Cheekychipmunksse in the US - Meet Lilly, Remy, and Martyn

[Marci]

Would they moult now?  I would think that they would moult in the spring when the weather gets warm.

Maybe I will start a new thread regarding moulting and torpid questions.

[pinkpill]

i think like dogs with lots of us having central heating the moulting season is a thing of the past, as my dog is moulting terrible at the moment

[Marci]

Congratulations are in order for Lilly.  She has finally started to use one corner to go potty!         

I clean the cage pan and the cage every week.  I noticed that there was a pile in the cage pan in one of the corners and also noticed that her wodent wheel was not as soiled.  I also had a plastic tunnel in the cage that she was also using as her toilet and I removed that two weeks ago as I am getting tired of cleaning it.  So I put a small corner litter tray there and it appears that she is using it!  Finally after 3 months after her arrrival from the UK! 

Now if I only knew who was the incontinent one was regarding Remy and Martyn.  Maybe some day, they may learn to use the corners. 

Remy has started to realize that I am the food provider.  She is finally smelling my fingers when I approach the cage and after she sniffs, she runs into the tunnel.  Martyn just goes in there right away when I approach the cage.  Lilly has been hoarding and runs towards the cage when I approach and she sniffs my finger and then will nibble on it.  She will let me pet her a few times when she is eating but when I have picked her up, she will bite me.  It is going to take some time to tame them.  Ed is going to build a gate for one of the door openings in the living room so I can let Lilly, Remy and Martyn run loose.  I have not been able to yet because I could not find a gate to block that door that was wide enough so Ed is going to have to build one. 

Lilly has rolls of fat, she eats everything in site, the total opposite of Buddy, my skinny runt.  Remy and Martyn are in between as far as their weight.

Since I have to clean 3 cages every week, I thought of a short cut, a steam cleaner.  I am going to purchase one and let everyone know how it works out.

[pinkpill]

yeah for lily

[jennyb]

Pleased to hear Lilly and Remy are taming  I'm sure Martyn will follow soon.

My Nugget is doing great now, as you know he was very timid when i got him and its taken ages but he is becoming tame now. He is hardly hiding now and will climb on me with the others so i'm so happy its huge progress 

[Marci]

We let Lilly out of her cage for the first time last week to roam the room.  Hopefully that will build the trust with me.

I also noticed she lost some weight last week.  Her tail is a bit thin, I am hoping it is not mites like what Buddy had.  At least there is a quick solution, Revolution, thanks to our US Squirrel Lady!

[Marci]

Updates on Remy, Martyn and Lilly -

Martyn took a pumpkin seed thru the wire from Ed yesterday. Over the weekend, he took some treats from my hand in the cage.
 
Yesterday both Martyn and Remy got loose which was of course my fault. Martyn went back in the cage when he was done playing but Remy did not. We had to capture her using her box to get her back in the cage.
 
I have visibly noticed that all the English chips have lost weight since the summer. I noticed that last year with Buddy too. It seems like they don't eat as much and store it for the winter. The last time I weighed Lilly, she was 103 grams. I haven't weighed R&M.

Lilly's tail is looking a bit thin. I am not sure what is going on, it may be time for some revolution if i start to see some bare spots on her body.
 
R&M have the toilet training down pat now which makes it easier for cage cleaning. Lilly is almost there. She is no longer toileting in her wodent wheel but when cleaning her cage yesterday, I noticed a new corner that she is using so I put a litter box there. She is already using the litter box on the top level. Let's see what happens.
 
I also started to give them Ensure once a week.
 
Ed and I are looking into UVB lights for all the chips so they can get vit D.

Making some progress with the taming. It is in inches however.
 
Lilly comes up to the cage all the time when I enter the room. She definitely comes towards me and will eat out of my hand. She still does not like when I pet her though. She will let me get a few strokes in while she is getting food out of my hand and then she will dash away. When she is loose in the room, she will not come up to me for food which is a bit disappointing. She is still not potty trained even though I practiced some tough love on her the other week and took her wodent wheel away so she would learn to go in her litter box.
 
