valleys of the Gunda, Bulugunda and Chubuktuy rivers), in 1945/46, one fox burrow accounted for several hundred square kilometers.

Thus, the number of holes in different areas is very different. This can serve as an indirect indicator of how suitable these or other sites for the life of a fox.

During the construction of fox holes, small tubercles, slopes of ravines, crevices in rocks, embankments of ditches dug for draining swamps, and even trenches and hollows left after the hostilities are used. Less commonly found burrows on the gentle slopes of swampy depressions.

The underground labyrinth of the hole is usually located in the most malleable layer of sand, sandy loam or light loam for digging, the depth of which can vary from 50 to 250 centimeters. The steepness of the passages, the structure of the underground labyrinth and the depth of the nesting chamber - the lair depend on this.

If subsoil layers come to the surface (in ravines, trenches, ditches), foxes dig 1, less often 2 inlets directly in the slope of the ravine or ditch and make a short, 2-3 meters long, corridor at a small angle to the surface of the earth. Burrows of this type, apparently, serve as a temporary shelter, since animals visit them irregularly and usually do not breed puppies in them.

More often foxes dig more complex underground passages with 2-3 snouts and with a nesting chamber - a den located underground under a depth of more than a meter. The underground labyrinth of such holes consists of 2-3 corridors with a diameter of 25-30 centimeters and a total length of 6-10 meters, which serve as passages to the lair. In some cases, underground passages are complicated by blind (not having an exit to the earth's surface) 1-2-meter long cuts open to the side of the nesting chamber or corridor. Usually, foxholes, contrary to the opinion of many hunters, are very simple in arrangement and have 2-3 straight or slightly curved corridors - passages to the lair, which are underground at a depth of 1-2 meters.

Old foxes or badger holes occupied by foxes are more complex. In these cases, up to a dozen recesses come to the surface of the earth, and the underground labyrinth can be dug at a depth of 2-3 meters and may consist of several corridors and many blind recesses with a total length of 30-40 meters.

In the depths of such pores there are no sharp temperature fluctuations. It was found that when the temperature of the air on the earth's surface changes from -8 to + 27 °, the temperature in the den of the hole (at a depth of 120 centimeters below the ground) changed from - 2 to + 17 °, and in moves at a depth of 250 centimeters - from 0 to + 14 °.

It should be noted that the hot weather in residential foxholes at a depth of 1.5-2 meters and in the presence of an animal did not rise above + 17 °, and in winter colds did not fall below 0 °.

It is also important to note that the concentration of water vapor in the dens of the fox dens usually approaches saturated humidity even in the steppe arid regions.

Sunlight never penetrates the nesting chamber. With a complex underground labyrinth, even scattered light enters the den in the smallest amount.

Consequently, the old, deep underground burrows turn out to be not only a reliable refuge for foxes, but also a peculiar place of their habitat, where you can hide from the heat in sultry noon, and from inclement weather in rain and cold. In this regard, it becomes clear why foxes and their broods occupy primarily deep and complex burrows.

Foxes are very attached to their holes. If they are not disturbed, then from year to year they breed puppies in the same places.

Often in the old vast burrows with numerous rims, the family of foxes settles with the badger. In winter, a fox, wounded or chased by a dog, very often escapes in a hole where a badger sleeps.

Hunters know cases when a fox survived a badger from its hole. Some attribute this to cunning tricks of the fox, while others attribute it to its untidiness. However, in areas with a limited number of places for erection, for example, in northern Ukraine, we had to observe the opposite picture: badgers and raccoon dogs survived foxes from the burrows constantly occupied by them.

There are cases when completely helpless foxes are found in the hollow or under the snags of a fallen tree, in the crevice between the stones or under a hay mop. Such cases can be explained by the flooding of a hole chosen by an inexperienced young female, or the relocation of a disturbed brood. Old females usually whelp in pre-prepared reliable burrows.

