Groundhogs, also known as woodchucks, are primarily herbivorous rodents found across North America, from the Eastern United States to Canada and Alaska. Their adaptable dietary habits allow them to thrive in various natural and human-altered landscapes, contributing to their survival and prevalence.
Their Natural Diet
In their natural environments, groundhogs primarily consume wild grasses and other readily available vegetation. Their diet includes plants such as clover, alfalfa, dandelions, and timothy-grass. They also graze on the leaves and flowers of various forbs, like sheep sorrel, buttercup, persicaria, agrimony, plantain, and wild lettuce. Groundhogs prefer succulent, tender plant growth and fresh shoots.
Seasonal wild berries and fruits, such as raspberries, mulberries, strawberries, grapes, and elderberries, also become part of their diet. These fruits provide natural sugars, vitamins, and antioxidants. While largely herbivorous, groundhogs are opportunistic feeders, occasionally supplementing their plant-based diet with small animal matter. This can include grubs, grasshoppers, snails, and bird eggs, which provide additional protein. An adult groundhog can consume over one pound of vegetation daily, getting much of their hydration from plant moisture and dew.
Garden Preferences
Groundhogs are drawn to cultivated gardens, which offer abundant, easily accessible, nutrient-rich, and tender plants. This often frustrates gardeners and farmers, as groundhogs target many common garden vegetables. Preferred foods include peas, beans, lettuce, carrots, young corn shoots, squash, tomatoes, and broccoli.
Their powerful jaws allow them to chew through dense or fibrous vegetables. Groundhogs also consume ornamental plants and flowers like sunflowers and pansies. They forage within a small radius, typically no more than 150 feet from their burrows, making nearby gardens vulnerable. Signs of their feeding include plants sharply cut at an angle.
Foods to Never Offer
Never feed groundhogs human processed foods like bread, sweets, or salty snacks. These lack necessary nutrients and can cause digestive problems. Meat and dairy products are also inappropriate due to their primarily herbivorous nature. While they occasionally eat insects, their digestive system is not designed for regular animal product intake.
Certain plants can be toxic to groundhogs and should never be offered. Introducing unfamiliar or unhealthy foods can disrupt their natural foraging behaviors and potentially lead to an unhealthy reliance on human-provided food. Feeding wild animals carries risks, including fostering aggression, facilitating disease transmission, or altering their natural wariness of humans. It is always best to allow groundhogs to forage for their own food in their natural habitat.
Seasonal Eating Patterns
A groundhog’s diet changes throughout the year, adapting to food availability and biological needs, especially for hibernation. In spring, after emerging from winter sleep, groundhogs seek tender, new plant growth. Their initial diet consists of fresh grasses, dandelion, and clover, which are among the first plants to sprout.
During summer, their diet expands to include mature plants, wild berries, and fruits as they become available. They consume high-calorie plants to build fat reserves. As fall approaches, groundhogs increase feeding to accumulate substantial fat stores for hibernation, consuming fruits, nuts, and various vegetation. They can gain considerable weight, sometimes doubling their body mass, to sustain them through months of inactivity. During hibernation, from October to February, they rely entirely on these stored fat reserves, often losing up to half their body weight.