The Oregon groundhogs are rodents that inhabit North America. They live in forests, fields, and meadows. They prefer lands where there is medium humidity-they will never build their home where there is no appropriate drainage, because prefer to live in dry and warm dens. Groundhogs are usually solitary Portland animals, living on their own, building their dens on their own and spending their days looking for food on their own. They usually spend their days looking for food, eating and building up fat layer under the skin in order to prepare themselves for the winter season the best they can.

Only period when they leave solitude and look for a partner is during breeding season. Groundhog's breeding season starts usually somewhere around February, when animals start to wake up and go outside after the winter, getting up from hibernation. Male Portland groundhogs will look for a female that is living their den, managing to locate female ready to mate by her pheromone scent, hormonal blueprint females leave when they are ready to mate.

As soon as male impregnates female they will leave their separate ways. Female will then look for an appropriate location for new home, one where she will be able to care for the babies once they are born. Babies are usually born about month after female was impregnated. Female usually gets 2-9 babies which at the birth (around beginning of April, mid April) are naked, blind and about 2 inches long. After the birth, babies are completely dependant on their mothers, blind until about month later. They will stay inside their den until they are about month a half, two months old, before they start going outside to explore the surroundings and to find food with their mother. At mid July, Oregon groundhogs babies are approximately 10 inches long and weight 4 pound and are about ready to live independently.

About that time, they will be ready to start digging their own dens, usually not that far away, maybe just few dozen feet away from their Portland birth home. This way, they will not be too away from their helping mother but will still have an opportunity to start their separate, independent life. Young Oregon groundhogs are confronted by many different perils, and only few of them will manage to survive their first year. When they do manage to survive first challenging year, they can live up to 4-6 years.

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