In the breeding work with the fox, the main attention is paid to increasing the reproductive ability of animals and improving the quality of skins. This is achieved by improving the herd of each farm and importing high-quality young stock from breeding farms. To improve reproductive ability, young animals are selected from medium and large litters from females with good maternal qualities and are properly prepared for breeding. It is necessary to exclude random overlapping of females by different males, which does not allow us to evaluate animals by the quality of offspring.
Each farm determines the desired type of foxes by the structure of pubescence and color, as well as the leading trait, the improvement of which will most likely increase the economic effect of breeding. The length of the hair (awn, down), the size of the silver zone and the pigmented tip of the spine are signs that are determined by multiple genes. These features of inheritance must be taken into account in breeding work.
Breeding for lengthening the hairline often leads to the appearance of collapse, drooping hair on the sides and excessive development of the mane - lengthening the hair in the neck and shoulder blades.
Lightening the pubescence of foxes worsens the color of the skins and usually increases the severity of the defect - cross section of the spine. This is due to an increase in the pubescence of platinum hair due to a decrease in silvery and fully pigmented hairs, as well as an increase in the silver zone due to a reduction in the length of the pigmented tip of the spine. The clarification of pubescence is usually combined with the appearance of a light veil, the severity of which depends on the ratio of the length of the pigmented tip of the spine to the width of the silver zone. Studies have shown that platinum hair is more prone to cross-section and breakage than silver.
It is necessary to take into account the structural features of the hairline of animals when determining the feasibility of their delivery. Thus, the importation and mating of foxes with different lengths of spine and fluff can significantly change the manifestation of silverness and the severity of the veil in descendants due to a change in their ratio between the silver zone and the pigmented tip of the spine.
To eliminate the defects of pubescence during scoring, note the degree of cross-section and piled up hairline, the presence of mane. Parents giving unwanted offspring are discarded. In order to prevent cross-section, which is widespread in animals with clarified pubescence, it is recommended to select to reduce platinum and increase the silver spine in the hairline. For this, foxes with 100% silver should be mated with foxes having a 75% silver. If there are puppies with cottoniness in the litter, it is recommended to discard the entire litter.
To the greatest extent they meet the modern requirements of a fox with a black shiny awn, an underfur of dark gray, a pure white silver ring 10-15 mm wide, a well-defined belt and a cross on the shoulder blades. A large amount of platinum hair in pubescence is undesirable. It should be left to the tribe of animals with 90% silver with a normal veil and 100% silver with a heavy veil. Foxes with 100% silver and a light veil for uniform pairing are not allowed.
Content.   Foxes are bred in different regions of the country: in the northwest, north and in the center of the European part, in Ukraine and Belarus, in the Volga region, in the Urals, in Western and Eastern Siberia, in the Far North.
Until 1945, foxes were kept mainly in cages with an area of \u200b\u200b3x4 m with a wooden floor. They were replaced by smaller cells [(2-3) * 1.2 m] with a mesh floor raised above the ground. Currently, sheds for foxes are most often equipped with 290 cm long, 95 wide and 65 cm high cells, which can be divided into 2-3 compartments by plug-in partitions. For periods of pregnancy, whelping and lactation, a nest is inserted into one of the compartments. Females in these periods occupy the entire cage. After depositing the young, the house is cleaned, and the walk is divided by partitions into 2-3 compartments and 2 young animals are placed in each compartment. Each compartment has a door and a rotating trough inserted into a wooden frame embedded in a mesh wall. In practice, another type of feeder is also provided, which has the appearance of an external shelf inclined at an acute angle to the wall.
Cells for foxes can be with stationary houses of the same size, but the number of cells in sheds is reduced. The house is installed between the walks, each of which can be divided into two compartments.
Males are kept in sheds, in walks of the same sizes as for females. Walking length 3 m, height 1.0 m. Walking can also be divided into 2-3 compartments and contain young animals.
The plug-in house for foxes (its size is 75x80x55 cm) consists of a nesting compartment and a “front” one, has a round hole with a diameter of 25 cm. The bottom is mesh with a wooden removable floor, double walls are for heat. The stationary house is larger (75x90x65 cm), a nest is inserted into it, the gap between the walls (10 cm) is filled with insulation material. The house has a common wooden roof and two separate ones - one located above the nest, the other above the "front"; the floor of the house is double mesh (permanent) and wooden (inset). The "front" is connected to the range with a wooden pipe with a valve.
