Male Chipmunk lost interest in breeding and Chipmunk aggression

[jennyb]

Hi everyone, Good news about Pearl my dilute female she is doing well, she is now out of the danger zone i think, she is eating well and drinking abit now and is much more active but still not as much as the others but i doubt she ever will be as active as the others. She has done well with losing the weight, when the vet weighed her she was nearly 150g, now she weighs just over a 100. I have now started giving her all the seeds in the normal chipmunk food as well as the fruit which she still has the medicine from the vet mixed in, she don't seem to eat much chipmunk food but hoards alot, she prefers the fruit. She is given much less Chipmunk food than before which will hopefully stop her getting overweight again. And good news is she hasn't had a seizure for 2 months now. She now lives with Asriel and they get on fine as Abigail atacked her, there didn't seem to be any reason.

I am having alot of problems with my Chipmunks breeding, my first female Hazel came into season just after christmas which was a complete shock as i was sure she had finished breeding for good as she stopped calling early last summer but she is calling for a mate, last year she had mated with her brother after being let out together on free range, at this point they didn't live together but then she stopped calling and i thought she was finished so put her back with Ginger, luckily Ginger and Hazel are not breeding as Ginger seems to have completely lost interest in breeding, it's good he's not breeding with his sister as that would be bad but he doesn't breed with any female. Abigail is the next female to come into season and she starting calling, i picked Ginger to be her mate and put them together and at first Abigail seemed to like him and she attempted to get his attention by flirting with him and following him around but whatever she did to attract him didn't work, Ginger completely had no interest, eventually after much trying Abigail started to attack him, i think she was angry he didn't want to mate so anyway i separated them as worried she might kill him. I returned him to his cage. I then tried Abigail with Asriel and that was a disaster as Asriel just kept attacking her he didn't even seem to notice that she was in season, worried for her safety i removed her. I don't know why he attacked her whether it is to do with her being a different colour. This now makes me wonder if i should give up as it seems impossible. Maybe it is to do with them being different colours or maybe they would be the same with any mate. Interestly Asriel is attempting to mate with Pearl so i know that he has interest unlike Ginger but Pearl is the only female who hasn't come into season and i'm wondering if she will. As for Ginger its a mystery as to why he has lost his sex drive, never had that problem with males in the past and Ginger has produced two litters in the past, although that was many years ago now and they were accidental. That was why he was separated and lived alone until reintroduced to Hazel june last year.

Wonder if anyone has any ideas and hope everyone is well and their Chipmunks are good

Oh and i have been thinking alot more about housing the Chipmunks outdoors, been talking to my dad and grandad and we have been coming up with ideas, we haven't decided anything fully yet and it is still abit cold outside at the moment, it will be best to wait until march or april at least. We still have to decide whether to buy one or make one, according to my grandad he thinks it will be easy to make panels to fil together, but we're not sure whether to use a shed as part of the design. I am also worried about Foxes, i need to make sure whatever we do is Fox proof as we get Foxes around here and in our garden. I'm also planning on having double mesh to stop cats getting close to the cage and having solid areas around the lower half to prevent wild mice etc getting near the cage and stopping the most of the bad weather. I do have a big worry though, whether they are all going to get onif housed together as there are problems with fighting now.

[tarcus/Kevin]

Sorry to hear ginge has lost the urge but i am sure it will return when the sunlight gets longer.
I would suggest that you make any outdoor aviary as large as is humanly possible to do so allowing for cost and space.
Height is a great factor too, the taller the better.
Putting a shed on the end is a good idea as long as you remember that any nest boxes you provide must be on the same level to avoid too much confrontation.
(This is advice given by all experts but i tend to differ from them in the sense that there must be a pecking order so providing nesting boxes at different heights allows some to feel superior whilst providing shelter for those who are naturally subserviant).
If building on soil I find it helps to dig out to around 3ft deep and then line the area with mesh to stop other rodents and foxes from burrowing under, then build upwards for 2ft above ground with timber.
As for double mesh, I have never had the problem with aggresive cats trying to get to the chips as I own three cats myself who tend to think that the chips are just for watching and they deter all others from going near.

