Pretty Amber

[jennyb]

Amber is my newest little female, a beautiful baby Cinnamon. Born at Hollysmithy's on 2nd June 2010. She is one of two babies. Petal is the mum, Jump was the dad.
She came to live with me on sunday 25th July. I've now had her for two weeks and she is nine weeks old. She has been living on her own inside, Abigail is in a cage next to her but Amber does seem abit lonely and is getting bored with living inside. She's been chewing her cage and biting the bars but other than that she's not been any trouble. She's very friendly, comes up to the bars and will take treats from the hand. I think she is ready for the next step of hopefully living with Nutkin, Willow and Bailey. Tomorrow hopefully she will go in her cage into the aviary to start getting used to the other three and maybe a change of surroundings may make her stop biting the bars.

I've been waiting for a Cinnamon girl for quite some time now, Hazel was my last Cinnamon female. I only have one other Cinnamon Bailey a one year old male and i'm thrilled to finally have a female for him and she is very pretty with her pink nose, white claws and tummy and sandy coat. I can't thank Gail enough for little Amber.

[DayleC]

Jealous?   Moi?  YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   She is very pretty..  

[Gilly]

Awww very nice, real striking markings 

[pinkpill]

little cutie! 

[jennyb]

Thanks Dayle, i hope you get a little female soon 
Thanks Gilly and Pinkpill 

Amber went outside today in her cage. Its her first time outside so she is alittle bit nervous. Just looked outside and looks like she has gone to sleep. Her cage is covered with half of a blanket to keep direct sunlight off her. It was another hot day 23c

The first four pictures are Amber meeting Bailey

[jennyb]

Today it was raining here and the temperature was a quite cold 15c so quite a contrast for little Amber from yesterday's hot and sunny weather. She was slow getting up. Might have been frightened by the rain she could hear on the roof. Its just as well her cage was covered it kept her quite dry. The others were all getting wet. She is nervous outside as everything is all a new experience. She also slept several times during the day in her nest box.

[hollysmithy]

hi jen love the pics im soo glad amber is  doing well
and shes lovley just like petal n jumps babies before her
im gana keep petal on her own n retire her as her age isnt known to me,
she will enjoy the peace n quiet now lol
 

[jennyb]

Glad you like the pics. Aww i think Petal will like retirement she probably is ready for a quiet life after all her babies. All her babies have been beautiful.

Are you going to get some new chippies to keep in the aviary or another indoor cage?

[Nate]

Amber is so cute, as Gilly mentioned her markings are nice a clear. Her colour shows better on the outside photos, I’ve never had a Cinnamon. I would guess that Cinnamon chips don’t behave any different from the Agouti’s, unlike what I’ve discovered about the Dilute’s which seem to be a bit softer in nature.

It occurred to me that anyone coming across this post for the first time and new to chipmunks might not understand what jennyb is doing. 

So what stage are you up to now with Amber, has she been allowed out to say hello the others yet? 

Hope they all take to Amber.

[jennyb]

Thanks Nate, i haven't noticed much difference in behaviour.
I understand what you are saying that anyone who hasn't read about my Chipmunks before wouldn't realise their living situation.

I have eleven Chipmunks, ten live outside. Abigail my oldest female lives indoors and is about six years old. The outdoor Chipmunks are split into two separate aviaries. My Dilute family of six - Asriel, Hermione, Blossom, Isabella, Ronald-Harry and Lottie live in one aviary. The other four live in the other aviary. I have my Cinnamon male Bailey, my Agouti females Willow and Nutkin and my new girl Amber.

Amber originally lived indoors until monday when she moved into Bailey, Willow and Nutkin's aviary. At the moment she is still living in the cage she lived in indoors but now that cage has been brought into the aviairy. The other three can see her and smell her but not harm her. I didn't want to let her straight into the aviary without being introduced in a cage first as i did that in the past and it didn't go so well. With Nutkin and Willow i introduced them to Bailey and Abigail (at the time) using the same process i currently am doing with Amber and it has worked quite well, they stayed in their cage for three weeks then were let out but still had access to the cage for another week.

In three weeks time i will be letting Amber out of the cage and hopefully all goes well.

[jennyb]

A few pics from yesterday.

Amber has been outside now for a week and shes doing ok but is a little bit bored of the cage and sleeps quite abit. I might let her out as soon as next wednesday or might leave it until the 1st september it all depends on how she does in the cage and how the others react to her. They have all shown interest but Nutkin is the only one who has shown aggression so shes the one i will have to keep an eye on when she is let out so yeah i am worried about that because Amber is so young. Amber seems curious about the other three and i haven't seen her be aggressive towards them. With me she's very friendly she climbs up my arm in the cage and takes food from my fingers. I have to be careful that she doesn't climb up my arm and escape out of the cage which she has tried to do.

[jane]

omg she's so pretty lush marking's

[jennyb]

Thanks Jane, i still can't believe i finally have a Cinnamon female, i'd been looking for ages and its even better that Amber has a very sweet temperment.

[jennyb]

I made a very bad mistake today and one which could have ended badly for Amber. I had given her some food as she's still living in the cage in Bailey, Willow and Nutkin's aviary. I opened her door to take some photos and she ran out. She was happy and had decided to release herself earlier than what i had planned for next week but it didn't go well at all. Willow set on her and it was a bad attack, poor Amber was very frightened and i had to catch her. I knew i couldn't risk leaving her in there. The fighting which started with Willow soon was all four, Bailey always joins in with fights between Willow and Nutkin which had been getting less recently and everything happened so quick and they were all over the place i don't know if the Chippies thought about who was attacking who. It wasn't easy to get Amber back in her cage but once i did everything calmed down and the other three went back to normal but it was a shock, i haven't had fighting this bad since last year when i first got the aviary.

At least now Amber is safe and i think its going to take time for her to get over the shock of this. I've now got a very long and probably difficult decision as i can't risk anything happening to her. Whatevers happens i will try to keep them all just not sure where they will live and with who.

[Nate]

I’ve noticed that joining in behaviour you describe Jenny. One will be chasing another, and if they run past one that was sitting quietly that one will join in the chase as well. I’ve also noticed that being picked on by chippies Ambers age comes as a complete shock to them.

I’m glad you got her back home safely.

It just goes to remind us all that no matter how a chipmunk may behave towards its owner or how placid they seem, there is just no way of knowing who is going to get on with who.