In the Far North, in the forest-tundra and tundra zones there are strong snow drifts, therefore, ordinary sheds and cages for keeping animals of the main herd are unsuitable here. Sheds are placed on stilts with raised flooring in the aisle. The height of the racks (from the ground to the floor) is 50-60 cm. To protect against wind, sheds are built with a closed corridor, raised flooring in the aisle and mesh walks extending beyond the edge of the roof.
In the northern regions, foxes enter the race a little later, because due to the shorter length of daylight and low light, the onset of the breeding season is delayed. Animals are kept in cages with well-lit walks, and during the preparation for the gon they use electricity.
Preparing for the race.   Caring for adult animals in the summer-autumn period involves feeding, drinking, cleaning cells, monitoring the health of animals; in addition, they control the live weight of animals and the course of molting.
In practice, preparation for the rush of adult animals should begin after the young have deposited. It is necessary to carefully monitor the condition of females exhausted - plenty to feed, periodically show the veterinarian who can prescribe them vitamin or medications. Depletion in the summer months entails an increase in animal waste, a deterioration in the quality of their hair and a decrease in reproductive capacity in the next production year.
In August, foxes begin to prepare the body for reproduction: follicles appear and grow in the ovaries, and in November the uterus grows. At this time, feeding should be improved accordingly.
In summer, the ovaries in females are approximately 2 times smaller in size than during estrus. At the end of August - September, they increase, follicle growth is noted, the walls of the uterus grow. At this time, the concentration of sex hormones in the blood rises in both adult and young females. At the end of December - January, the precursor changes are found in the female genital tract.
In this period (late August - early September), males also show activation of the gonads, which is especially active in November - December: testes increase by 2-3 times compared with the summer period, androgen levels in the blood sharply increase.
The metabolism of foxes has been declining since the end of July, resulting in increased live weight. In December, with normal preparation, it is 30-40% higher than in summer.
Changes in metabolism and the development of genital organs depend on the length of daylight hours. Violation of the light regime (keeping animals in dark cages, late transportation to another household) negatively affects the development of their genitals, while additional lighting contributes to earlier periods of estrus in females. To accelerate the onset of the rut, young females, in which estrus usually occurs later than in adults, are planted in open cells.
To control the preparation of animals for the gon take into account their weight and fatness. Medium-sized young and adult females should weigh 6 kg by December 1, males - 7 kg. In poorly trained animals, the race is delayed; many females can bring few puppies or even be left without offspring.
It characterizes the condition of animals and the course of molting. If the loss of summer hair is delayed or winter hair grows late, this indicates a violation in the body of the beast, which can affect reproduction. In late June - early July, the summer spruce of young animals begins to be replaced by a winter one; in the second half of August, the shift is intensive. In adult foxes, the hairline begins to change in April and actively proceeds in May - July, in some it lingers until September.
After scoring, the main herd is finally completed. The animals remaining on the tribe are seated in cages that are pre-repaired, cleaned and disinfected. A stencil is hung on each cell. All animals are checked for sex, the presence of a tattoo on their ears, and that the number on the ear matches the number indicated on the stencil. At this time, the breeder serves not only breeding animals, which he prepares for future breeding, but also animals intended for slaughter.
During the slaughter period, fur farmers, as a rule, participate in fur processing processes, therefore less attention is paid to breeding animals. This fact may adversely affect the puppies' output in the next production year. First of all, this applies to females and males first-year-olds, whose growth and formation of the body ends during this period, and therefore they require enhanced nutrition compared to adult animals.
Gon.   The rutting period for foxes begins in the second half of January and ends in mid-March. Usually, in young females, the race begins a little later than in adults (especially with poor preparation for the race).
Before the start of the rut, the state of the testes in males is checked - they must be elastic and well developed. Males with poor testes are not allowed to cover females.
