Naughty Chipmunks

[Maxidog]

Well, according to them spring is in the air...

[Gilly]

OMG! Chipmunk porn. There are so many captions going through my childish mind 
More chippies for the Maxidog household soon 

[jennyb]

How kool, you got a dilute and an agouti to mate, mine won't do that they just try and kill each other

[jennyb]

I can't get my Agouti and Cinnamon to breed either, again they just try and fight

[sarah-J]

hi all,

i still cant get used to you all calling them dilute, agouti and cinnamon, me in my ignorance i just said they were brown and white,
My male was white the females brown, and the babies always came out brown. I'm told to have white babies, the females need to be white, is this the case or should they both be white?

Jennyb - They were all under six months old when I got them, so that could be why they got on so well.

Sarah.

[jennyb]

Hi Sarah-J, i used to call them brown and white aswell but then got used to calling them Agouti and Dilute and now have got used to that, those are the main colours, Agouti obviously being the most common - brown. A Cinnamon is another variety which is much lighter than a Agouti but not as light as a Dilute. If you have seen the pictures i posted of my Cinnamon's you will see the difference, i have a pic of a Agouti and Cinnamon together and you can see the difference in colour. To try and answer your question erm the Agouti colour is dominant which means that babies will always be that colour even if one of the parents is white. To get Dilute babies both parents need to be that colour unless the two browns carry the recessive gene for Dilute which does happen occasionally (both of Asriel's parents were Agouti but they had four white babies including him aswell as four Agouti babies - they both carry the recessive Dilute gene). The babies from the Agouti and Dilute parent's can later produce white babies themselves if bred back to the white parent, at least 25% will be white, the rest brown. It is the same when it comes to Cinnamon's, their gene is recessive too and needs two parents of that colour or both Agouti parents to carry the recessive Cinnamon gene. I think that if right, that's what i know about Chipmunk genes, if i'm wrong i'm sure i will be corrected.

Yeah that's it i may need to get some young ones of different colours and put them together so they will eventually become a breeding pair but getting another Cinnamon could be difficult as they are very rare now, if was difficult getting a Dilute.

[Nate]

I'm afraid I'm a brown and white person, and I never knew until this forum got going that there was even a Cinnamon coloured chipmunk.

Thanks for you explanation, Jenny, it's one of the clearest I've read, even I'm beginning to understand it now. 

[sarah-J]

hi Jennyb,

thanks for the explanation, I'm hoping that when the pet shop near me gets some in, that they will be dilute ones also. I have seen some cinnamon coloured ones, i thought they looked a little orangey, and paler then the agouti ones, they also seemed to be more furry, but maybe that was just because they were young.

I'll have to write them down, with the colour next to them till I get used to spelling them! lol

[Maxidog]

Well, this morning the male was trying to mate again  but she was running away so I am not sure if first time round was succesful. I have read somewhere that females go on heat again after two weeks if they are not pregnant.

Stefano

[Nate]

Yes that's true, one of mine did it several times, with about a two week gap in between each chirping day.

[jennyb]

That's ok, none of the pet shops near me sell Chipmunks anymore, when i first got my Cinnamon Sandie (Ginger and Hazel's mum) 8 years ago Chipmunks were common in all the pet shops, most were Agouti but there were quite a few Cinnamon's available and even more Dilutes. I only intended to get one Cinnamon but it turned out the female was expecting - she gave birth two weeks later to 4 but only two are still alive today. Sarah, that's right the Cinnamon's are light brown and orange in colour (i call it ginger), hence why i called the male Ginger and the stripes are more brown than the 5 darker black-brown stripes of a usual coloured Chipmunk. The two stripes that are brown on Agouti Chipmunk's are orange on Cinnamon's and the tail is orangey or light brown.

Lol i do that too i have written about each colour on my website with a photo and description and i keep a diary of when all my females come into season, i take photos of all their behaviour, it's just something i like doing and have an interest in.

Do males know if the females are pregnant? maybe it's possible she is pregnant but that the male is still mating, my females chirp every 11 days.

[Nate]

Lol i do that too i have written about each colour on my website with a photo and description and i keep a diary of when all my females come into season, i take photos of all their behaviour, it's just something i like doing and have an interest in.

Don't be afraid to put a link in your posts back to your website. It's good for people to see as many chipmunk owners sites as they can and it will help you get a high ranking in the search engines.

You might even want to put it in your signiture.

[jennyb]

Abigail was chirping today so i introduced her to Ginger, i was worried about it and did everything slowly, first i put in the carrier with Ginger's scent, Abi was interested in his scent, next i took out the carrier and put it in with Ginger, he climbed on there and was sniffing, he kept sniffing so could obviously smell her scent where she has climbed on the top, he jumped in. I then took him over to her and let them touch noses through the cage, she was interested in him, i put the carrier in the cage and she climbed on there and they sniffed each other and she showed receptiveness to him. For about 10 minutes i let them sniff each other through the bars but it was clear they were both desperate to get together so i opened the carrier, there was no aggression. Once Ginger came out Abigail came other, they touched noses and she began sniffing him, then rolled on the floor. At first he just sniffed her and it was like that for quite some time. Finally he tried to mount her but the first time was awkward and they both fell off the shelve! After a few times though there was no stopping them and it was very difficult to get Ginger away from her, she kept wanting him to mate and he showed more interest than he has for years, think it was all the waiting. I didn't want them to mate too much as i was worried Abigail was getting tired and both were getting hurt. Anyway eventually i managed to separate them but couldn't keep track of the matings but it was alot. They were together for about an hour. I don't know if it will result in a litter, will just have to wait and see. Oh and Ginger didn't like being removed from her lol and once back in his cage he was running around, i'd never seen him with so much energy, he normally sleeps most of the day.