It was a fun night at the inn! A great turn out and an entertaining speaker... In short porcupines breed in September and October, porcupets are born in may. There quills are soft when born, but firm quickly. They nurse once a day for four months. Neither parent is very maternal or paternal. At two weeks the porcupet begins to forage on their own of soft vegetation. Main diet for the adults is of bark, and they love salt.
Now the important stuff! Females are in heat for only eight hours! She will mark trees and her area with slimy urine to attract the male. He comes from his area, and has to wait for the female to be ready otherwise she will do serious harm to him. The male,will spray the female with urine, get her totally smoked. He can urinate a stream up to six feet! When ready the female lifts her tail, and drapes it over her back. there are no quills on the under side of her tail, the male does his thing. There is a 95% success rate in porcupine breeding. If more than one male shows for the event, they battle it out. Often the larger wins. Porcupines are of age at two years hold and the male usually don't breed until they are four.
Certainly I missed a few steps, but it is true. Porcupines breed carefully.
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