The fox hatchling lasts 7-11 days, the female hunts only once during the entire breeding period and lasts 2-3 days. Skipping a hunt entails the loss of litter this year. The onset of estrus and sexual hunting can be determined by the behavior of animals and the condition of the external genital organs (loops). From January 15-20, every 3 days, the status of the loop is checked in females. After its first changes are noticed, which usually within a few days precede the hunt, the check is carried out in 1-2 days.
Changes in the external genitalia of females go through several stages. The first stage - the loop weakly swells, whitens and becomes noticeable upon examination. Urine in the female acquires a characteristic color. If couples are planted, the female begins to play with the male. This is the first, precursor stage, which lasts 2-3 days. The second stage (1-2 days) - the loop swells even more. The third stage - the transition to hunting - the loop swells strongly, becomes convex, the females take a defensive position in relation to the male. The duration of the stage is 1-2 days. The fourth stage - hunting - the loop is almost round, dark, a small amount of mucus is visible. During this period, when replanting the male, coating occurs. This stage lasts 2-3 days. The fifth stage is the beginning of peace. The swelling of the loop decreases, it turns white. At the beginning of this stage, coverage is still possible. Then the female does not admit the male.
Some females, especially young ones, may have a “silent” estrus, in which all these changes in the genital organs are very weak. In order not to miss the hunt, such females should be regularly planted with males, even if their loop does not change.
Each animal department should have a notebook with female numbers. It regularly records the course of estrus and the state of the loop.
There are two methods of conducting the rut: 1) in females, in a day they examine the state of the loop and those who have estrus started, they plant it in the male attached to them; 2) to the males, in turn, after 1-2 days, all females assigned to each of them are seated (regardless of the state of the loop). Having adopted the second method, one should nevertheless check the status of the loop in females, since due to insufficient activity of the male, hunting in the female may be skipped. If changes in the female’s loop characterize the hunting period, it should be planted with the male understudy.
Females are planted to males 30-40 minutes after feeding, when the animals are most active. It is not worth it to plant pairs immediately after feeding, as animals that have just eaten are passive and do not pay attention to each other. You can also plant animals in the afternoon, after a 2-3-hour rest of the male. The female is left in the male cage for 40-50 minutes. Coitus lasts from several minutes to 1.5 hours, an average of 20-30 minutes. It is impossible to interrupt pairing. After the first mating, the female is planted with the same male for re-coating over the next two days.
Ovulation of eggs in females occurs within 2-3 days, so the mating that occurs on the second day of hunting is most desirable. The male sperm is stored in the female genital tract for about a day, about the same time an ovulated ovum is able to fertilize. When mating on the second day of hunting, sperm is able to fertilize the eggs that ovulated on the first, second and third days of hunting. In the case of mating on the first day, sperm may die before ovulation of the eggs, when mating on the third day, the eggs released on the first day may die. With repeated mating, the number of missed females decreases.
Sometimes, to activate the females, the following technique is used. At the beginning of the rut, 3-4 females are transplanted into open cages; daily or every other day, different males are transplanted to them for several hours. If the female comes into hunting and begins to allow the male to mate, she is immediately planted and the next day is planted to cover the male assigned to her. In the event of an unexpected coating, it is necessary to mark the females, for example, paint their tails. This makes it possible to establish which of the females is covered and which is not.
If on one day two females are planted on the male, he is given two mating - in the morning and in the afternoon. Covering the females with two different males is not recommended, as it does not increase the yield of the puppies and also makes it impossible to establish their origin. This is possible only at the end of the race, when the sexual activity of males and the usefulness of their sperm decreases. All puppies from such mating go to slaughter.
To identify the condition of the female, the behavior of the hatched animals should be especially carefully monitored for the first 20-30 minutes.
Among males, covering females are sometimes found, but not fertilizing many or none of them. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the quality of sperm under a microscope. Covered females after estrus and “recession” loops are considered pregnant. They are planted in already prepared cells in which they have to whelp.
