Then it shivers uncontrollably. The whole process takes several hours. The elder males emerge first, followed by the elder females and finally, a few weeks later the young emerge. Almost immediately after emergence it searches for food to gain weight to compensate for the 4 to 5 months of not eating. Before eating though, the first thing on a groundhog's mind is mating.
Groundhogs are able to mate and have offspring when they are one year old.
They mate during the months of March and April and the females stay pregnant 31-32 days. 2-6 are born in a litter. They have two burrows. One for the summer and one for the winter. Their burrows have a spy hole up top to survey the land, a toilet chamber up top so that the vapors can escape through the ground without making the burrow smell, and a nest.