Their pale coloring makes them nearly invisible against a background of light-colored desert soils. Even their small size may work to their advantage, making it easier to keep cool. A kit fox's day begins at dark, when the little fox emerges from its burrow and sets out across the desert to hunt kangaroo rats, cottontails, and other small animals. Biologists figure that a kit fox needs to eat about six ounces of meat each night in order to survive. They obtain all the water that they need from their food.
Kit foxes live alone in their underground dens for half the year.
They haul out last year's debris and dig new entrances. In February or March, four or five pups are born. Later, both parents hunt. Kit fox families stay together until autumn, when the pups are ready to live on their own. Along with coyotes, kit foxes play an important part in controlling desert rodent and rabbit populations.