Pregnancy and whelping. Pregnancy in foxes lasts 51-52 days, sometimes 49-54 days. In most cases, its presence can be determined by the appearance of the female. In a pregnant female, by the 40-45th day of pregnancy, the abdomen increases and slightly sags. She becomes calmer, slower, lies a lot. Pregnancy can not always be determined by appearance, some females do not change externally up to whelping. To determine pregnancy, females are probed 24-26 days after the last mating, and in the morning before feeding. The animals are carefully picked up so that they cannot move, and they carefully probe the abdominal cavity (rough handling is unacceptable, as this can lead to an abortion). In a pregnant female, embryos are palpated as small, chain-shaped formations. Sometimes, when there are few embryos, it is easy to confuse them with lumps of feces, so if there is no certainty, the test should be repeated after 2-3 days.
With the early determination of pregnancy by probing, it is possible to kill females that missed with good pubescence in early spring, without overexposing until the fall. Currently, without offspring, an average of 13% of females remain. The reasons for the omissions can be different: resorption of the fetus, abortion, premature birth. It is sometimes possible to establish an abortion by the presence of traces of blood, residues of the fetus, greenish-black color of feces, which is observed after the female eats the fetus.
Care for pregnant females consists in their timely feeding and careful handling. Noises, unusual for animals, must be avoided so that they are not frightened, uninterruptedly supply water, and to maintain cleanliness in houses and cages.
In the stencil of each female affix the estimated date of whelping. It is determined by adding to the coverage date 51 days. Houses and cages are prepared 10-15 days before whelping: they are thoroughly cleaned, disinfected, a dry clean nest is inserted into the house. In cold weather, in addition, the house is insulated: insulation material is placed between the bottom, walls, ceiling of the nest and the house: hay, straw, shavings, etc. In the sheds, the house is inserted inside the cage. In warm weather (above 8-10 ° C), the house should not be insulated, as the female will be hot in it, and it may become angry in a cage where puppies can freeze.
In the northern regions, before a whelping, a partition with a hole is inserted into the nest. The manhole in the partition in severe frosts is closed with a canopy of tarpaulin. The nest is placed on a layer of insulation material, the side walls and ceiling around the nest are insulated, as well as the front in the houses. The nest and front are filled with litter. At very low temperatures, the houses are insulated from the outside.
During whelping on the farm establish the duties of fur farmers. The attendant monitors the behavior of whelping and recently whelping females. In case of a dysfunctional birth, he assists the females or, if the case is complex, calls a veterinarian.
Puppy in foxes begins on March 10-15 and ends in early May. Normal birth lasts 1.5-2 hours, 1-15 puppies will be born.
Before puppies, many females change their behavior. They either restlessly run from the cage to the house and vice versa, or scrape the walls of the house, or do not leave it at all. On the eve or on the day of puppies refuse food.
On the puppy born, the female tears the placenta with her teeth and nibbles the umbilical cord. Holding the placenta with her teeth, she shakes her head and frees the puppy from her. She quickly licks a wet puppy, transfers it to her stomach and covers it with her tail. After 30 minutes, the puppy is already starting to suck milk. Inspiration of females is judged by the squeak of puppies, which is periodically distributed from the house. Puppies squeak if the female disturbs them with her movement. Fed, healthy puppies, when the female calms down, quickly stop squeaking. An abnormal squeak indicates a trouble in the nest.
Upon examination, pay attention to the condition of the puppies, their position and behavior of the female. Normal puppies weigh 80-100 g, are covered with dense short hairs and lie in a bunch, they are dry, warm, with rounded bellies filled with milk. Puppies scattered around the nest actively slide into a heap. The female grows 6-7 puppies well.
When examining each puppy, they take it in their hands, because among them may be weakened or frozen, which are difficult to identify in the total mass. In addition, premature and dead puppies may appear in the litter.
Adversity in the litter is often the result of the fact that the female cannot be born or has a poor maternal reflex and poorly cares for puppies, or puppies are born very weak.
If the litter is large, weak puppies should be dropped off to a newly-born female with a small litter (2-3 puppies).
The trouble in the litter, the poor condition of the puppies is caused by the fact that the puppies cannot suck well due to the presence of fluff around the nipples of the female. In these cases, fluff must be removed. Often, puppies cannot suck because the mammary glands of the female are very elastic and overfilled with milk. Excess milk squeezes and massages the glands. If the female has little milk, she is additionally fed, and part of the litter is sedimented.