If the cage is large enough there should be no problem with fighting if you provide enough bolt holes for the more subserviant to hide in.

I find also when building new homes it is always best to introduce the females first and allow them a day alone before putting in the males.

As for the matter of differing colour I have three aguiti and one dilute the dilute tends to be a bit of a loner at the moment but being female I am sure that when nature calls there will be no problem.

[Doghouse135]

Hi Jenny

Glad to hear that Pearl is well on the way to recovery.  I must have missed your updates as I don't remember reading what the vets diagnosis was.  I'm not sure I would even risk breeding her though as I don't think she will physically be ready for a litter.  I would hate to think that you'd put all that effort into making her healthier only to lose her through breeding.

I can't help with any of your other issues I'm afraid though as I don't breed. - Good luck

[Nate]

Great to hear some good news about Pearl, it did sound serious.   

I think it can take a lot out of the females to breed, so if you can let her have rest at least this year from breeding.

I've not noticed any colour prejudice against my dilute, I thought he would be picked on when he was young, but he's perfectly fine and doesn't have a bad ranking amongst the others. He does behave differently from the rest, he seems more cautious, and stays up the latest.

I've not built an outside aviary but i would think making up the panels first, flat on the ground would be the way to do it.

[sarah-J]

Hi Jenny,

It's good to hear about pearl, and I hope that she is still doing well.  I think that keeping her baby free this year is a good idea.

My dad built my aviary, he built it as flat panels at his house, and I had to build it up at mine, but as he hadn't finished it I had to do the rest, typical dads eh! lol.
Mines long with a porch as I don't have a very big garden, I only put single mesh with the wire on the inside, and even though the cats came to visit, my chippes were far too quick for them.
I did add afterwards some wood around the edge on the inside to keep the bark in, whilst I don't have any chippes at the mo, I will add more wood to give a deeper base, and some piping to give them tunnels as mine sits on a flag base.
If you have room for a shed, I would consider it, As I think that was why mine died this winter, even though they each had houses, I think they could of done with more shelter as this was a very cold winter compaired to the last few years.

I will put some photo's on when I can.

Sarah.

[jennyb]

Thanks for replying, we was thinking of making the avairy about 9 foot long by three foot with a 6 foot height. inside the shed would you just put boxes or would you have a smaller cage so they could run around in bad weather inside with nest boxes attached. Tarcus its good that your cats don't bother your Chipmunks, i don't have a problem with mine either i was worried about neighbours cat's as we was told by Pearl and Abigail's previous owners that they lost three Chipmunks by their cats attacking them through the cage, was very sad. I do have a lot of cats that visit my garden so it would be more of a worry. It's good also that you find that different colours get on well because i've had a lot of problems with mixing different colours hense why they are all separated into the three colours - Ginger and Hazel the Cinnamons, Pearl and Asriel the Dilute's and Abigail the Agouti. In the past i've had Dilute's and Agouti's live fine together it's just with these particular Chippie's i have at the moment. Doghouse, Nate and Sarah origionally when i got Pearl i was intending to breed from her but that of course changed when she got ill, i decided i didn't want to risk breeding her incase she wasn't strong enough but unfortunatly i think it might be too late as she may already be pregnant as Asriel is always attempting to mate when she comes out of the box and often manages despite her telling him no, i distract him by feeding them nuts but it may already be that she is expecting as she hasn't chirped and i would have thought she would have chirped by now if not pregnant. I'm not really sure, i can't believe she is still here i really thought she was not going to make it when i found out what she had, so it's amazing she is still here, i hope she has a happy life ahead of her. The chipmunks i did want to breed were Abigail and Ginger as i think Abigail has a good coat on her and nice markings and Ginger has a good nature, is a ldark shade of colour and is probably the most friendliest and  then possibly Asriel and Hazel (Asriel has very clear stripes and Hazel has a nice light colour and is quite tame, both her and Ginger are as they were handled when born), but because of Hazels agression towards white Chipmunks that doesn't seem to be working. It's all very difficult, Chipmunk's do seem complicated to breed because when i had Rats and Hamsters many many years ago they bred with no problem although the litters were unplanned. Perhaps i'm just unlucky with these Chipmunks that they may never breed which is a shame as i would love some babies but most of the Chipmunks i have owned haven't bred so maybe it's something about them being in the house, they definitely don't seem to like the mates picked out for them! Thanks again for your advice.

