Badger Poop: What Is In Their Poo And Why It Matters?

Everyone in one’s life at some point must have stumbled upon an animal’s poop. It might be in your house, garden, forest, or any open field. Animal poop is actually very helpful in finding out the location of any animal especially if they are nocturnal animals as it is extremely difficult to spot these kinds of animals. Badger poop is also very much valuable in this sense. By the badger poop, you can get to know where they are visiting or going at night time.

In this article, we are going to let you know everything about badger poop.

What are badgers?

Badgers are very cute-looking and small animals who are aggressive by nature. They belong to the mustelid family and there are dozens of species of badgers in different corners of the world. However, the most well-known badgers are American, European, and honey badgers.

Badgers have flat but wide heads, short but stubby legs, and very short necks and tails. They have just 9 inches in height and 16 to 29 inches in length. The tail is short which is in the range of 4 to 6 inches. On average, they weigh around 9 to 26 pounds. They have a very interesting color pattern of black, white, and gray. White stripes on their faces are a very distinctive feature of badgers.

Badgers like to live in open field areas by making dens or burrows. The size and structure of their sett depend upon the season, weather, badger’s gender, and the prey in the surroundings. They rarely come out in the winter season. But they roam a lot on summer nights. They don’t like to spend several days in the same burrow and occasionally shift from one burrow to another according to their own needs.

Some of the common places where you can find the badgers are grasslands, parks, farms, open fields, meadows, deserts, agriculture fields, and scrub and brushy areas.

What do badgers eat?

Being omnivores animal, badgers like to eat a variety of foods. However, the primary source of badger’s food is rodents. They also like to eat vegetables and fruits. Some well-known sources of food for the badgers are mice, hedgehogs, scorpions, snakes, insects, slugs, grubs, mushrooms, fruits, corn, etc.

According to the food habits and energy utilization of badgers report, the most preferable foods for the badgers are mice, rabbits, and squirrels. These are actually primary sources of badger food. It has been observed that the badgers like to hunt rabbits in the spring and summer seasons, squirrels in the summer, and mice in the spring and fall. While breeding they like to eat birds and eggs.

During very deep research, it was found that badgers eat insects and rodents throughout the year but in very small quantities. The researchers also find out that squirrels are a primary source and they eat it throughout the year because they put fats on the badgers which are highly helpful in the winter season when they have to face food scarcity.

What badger’s poop looks like?

The poop of the badger depends upon what kind of diet they are taking. Normally, it is wet and sloppy. The most prominent source to identify the badger’s poop is its smell. The poop releases a very sweet smell. It is actually the biggest hint to get to know if the droppings around your house are from a badger or some other animal.

It also varies in terms of structure and texture. With these hints, you can identify what kind of diet badgers are taking on the days or nights. It will be dark and soft if the badgers are taking a lot of worms in their diet. However, the size and quality of poop wholly depend upon how much animal badgers are eating.

Is badger poop harmful?

Yes, it could be dangerous or harmful like the feces of other animals. You should extremely carefully handle the badger’s droppings by taking all the precautionary measures as it could be full of extremely harmful bacteria. You can conceive some diseases same as we get from the poop of dogs and cats. Thus, you must adopt a proper hygienic procedure before dealing with poop. Some of the necessary personal protective equipment you must have before dealing with badger poop are rubber gloves, a mask, and hand sanitizer.

Badger latrines

Badgers are very clean animals and they don’t defecate where they usually live. They build some special places outside their burrows to do this kind of activity. These shallow pits usually exist outside of their territories and these pits are called badger’s toilets or latrines.

After defecating, they leave after anointing their dung with scent release from their glands. This scent is sweet and makes it easily identifiable that it is the badger’s poop.

Comparison between badgers and other animals’ poop

Let’s compare the badger poop with other animals’ poop to make our concept clear about badger poop.

Badger poop vs rabbit poop

Badgers dropping vary from very firm and sausage-type shape to slim, soft, and dark. But it mainly depends upon what kind of diet they are taking. On the other hand, rabbit poop consists of hard but round-shaped balls that you mostly found in brown, yellow, or green color.

Otter poop vs badger poop

Otters like to poop in places like under bridges, on rocks, and alongside rivers. It usually exists in a fully green or black color.  The fishy smell of otters makes it distinguishable from the sweet smell of badger poop. You can experience taint like jasmine tea in the badger’s poop. The size of otters’ poop is 1 to 3.9 inches while the size of badger mainly depends upon the quantity of diet they are taking.

See our Article for Animals similar to badgers.

Poop: Badger vs rat

Rats drop usually oval-shaped poop which is easily distinguishable from the poop of a badger. You will also find it very thin, dark, and rough.

What you should do if you come across animal poop?

You might come across animal poop several times in your daily routine at your home, garden, open fields, grasslands, or anywhere outside your house especially if you are visiting the countryside. If you come across poop, you should never touch it as it could contain a lot of bacteria. However, you might notice the size, color, and shape of the poop as it would be helpful if you want to compare this poop with any poop of any other animal. You can also break it apart if you have proper safety equipment.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

There is very little material you can find on google about badger’s poop. We have written this article in a very comprehensive manner to clear all your confusion about the badger’s poop. We have also experienced it practically by going outside and locating the latrines of badgers to give you a first-hand experience of badgers’ poop. I hope this article helps you a lot.