Growing young animals.   Young growth is recorded on the tenth day after puppy, given the total number of puppies born and their condition. The first 20-25 days, puppies feed only on mother's milk. Two weeks later, puppies open their eyes and ears, teeth are cut.
Often, one or two puppies in the litter lag behind in development. This may be the result of poor maternal qualities of the female or the occurrence of diseases in puppies, including vitamin deficiency C (red-legged).
If the puppies cannot suck, and the mother does not pay attention to them, they are kept in wooden boxes heated by electric lamps. It is necessary that the temperature in the box does not exceed 20-25 ° C. A higher temperature is detrimental to puppies.
Every 4-5 hours puppies are fed. First, it is necessary to wipe the abdomen with them in the direction from the chest to the lower abdomen and remove the excreted feces and urine. When the weakened puppies are strong enough, they are laid to the female.
Weak puppies and puppies with signs of red-footed are always given 1 ml (a whole eye dropper) of a 2-3% solution of ascorbic acid with glucose in one go. Depending on the condition of the puppies, ascorbic acid is given once or 3-4 times a day until completely cured. The presence of red-legged puppies is noted in the stencil of the female for her subsequent culling.
In the case when the female has little milk, a nurse is used to grow young animals.
Some females carry their puppies. This can be caused by the excitement of the female due to any unusual noise, the presence of a dead or weak puppy in the nest, disturbing the female with her squeaking, as well as mastitis (hardening of the mammary glands) if the puppies do not suck well. Sometimes females drag puppies for no apparent reason. In this case, they limit the area of \u200b\u200bthe cage or close the female in the house. With a lack of milk in the mother, puppies are raised in the nurse.
On the 20-25th day of life (and with a lack of milk from the mother before), puppies begin to feed. The feeder is put in a house.
The introduction of top dressing is associated with rapid contamination of the houses, so they should be cleaned regularly. With the onset of warm weather, the nest is removed from the houses, and at high temperatures, the plank floor is also removed.
Growing young animals.   Puppies are planted at the age of 45-50; if the mother has little or no milk, then a few days earlier. Usually all puppies are immediately planted and kept together for several days, and then they are seated two in a cage (same-sex and same-sex couples).
When breeding foxes, individual branding, animal tattooing are used. Youngsters tattoo in June - August (at the age of 2-3 months) - a number is applied to the inner, hair-free surface of the ear.
The ear is pierced with special forceps with numbers inserted into them. They rub black mascara into the punctures. The serial number of the beast is usually applied to the right ear, and the last digits of the year of birth are to the left ear. Each year, serial numbers begin with the first. The tattoo number must match the one indicated in the calf magazine.
In pedigree farms all young animals are tattooed, in commodity farms - young animals of the tribal core. The rest of the youngsters are assigned a conditional number, which is recorded in the puppy's stencil, which is not hanging in its cage.
From 3 to 5 months in puppies, milk teeth are replaced by permanent ones. In the first months of life, puppies are especially active in growing limbs, then the trunk. By the age of 6–7 months, the young growth is close to adult animals. The most intensive growth is observed in foxes up to 2 months (weight increases by 20-27 times), then it slows down, by 5-6 months young growth has the size of adult animals.
Growing young, carefully monitor its development and the course of shedding hair. Each month, control groups of animals are weighed, which allows you to monitor their growth. At the age of about 2 months in foxes, starting from the muzzle and paws, the outer hair appears, by 4-5 months it develops throughout the body. These signs serve as the main indicators for the preliminary selection of breeding young in August. Discard poorly developed animals and with deviations from the normal course of molting, as well as with poor silver.
Tribal animals and animals intended for slaughter, create the appropriate conditions. Tribal people are fed plentifully and kept in well-lit cells. The rejected animals are kept in shaded cages, so that under the influence of sunlight their skins do not deteriorate, and the maturation of pubescence is accelerated.
To obtain high quality fox skins intended for slaughter, comb in September - October 1-3 times to remove fallen shed hair. In September, they reduce their diet, otherwise the spine will overripe and split.
Daily work on the farm during the rearing of young animals boils down primarily to good feeding and regular watering of animals, as well as to maintaining cleanliness on the farm and especially in houses. When animals are kept in clean cages, cases of their disease are almost eliminated, the skin has fewer defects.
Slaughter begins in the second half of November. Initially, it is conducted selectively, since not all foxes have pubescence matures at the same time.