Kancho's extreme aggressison and insecureness

[indyfan]

I have a 2 year old girl who has been trying to attack me everytime i let her out. Her condition seems to have gotten worse recently, and she's been like this for about a month. I bled a lot and I am afraid to let her out now. I have trouble feeding her without wearing gloves and protection on my face/ears (she attacked my face twice and gave me a long cut across my nose). I bought Kancho from a pet store when she was a infant and she's been a family since. I have to tell you guys that she gew up in a small cage, way smaller than minimum size (back then i didn't know a big cage was needed). After about 9-10 months or so I learned she needed a big one so I built her a bigger cage, minimum size. She's been living in there for almost a year now and some tuys were given. Yet she never seemed happy in her cage as she always wanted to come out. I'm telling you guys this cuz I felt it might give you some clue to why Kancho might be acting so violently.

I always wondered why she didn't enter heat but since she started being aggressive, she started chirping too. I saw a chipmunk chirping in heat video and I really don't think this is Kancho's case (heat don't last for a month is what I read).
I mananged record her chirping here
there are more chirps at the end
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s1uU2IYOEY&feature=plcp&context=C3310ddaUDOEgsToPDskLFh0Jbppit7V21pkzmEaIt

couple days ago I found this forum and found a few people with similar problems, I do realize chipmunks are not like that at all and if the chipmunk atcs like this the problem is with the owner. So I felt talking to them gently (thinking back, occasionally talked to her, most of the time I let her roam free and mind my own buisness) might do sth. I did but I still wore protection just in case. She seemed calm for a while, even ate the snacks from my bare handuntil she tried to attack my face. I was wearing protection so she looked for exposed parts of my face or even tried to dig through the protection. I didn't feels safe but I stayed calm until she manged to break through my protection and bite my nose and eyebrow. When I covered my face with my hand, she was no longer calm. Same applied for me as I constantly tried to pull her away from my face. After struggling for sometime I put her back inside. just after that I realized my fingers were bleeding (she bit through my gloves).

I real somewhere in this froum that she might be calm if she is not allowed out for a month but I think that's too extreme. Can you guys help me? 

[tarcus/Kevin]

First thing that came to mind is have you got a chipmunk or is it something bigger?

It is highly unusual for chipmunks to mount a sustained attack as you describe and so it is baffling me as to exactly what the problem is.It is possibly that she sees you as a giant chipmunk who threatens her food supply, but I doubt she sees you as anything other than a plaything.

My suggestion would be that you mover her house if possible into a larger secure room. Once there let her out to explore all the new things while you try(you will need help for this bit) to get her cage out of the room. If this is not possible then try and get her into a smaller cage/trap and remove her from the vicinity of the cage.

Next thing is to tear apart the inside of her cage and clean everything inside it with a light solution of water with bleach to remove any smells. When you put it all back together try and replace everything out of order so there is nothing familiar to her.

You are right that you need to stay as calm as possible when she is out and about but I would also try and ensure that there are many more distractions for her than yourself. toilet roll tubes are good as are the inside tubes from kitchen towels while the kitchen paper itself is fun for them to play with.

Once she is re-introduced to her "new" refurbished home try and keep her inside for 2/3/weeks while you sit next to or as near to the outside of the cage. Whatever you feed her and how often can also be a factor.

Many try and control their diet by giving them x/y/z/ portions of varied food every day holding back peanuts in shells as "treats" to be offered as reward for good behaviour.
Having had chipmunks for many years my methods have changed since the early days of having them, I prefer to overfeed if you like, there is always more food than they can eat within one 24hour period available first thing in the morning. I then spend time in the cage with them(I have an outdoor aviary type set up)during the day. The time is never set in stone and I may be there any-time whilst it is light.
The chips tend to come to me looking for "treats" which often comprise of fresh oranges or apples pears and at times fruit bars but I do not have these "treats" every-time I go in, regardless they still come for the pleasure of exploring pockets and hoods.

I would also look into the possibility of enlarging her space so as to accommodate a mate as this would be a good way of calming her down(or making her more angry and jealous  ).

WHatever your decision I wish you luck and hope some of the things I have written help.

[jennyb]

Hi,

It could be she is in season but usually this time of year Chipmunks have a break from coming into season, it is more usual for beginning of February for them to start breeding. I have rarely had aggression from my females during the breeding season.

