Family+Life

**Family Life: Mating**
They mate January-May. To mate they make squeaking,yelping,and peeping nosies to attract a mate. After they have babies the mother will stay with their babies to protect the babies from their preadators like snakes,foxs,birds,mountin lions,bob cats,lynxs,ect. The mothers will kick sand into their eyes so that they stop and try to get the sand out. Then the kangaroo rats can get away from their preadators.

The person who hunts the most is the male. Because the male can run faster to catch their prey like moths,grasshopers. During the day the only reason they come out is to get some sun and sit in the sun to dry off if they are wet. Or even to go find a patch of grass to eat from. Also the reason the males hunt the most and the females don't is because the females are better at protecting their babies or themselves sometimes.

After they mate they normally stay together for a couple of days. So they have more then one mate at a time which means they are polygamous. They rarely stay together from the time they mate to the time they die. If they do stay together from the time the mate to the time they both die it is a very rare thing to happen. Sometimes the same mate they had a couple years ago can become their mate agian the reason for that is because they are endangerd.

=Babies:=

= = They breed from Febuary-October in the southern desert states. They breed shorter than the northern states breeding. The carry their baby around for at least 30 days. Females have 1 to 3 litters and 1 to 6 young per year.They are born with no hair, and they are blind. They are born in a fur-lined nest within a tunnel system.

Normally they reamain in the nest underground for at least a month before they show up above the ground. After the mother gives birth she nurses them to stay healthy,and so that they could survive. The mother will sometimes bear her young when food sources are short.As you can see in the picture to the left the babies have smaller eyes,ears,feet,and body. This picture also shows you that their eyes are closed, and their ears are also closed. They are able to have kids when they are 12 to 13 weeks old.