Chipmunks: General Information

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Books on rodents, including chipmunks
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Chipmunks are a lot of fun to watch, because they are active and like climbing, but they are shy, easily stressed, and bite, so they are better suited to older children or adults. They are good company for retired people, because they come out in the day. They can live from five to eight years. They are more fun to watch if you have more than one, and the chipmunks themselves prefer to be in groups.

Housing

Chipmunks need a lot of room because they are very active, and they cannot easily be allowed to exercise in your living room, since they difficult to catch and easily stressed if you chase them. Adult males are also more likely to squabble if the cage is not big enough, whereas a big cage allows them to get away from each other if they want to. Chipmunks are notorious escape artists, they can chew through wood and plastic, and escape through very small holes, so you need to be very sure that their cages are secure. They can be kept indoors in a wire mesh cage, or outdoors in an aviary with a concrete base.

You can furnish the cages with nesting boxes to allow them to store food and sleep in, and branches and platforms for them to climb. They are less likely to be stressed if you give them plenty of bolt holes at different levels of the cage, and if there is a wall alongside one or two sides of their cage. They need to gnaw, so give them gnawing sticks, or expect their branches and platforms to get chewed. They can use chopped hay for bedding, and leaves, shavings or peat are good materials for the floor. They use a corner of the cage as a toilet, so you need to clean this daily.

Feeding

They eat a mix of dry food with nuts (such as acorns, beechmast and chestnut) pulses and grains, as well as fresh fruit and root crops, and the occasional snack of mealworms or insects. You can buy special mixes, and supplement them with your own finds from walks in the woods, though introduce new foods gradually. Chipmunks come from North American woodlands, but will happily eat much of what is found on British woodland floors. Remove rotting foodstuff, and always make sure that your chipmunks have water.

Health

The main ways to keep you chipmunk healthy are to keep it stress and draught free, in a large, clean cage, with plenty to chew. It helps to find a vet with experience of chipmunks, because they are not easy to handle.

Handling

Chipmunks need to be handled regularly from when they are very young, or they will be almost impossible to catch as adults. They should always be approached gently and cautiously. Give new arrivals and young chipmunks time to get used to your voice and presence, and let them get used to your hand in the cage before trying to pick them up. Hold them in cupped hands, and keep your actions smooth and your voice gentle.

Breeding

The best help you can give a chipmunk family is to leave it well alone. There is no need to remove the male, and the female will become very stressed if you take too much interest in her babies. Gestation lasts around a month, and the babies are blind and hairless at birth. They leave the nest when they are a little over a month old.

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See also:
Books on rodents, including chipmunks
News and Research, rabbits and rodents