I let Remy out the other day a few weeks ago and she was scared. She did the pitter patter dance with her hind legs and it was tough to get her back in the cage. I had to put her nesting box right in front of her so she would go in. Today Martyn actually took a piece of walnut from me thru the cage wire. This is a first for both him and Remy.

I moved R&M's wodent wheel down one level and they are using it a lot more which is good.
 

I hope I have babies in the spring!

Since I have been home this week working, I have been letting Lilly out of her cage. She still has not bonded with me even though I have been patient and offered lots of food for bribery/bond purposes.
 
I have noticed that Lilly has lost some weight, her rolls are gone. I think that she is healthy, and my theory is is that she is storing more food than eating it. Her pink blanket is loaded down with seeds and nuts.
 
Remy and Martyn are fine. Remy is a beautiful chipmunk like Buddy. Remy spends more time out in the open but still dashes into her tunnel when I approach the cage. I can tell she associates me with food because after I put food in the dish, she dashes down to that level. Also last week, I moved the wodent wheel from the top level to the level where the food and water are. They are both using the wheel so much more. It is quite interesting.
 
Remy was watching in great interest tonight when Lilly was out of her cage. I am hoping that she will come around by observing Lilly. Lilly will let me pet her a few times when I stick my hand in the cage with food but she does not like it. I wish I knew if her dislike was due to lack of trust or her personality.

Buddy has spoiled me so much by being so affectionate, and it is amazing, he was on top of Lilly's cage for awhile tonight and I told him to come to me and he did. No food or anything. He is truly my little guy. Perhaps someday the English chips will be like that towards me. If not them, I am hoping Remy has babies in the spring if Martyn does his thing, and then I can have a baby that can bond with me right away. The English chips see me with Buddy, holding him, kissing him, hand feeding him, but they just don't trust me yet. Oh well. At least they are healthy.

[sab]

I am glade they are making progress!
i guess a little bit is better than nothing at all.
If you put a lot of time and love i'm sure they will get closer to you.
Do not dispair!
 

[Marci]

Well one step forward and two steps backward.

On Nov 25, Martyn is still taking treats from my hand! We are just so happy.

Remy has just started taking pumpkin seeds thru the cage wire. It has been happening regularly now.
 
Martyn is another story. He has been a bit skitish lately and runs into the tunnel on the bottom floor when I approach. He will still take the pumpkin seed thru the cage but not as frequently as before.
 
I think that Remy read him the riot act and told him to stay away from me and her. I have noticed that they do not hang out much together on the top level. Remy stays on the top and Martyn when he is awake stays on the bottom level.

Martyn was taking food from my hand inside the cage only when Remy was asleep usually in the early evening. I have noticed that they are both going to sleep earlier. I was joking with the UK breeder that I thought Remy and Martyn had some vampire blood since they were staying up until 10 pm at night well after dark. Now I do see that they are going to bed much earlier.
 
Lilly goes to sleep at dusk and wakes up at dawn. She is making progress, too. She allows me to pet her a few times where as before, she would just take off when I tried to pet her in her cage.

I purchased another rabbit size corner litter tray and put it on the bottom of her cage. Last week, Liilly found another place to potty so I put all of her stuff and split it between the rabbit litter tray on the top level and the one on the bottom level. Hopefully she will get the hint. The positive thing is that she stopped using her wodent wheel to potty. It could also be that she is not using the wodent wheel as much as before but I think that she has finally learned to use a corner to potty. Now I just want her to use the corners with the rabbit trays!

I do let Lilly out for play time on the weekends in the mornings when i have my coffee.  She loves it and she is allowed out for about one hour each day.  It drives Remy crazy because Lilly climbs all over her and Martyn's cage and she becomes very territorial.  Martyn is a late sleeper so I don't know what his reaction is when Lilly does this.

I need some good chippie psychology help from Tarcus, our Forum's resident expert.
 