[sarah-J]

hi.

I would section off an area, and line it all with mesh, others wise they might try to chew a hole through the shed, and still put nest boxes inside. they may want to sleep in there all year, But at least they would have a choice.

I was lucky that mine all got on so well, 3 brown females and 1 white male. I hope that when I get the new ones that things will go well, as after reading everyone else's it doesn't sound too hopefull.

Sarah.

[Nate]

I don't think it's too late for them to start breeding, I still have two (Almond and Toto) which have no interest in the male, no all day chirping from them yet. Whilst others have had three days of continuous chirping. I've noticed that even if a male and female might not get on the rest of the year, come chirping they can become best of friends. It's natural for the female to try and mate with as many males as she can when it's her day.

[jennyb]

Hi everyone, All three girls have been noisy this week, i had Hazel my oldest chirp all day wednesday and most of thursday, Abigail chirped all of thursday and i think Pearl chirped friday and some of saturday, i'm not sure with Pearl though as it was different, with Hazel and Abigail they both chirp loudly all day pretty much not stopping except to eat or drink or groom and with Abi it is very high pitched, they don't chirp while sleeping which i think is normal. When Pearl chirped i didn't realise it was her at first, i thought it might have been Asriel but it wasn't and i looked at where the sound was coming from and saw Pearl curled up asleep and while sleeping she was making quiet little chirps on and off through the night until she woke up and was silent again, then she went back to sleep in the nestbox this time and again started chirping and woke up again, went back to sleep and repeated. She didn't seem to be able to sleep properly, saturday she was still making these little chirps while sleeping and again was restless but by later saturday had stopped and then there hasn't been anymore sound from her and she is now sleeping normally again. I have never known a female chirp in this way, has anyone else's chipmunk does this? When Hazel chirps her sleeping behaviour doesn't change much she might go to bed later but no later than 2am but when Abigail chirps she always stays up all night not going to sleep until 6am but she is up the next day by early afternoon. It is a mystery with Pearl. How do i tell if a chipmunk is pregnant as i haven't had much experience with breeding chipmunks? I have heard that the female can become agressive to her mate.

Sarah-J - i did wonder if they could gnaw the shed as i know they can gnaw wood as some of my early chipmunks gnawed the wood in my first chipmunk cage and chewed most of their nest box. You may be luckly that yours get on, it's going to be alot more difficult mixing mine as they are all different ages, it would most likely be easiest if they were young and brought up together.

Nate - i have found that females start chirping at different times, i had Hazel the eariest just after christmas, then Abigail in january and maybe Pearl last week (if she was calling for a male), in the past most of my females have started in january.

[Nate]

Wow, 2 am seems very late for a female to still be looking for a mate. All my indoor females stop around 8pm at the latest, luckily I've only had one female do a days chirping a day. Imagine what it would be like if they all started chirping on the same day.

Yes, I have found a pregnant female can become aggressive to the males but also even her sisters. She can also start eating foods she doesn't normally eat, and licking their mineral blocks.

Some of my chipmunks make a very faint chirping noise in the middle of the night, as if they are dreaming. It does happen very often, and it's so soft you have to listen hard.

[whistler6752]

Hi all, you can tell if a female is pregnant by wether or not she comes back into season and calls again a fortnight after she first called. Soon after that you can see them start to fill out when they cling to the front wire, with large litters they can look like they've swallowed an apple with a week to go.

[jennyb]

Hi Nate, i had two on one day once - Abigail and Pearl and the day before Hazel, it was a pretty noisy couple of days! Luckly Pearl is not loud of high pitched like the two others. Two of my females chew cuttlefish, one Hazel every so often, Pearl regularly, she also licks the mineral sometimes, she is still getting calcium powder in her food. Hazel makes sounds in her sleep but it doesn't sound like chirping, Pearl is usually silent when sleeping.