The other possible explanation is she is protecting her territory and food, this time of year Chipmunks tend to be aggressive to one another and hoard alot more food. I have had a couple of my Chipmunks try and attack me or act aggressive towards me but I suspect it is due to the time of year because previously they have been very friendly. One of them Tiny is a male so with him it may also be hormone related because he is about 9 months and coming up to his first breeding season.

For now I just have to be more careful around the aggressive Chips. One of them lives outdoors so I wear gloves when I go in with her, she appears to mainly get aggressive if I am cleaning her aviary out or tidying it, she doesn't like any of her things messed with. With Tiny he is very territorial in his cage and will go for anyone who touches it or anything in the cage or goes too near to his cage. This behaviour didn't improve when I fully cleaned his cage out.

For now I am doing ok, I just ignore them when they get aggressive. Hopefully if this is a Winter issue it should improve once the weather improves.  Maybe it is something similar with Kancho.

When the female comes into season this happens about every two weeks until she gets mated but usually after about 4 seasons (heats) she stops for a couple of months and then in the Summer repeats the process. I've found the Summer season is usually shorter than the Spring one and not all my females have a Summer season at all. When a female is in season she will chirp very loudly and this lasts the whole day and with a few females into the next day and also you can see swelling of her female parts. Breeding season is generally February to September.

[indyfan]

jennyb -
recently I have not let her out. Once she was calm I thuogh it ok so I removed my gloves and played with her for a while until she bit me again while jumping on to my hand. later she went straight for my ears when she jumped onto my shoulders from a shelf. She has one place in her cage where (I think) she stores her food. it's one of those hanging flower pots, I've seen Kanchho perched on it (with her upper body inside the pot, sticking her tail high in the air), she also clawed the inside to mix it with some shredded newspapers. Thing is ever since I bought her that last summer, I never thouched it. Besides, it now turns out she tries to bite me when jumping onto me from somewhere. Not trying to say you are wrong here but most of the time I' see her cheeks puffed up with all the snacks+food I gave her. Ever since she passed her infancy she never seemed happy to be in her cage, I mean when she was in the tiny cage, she would pace sideways and chirp often. She stopped chirping though when I built her a bigger cage (minimum size), but pacing, begging to let her out did not change. When someone comes close, she will climb up to near the person's shoulder level (the limit).
I don't know if this has to do with protecting her food but just today, I found her shredding the center of a large piece of newspaper she uses as her urinal(?). That newspaper is stained with her own dried urine and she was digging through it. When I came close, she suddenly became extremely aggresive( the past 5 days or so she's calm in the cage at least until a while after i let her out), running in full circles up and around the cage, letting out little squeaks of range, trying to bite me through the bars. I'm assuming she was hiding her food there.
I hope things I mentioned previously gives a clue of some sort   


to everyone -
Following what Tarcus told me, I am considering building her a bigger cage than the one right now, but first a conflict with my mom is unavoidable. Mom still believes a big cage is not necessary and that a tiny one  is enough (I was planning to built a much bigger one but mom wouldn't allow me, that's why the cage was cut down to minimum size). I talked to her today, told her building a bigger one may be the best I could do to fix her aggrassiveness. She suggested a deal; I build a bigger one and see how Kancho does for about a month or so, if she becomes gentle as before I can keep the bigger size, but if she does not change, I have to cut down the size to half of the current size as kancho's aggressiveness had nothing to do with cage size. I think of this as a risk, it might suceed but if not, kancho's cage size will become even smaller and I'm afraid that will worsen her condition. Kancho's current cage size is 30X70X110 in cm btw. I could ask this to my friends but none of the owns a chipmunk and a lot of you guys out there seem to know more about and have more experiences with chipmunks, so what I want to ask here is; will it be worth the risk? Is shrinking the cage most likely going to worsen her condition?

I have two choices here; either accpet her deal and gamble
or try to convince her smaller cage is torture.
Can any of you guys please help me out?   

P.S My Knacho's 2 years old and she still has not entered heat, is there a reason to it?
   

[adamclark18]

can you post a pic of the cage? mine is probably double that size but still the size you suggest shouldnt lead to that type of aggression, i say this but im new to chippies so could be completely wrong

[Nate]

Hi indyfan
I think you have another video on your YouTube channel of Kanchho in her cage. The cage looks the minimum recommended size, and you have put plenty of things in it to help keep her occupied.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqdo5dDOeh8

I would say that the bigger the cage the better, even if you cannot go sideways perhaps you can build a higher cage.  One with plenty of places like tubes and boxes for her to hide in.

