Just a horrible thing to discover tarcus and so soon after Camille.
Mike, I do agree chipmunks must be one of the most anthropomorphised creatures kept as pets in the UK. Possibly because the few sources of information on them often conflict with each other, and that chipmunks quite often respond very well to their owners but can behave quite differently to each other. As we know now chipmunks behave differently to each other at different times throughout their lives, one day a pair which have been (or appear to have been) good friends for months or years can suddenly seem to hate the sight of each other.
Before I even got my first chipmunk when doing my research I was under the impression that it was possible to keep groups of chipmunks. I still do believe that's possible and that neither animal would be living in stress. I've read books which gave the impression they'd been written by an author that had actually kept pet chipmunks, I went to sites like
http://www.chipmunkery.co.uk and certainly had the idea that things would be OK. I've come round to thinking now that in the wild chipmunks do live apart and only come together for mating. But there's still plenty of published material out there which talk about chipmunks living in a colony. If you're new to keeping chipmunks you're likely to start of with one and can be very easily believe it is lonely. I've learnt since that it's probably very happy, and loneliness is just in the owners mind.
However, I do believe it's possible to have more than one chipmunk as a pet. Providing that is you have plenty of space and time, because no matter how your chipmunks are getting along today things could all change tomorrow, and sometimes permanently. So to keep more than one chipmunk you do have to consider either that you can provide separate large aviary for each chipmunk or find new homes for some. I only have couples at most in an aviary, which is their choice not mine, and these are all siblings. I'm as confident as I can be that those which are living in pairs are leading contented happy lives and not under any stress from each other. I have matures males living together which can be seen playing together as if they were just weeks old. However I am coming round to the idea that this is rare, possibly very exceptional. I do have a theory why two of my males who live together get on so well, which I will write about on another day. But I doubt if I will ever have another pair which behave in that way.
I must have been very lucky indeed when I bred mine. I found the mothers to be very good, doing all the work. But like many animals I did find that most of my mothers needed to be separated from the other mothers, but I've read on other sites where aunties are described as playing an active part in the upbringing of a sisters young. In light of tarcus most recent experience this is like skating on thin ice, and for absolute safety even all the males must be kept separate whilst mother brings up her offspring alone. I did have a few amazing fathers who actively got involved, especially after the young were weaned nearly, but I also had fathers that didn't want to know. Now we also know there can be fathers that can attack the young, but I doubt there is a way of knowing what a male will be like from normal day to day behaviour. This is one aspect of keeping chipmunks where it's very hard to resist anthropomorphising what you think is happening.
I do disagree that we are all in breech of the animal welfare bill, as it also states 'A person commits an offence if he knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that the act, or failure to act, would have that effect or be likely to do so'. So I am grateful to owners like tarcus who make the effort to share their experiences with us all, as I think we know there are many hundreds of pet owners out there who don't care or make much of any effort to try to understand what makes their pet tick. I think we are all learning and have a desire to keep our pets healthy and happy.
As soon as I get some time, the new things I've learnt from this forum is pressing me to update my advice pages on the main site.
Hope you keep posting your opinions Mike, and in time we can make this site a rich and definitive source for the care of pet chipmunks in the UK.
