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CHIPMUNKS 2000
Chipmunk Status 2000 -
Boggy, a hand tame white female who will be four years old at the beginning of April 2000.
Clovis, Boggy's son, who will be three years old on May 1st (Beltaine) 2000.
Chrissie, an agouti (striped colouring as in wild chipmunks) female unrelated to the others, who will be two years old in Spring 1999.
Un-named Female, one of the Children of Minky born last year (1999), who did not find a home.
The Children of the Un-Named Female, born on the Spring Equinox, 2000.
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Boggy Boggy has become chubbier and much less territorial since being spayed last year. Though slightly more placid, she is still a very friendly, active and inquisitive little chipmunk. This year she was given a present of a large wheel to play in. At first the wheel peturbed her a little, and made her feel uneasy when it moved. But she quickly got used to its motion, and has hours of fun running in the wheel, as well as using it as a hammock when she has tierd herself out by running in it too much ! |
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The
Un-Named Female, or The Nameless One On the Spring Equinox (21st March) the un-named female surprised us completely by giving birth to a litter of babies. We didn't even know she was even pregnant, until the unmistakable high-pitched squeaking noise of chipmunk infants was heard emanating from the namelsess one's nestbox. After much brain-wracking, we remembered that the nameless one had escaped while Clovis was let out for one of his many sessions of freedom to explore the room. The two hadn't been together for long, only about half an hour, but this had obviously been long enough for Clovis to make the un-named female pregnant. On 15th April, the un-named female decided to move her babies from the nextbox in the lower tier of her cage-complex, to the nestbox in the upper tier. This was the first ever time I had seen this litter of chipmunk babies. In total, I noticed the un-named female move four agouti babies and a single white baby. At three weeks old, the babies would soon be ready to emerge from the nestbox for themselves.... |
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......and on 23rd April the babies did
indeed emerge. There were four agoutis and a single white, confirming our expectations. However, we still haven't checked the sex of each new baby. At first, the tiny chipmunks were wary of their environment, but their curiosity soon overcame their fear, and the five youngsters cautiously investigated everything they could. |
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Some babies are bigger than the others
- Look at the picture on the left. At the top of the picture is the un-named female, the mother of the babies. The two sitting in indian file below her are two of the larger babies, and finally, next to the cardboard tube is the slightly lighter coloured runt of the litter. The runt, also pictured on the right, opened its eyes about 12 hours later than the rest of the litter. The babies do not see humans as a threat, and are already taking food from human hands, only five days after emergence. Eventually, the runt of the litter died. ********************************************************** |
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Unfortunately, we did not have room to keep the chipmunk babies and their mother, so the two male babies were donated to an animal shelter in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, so that new homes could be found for them. The two female babies and their mother were donated to The Pitville Aviaries (a community park where children are given the opportunity to see animals and birds they would not usually have contact with).
Delightful pictures of the female chipmunks enjoying their new home in a large aviary will be added to this page shortly !
Please check back here frequently........Hope to see you soon !