About a month ago, I purchased a McCullough steam cleaner to clean the cages. http://www.shopsteamers.com/index.ph...xternalId=2601
 
I did not purchase it from this website but it provided the best picture. It works fairly well. I like it because it sanitizes the cages without using chemicals, it has a long hose, it can be used indoors, and the steam lasts for 45 minutes. You still have to scrub the cage wire for hard to remove food products and it come with attachments for that purpose.

[Marci]

Happy to report:

All my English chips are toilet trained!   

Best of all since I have been home on vacation for a week, Lilly has been let out of her cage.  It is helping with the bonding.  When I go into the room where Remy/Martyn and Lilly's cages are, Lilly comes right up to the wire to greet me all the time.  Yesterday, she finally started to approach me for food and has been eating from my hand when she is out of the cage.   She is also letting me pet her for a longer period of time without squirming away.  I can only pet her when she is eating.  I am starting to see the same behavior in Lilly as Buddy when he was first starting to bond with me, going to the cage wire when I approach.     

I am not sure what is going on with Remy and Martyn.  They used to sleep in the same box or the same tunnel on the top level so I moved the second box to the next level down.  I noticed that Martyn has been sleeping separately and using that box.  I truly believe that when Martyn started to bond with me, Remy read him the riot act and banned him from her.  About once a day, I hear some loud commotion coming from their cage and it is Remy chasing Martyn down to the lowest level to another tunnel.  I do make sure that Martyn has food since Remy seems to be so aggressive.  Remy will take seeds from the wire but Martyn will not.  So last night, I moved the second box to the top level next to the other box.  We'll see if this evens out the playing field.

Happy New Year!

[Marci]

Happy New Year!

Ever since Martyn took food from me and then Remy did, she has been dominating the cage.  Remy is the early riser and then will go to sleep in the afternoon.  Martyn wakes up in the early afternoon and will stay awake until dusk.  I can't figure out if they are doing shift work guarding the cage.  Almost once a day, I hear some ruckus and when I arrive in the room, Martyn is in the bottom tunnel and Remy is on the top level.  I think that she is chasing him to the basement.     

I hope that this does not affect the breeding.

Lilly has been out of her cage loose in the living room for the last week at least for one hour a day.  It may be helping with the bonding but it has been a very slow process. 

[Marci]

Lilly was let loose in my home office on Friday.  she was a bit skitish but enjoyed herself.  I could tell that she is getting to know her name and my smell even more by being loose in a different room. 

During the past week, there has been a strange chirp coming from their cages.  I can't tell which chipmunk is making it as by the time I get to the room, it has stopped.  It sounds like a garbled chirp. 

I also purchased antler bones containing marrow for the chips to chew on since i noticed that Remy and Martyn chewed on their plastic tunnels.  Here in the US, they are given to dogs.  I know they are not ingesting the plastic since I have found the bits of plastic but I wanted to give them more chewing alternatives.  They already have cuttle fish bones, pumice rocks,  wood nibblers, and mineral and salt wheels.  Why they have to chew on the plastic made in China is beyond me.  I also give them shelled nuts fairly often so I am not sure the reason they have to chew on the plastic. 

Remy and Martyn are still living apart and sleeping on different schedules.  Martyn is sleeping a lot more during the day and so is Remy.  Lilly is still active all day, she does go into her box earlier in the late afternoon for the night. 

I am noticing that chips in their first year who are kept indoors do not go into much of a torpid state but the older ones do.   Not sure if my theory is correct, only time and other members experiences will prove out this observation.

[peter01]

Hi Marci.

Glad Lilly enjoyed her run around. I can't help with the rest but i've found my 2 older indoor chips to go into torpor and my youngsters are still active as normal too

[Nick]

My 2 are both outside and Pip who will be 4 this year, stays inside his nest box alot more than Cream who's only 18 months old, shes in and out most days

[Marci]

An update:

Lilly was moved to the kitchen where Buddy used to live.  I am hoping that this will help the bonding.  She was moved during the week of January 10.

Remy - She was chirping like crazy this morning.  I think I can tell the difference between their warning chirps (sounds more garbled) and a mating chirp.  Remy was making constant high pitched chirps this morning.  Does this mean she is in heat?  Martyn has been sleeping mostly all day for the past several weeks.