My aviaries are built into the room, they are big. I have one chipmunk in an aviary which is so big I could easily stand up in and walk around in if it were not for the branches and toys, but the chipmunk in there will still ask each day to come out for a run. It’s what they luv to do, they will always want more space but what they like best of all is constant variety. Outdoor chipmunks can get this from all the other wild life they can see from their aviaries so indoor ones perhaps need more attention.

Kanchho’s behaviour seems extreme to me, although jennyb’s experiences seem to match, and jennyb’s reasoning I also agree with. That is, in winter chipmunks are much more concerned about their food stocks and it’s well documented how territorial they can be.
Looking at Kanchho’s behaviour in your other video, she is very wild, there could be something she does not like about the room or position of the cage. I thought it was as if you had some of those ultra high frequency plug in mouse repellents and it was driving her mad she looks that unsettled.
I’m sorry to say that Kanchho does not look happy, and I hope you find out soon what is bugging her and are able to put it right.

[Marci]

This my two cents from my experience and the education that I received from the intelligent forum members on this board and intelligent animal lovers experiences in the US. 

Kancho needs a larger cage.  There was another siberian in the US, Flower, whose owner kept her in a cage that size and she became extremely aggressive.  You can read about Flower on thesquirrelboard.com.  The owner ended up rehoming Flower because of her constant and consistent aggressiveness.

do you have other animals in the house that may be frightening Kancho by either sound or smell? 

Are you cleaning Kancho's nesting box too often?  It should only be cleaned every few months. 

Did you have her since she was a baby?  How long was she in a small cage?  How long has she been in the cage in the video?

How long do you let her out of the cage?  How many times a week do you let her out?

what are you feeding her?

According to a recent conversation I had with Jenny B, this is the time of year that they become a bit cranky, and territorial regarding their food stash. 

It takes a lot of time to get the Siberian to trust you and you cannot force it.  You need to be patient and use food to bond with Kancho.  It is all about trust and bonding and if she is attacking you, she does not trust you and the two of you lost the bond.

If that fails, then you can take command and try to show her who is the boss.  There are techniques for that which I can explain in another post.

[indyfan]

Kancho is the only pet we have, ther are no other animals.

I don't exaclty know where she stocks her food, I never ouched nything in her cage other than her old small cage. Even when cleaning

Yes I had her since she was a baby.

I did not let her out for the past few days because of her aggressivness but before that, it was almost everyday.

I mostly feed her fruits (pears, apples, bananas, sometimes mandarin the fruit)

just until last winter, she used to crawl into my shirt and sleep on my shoulder or near my belly (on my bare skin) for warmth I think and she only did it when I let her loose in my room. She does jump onto my hand and rest on my head, it's what she always did before turning violent. I think this shows how close we used to be.

I hope I don't have to go far enough to show I'm the boss 

I took this video just today, it shows more of her cage and Kancho's aggressiveness, I hope it can tell you guys more

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/hZns_KKEa2E&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/hZns_KKEa2E&rel=0</a>

[pinkpill]

firstly i personally think that cage is big enough for her, and i cant see making it larger will solve ur problem

i think she just is angry at the moment, i dont know if u have tried this or not, but the only thing i would suggest is that i would persevere with trying to let her out in ur room and arm urself with treats, maybe some unshelled hazlenuts n almonds, aswell as monkey nuts, i would suggest peanut butter on your hands but if she's bitin u already this mite make it worse also maybe a little stuffed animal so that if she goes to bite u put the toy in her way instead

i know if a ferret is vicious, they put them in isolation for a month with minimal contact, so that when u go back to it it will crave ur attention and love that it wont bite u, but whether this would work on ur chip i dont know but maybe it would be worth a try before givin up on her completely but just incase this is a winter food storage behaviour, wait until the winter has ended and see if she gets any friendlier before trying this method

[Marci]

I agree with most of Pinkpill's advice.  I still think a larger cage (at least higher) will make her happier in the long run.

Do you give her lots of toilet paper for her to shred?  They love doing that and then stuffing it in their tunnel, nest box, etc.  Can you also give her more places to bury her stash?

I am assuming that besides fruit, you are giving her nuts, seeds, and veggies.  I found with Buddy that if he got too much sugar, he became more active.  You should only give her fruit a few times a week as that is what they would find in the wild.

