Call me Flip - a red fox pup

Ranger Rick, July, 1996 by Lyle Prescott

Hey, kids--my name is Flip. I'm a red fox pup, and I'm almost two months old. I'm also a little tired. I just took a mid-morning romp with my brother and sister in the nearby meadow. They're just ahead of me, trotting back to our den. We're hoping Mom will be there, because we're hungry! Want to come along? Turn the page and let's go! That's me with my mom below. She's the best! It's summer now, so we pups are old enough to get around on our own a bit. But for the first couple of weeks of my life, Mom stayed with us all the time. Dad even brought her food so she didn't have to go out hunting. That was the life! Now that I'm bigger, though, I like getting out in the world (as long as Mom's not too far away). No, my dad's not biting my mom's neck here--he's cleaning her fur! Mom does that to us too. It's just something we foxes do to show we're in the same family and that we care about each other. Does anyone in your family ever brush your hair? I guess families are like that. Here I am with my brother and sister, drinking milk from Mom. About three weeks ago we began to eat solid food, so now we nurse only once in a while. But we still like it. We also like the food that Mom and Dad bring us--treats like mice, squirrels, birds, woodchucks, voles, and rabbits. Yay! Mom nabbed us a tasty rabbit! Here I am trying to drag it away from my sister. I always fight with my brother and sister over food. We started fighting big time when we were three weeks old--even before we began eating solid food. I guess that's just what sisters and brothers do. Now they don't mess with me as much, though, because I showed them who's boss. Flip's the toughest pup around! Bet you can't tell if we're playing or fighting here. That's because we're so good at play-fighting!

See the dark hole behind us? That's the entrance to our den. The den is about three or four feet underground in soft, sandy soil. Mom has a couple of other good hiding places nearby too. (We go to the closest one when there's danger around--like a pack of hungry coyotes.) But this den is our main home. Now it's winter, and can you guess who this is? It's me--Flip--all grown up! At the end of summer, I had set off alone to find my own area to hunt in. Even though there's less food around now, I can usually find something to nab. (I've learned to follow tracks in the snow.) Maybe I'll be lucky and find a female fox nearby too. Then we just might have some little pups of our own next spring!