Oh yeah, your video and explanation were PERFECT!!!

I also think that the aggressiveness is hormonal and comes to them at this time of year.  I noticed that with Buddy who had the same behavior (sweet, snuggly, fun, etc) for most of his life with me, he was a true snuggle buddy.  But there was an incident last year after he recovered from his first illness where he became aggressive for the first time, he was biting me and charging the cage.  I nipped it in the bud by showing him, who's the boss, I put my finger in his mouth and he stopped biting me. 

there are all sorts of techniques, like mine, or the one that Pinkpill suggested, all worth trying.  Please don't give up and release her outside. 

You can do it!  It takes lots of patience.

[jennyb]

Sorry Kancho is still being aggressive I hope she will get better soon.

A few of mine keep food in their cheeks, I think they just like to snack on the go 
But most of the food I give them they do stash in places around the cage/aviary and a lot is stored in the nestboxes.

I agree with what everyone has posted, great advice. Her cage would be better if it was taller. Chipmunks do need a lot of room and I wonder if part of the problem with my male is his cage although I am noticing some improvements from him he does still try and go for me sometimes but he can quite nicely take food from my fingers without getting aggressive. His cage is taller than the cage he was in before (when he was very ill) but it is still not very tall and I think he could do with more space because he is young aswell. I really want to get him into one of the outside aviaries as soon as the weather improves because I think that might help tame him again. He was outside before but due to illness he had to come indoors and then it was too late in the year to go back outside, but we did get him another cage when he was recovering. But the aviary would be ideal for him but if I can't get him into a outside group, I could swap him with Abigail my old girl, her cage is much bigger (taller and longer) and she sometimes has difficulties getting around it so a smaller cage might benefit her more. Her cage is almost 6 foot high but if he went in there it would need adjustments first. With the female outdoors who has a aviary to herself she also appears to be getting less aggressive but I still sense the tension from her when i am cleaning her out but last time she didn't attack and she came to me to get a nut quite ok so maybe in time things will get better.

I think making the cage taller if possible and letting her out more as Pinkpill suggested might be the answer and of course having lots of treats for bribary and if she is still aggressive wear thick gloves, a hoody and thick trousers to protect yourself.

[Nate]

I’d like to think that Kancho will change her personality now spring is coming. Now I’ve seen your second video it helps to explain her set up and reading more of your description also helps, as you said she was once hand tame with you.

I would persevere with letting her out on free range. You need to protect yourself and allow yourself a lot of time, as getting her back home is not going to be easy. She looks like she will be hard to catch.
One thing I find my chipmunks like is soft paper face tissues torn into strips. Every so often I get a box and tear them all into strips, the chipmunks will make great use of them to line their nest with wherever that may be. It will help occupy her time, I think she needs more to interest her, hence the suggestion of daily free range time a wheel and tunnels.

If you can put in the hours Kancho will come around. I have always found chipmunks also mellow as they get older. I now think a larger aviary is very important for her, one where she can have a safe running wheel and some tubes would really help her wellbeing and make her a happy chipmunk.

It’s also very natural for chipmunks to dig, so at some point soon a deep pot of clean soil or peat is a must for her to dig away in. We have the privilege of these animals as pets and it is up to each of us to provide all the many things they need to keep them simulated. But please don’t take that as having a go at you personally, you are doing your best and have come here for advice, which I’m so grateful that you did.

The good thing is in none of your videos does she exhibit that stereotypical behaviour pattern (yet), and she looks very fit and healthy. You are doing a lot of things right. 

[indyfan]

I got somewhat of a good news. I talked to mom yesterday and made a different deal. If Kancho's aggresivness doesn't change despite the taller cage, I will reduce it back to its minimum size. This is at least better than reducing it to half of its minimum size. So right now, I'm saving up money and ordering new toys+making new toys for the taller one.
Kancho's aggressiveness hasn't reduced, I am trying to let her ut if possible, it's just that my protection gears are very uncomfortable as I must cover my entire face (nose too).

I'll how kancho reacts to the larger cage and tell you guys  about it 

[Marci]

Here is a recent post about an Eastern chipmunk who became aggressive.

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24516

Perhaps this is one method you can try in addition to the additional height of the cage.

Keep us posted!

[Nick]

Have you tried just giving her just the basic diet in her cage and saving any treats for her while shes out of the cage, a bit of bribery goes a long way