Start of the Aviary :)

[candyfloss]

All but 2 of my chippies live outside all year round. Mine have never fully hibernated but they do seem to become less active spending most of their time in their nest boxes.  I always make sure they have plenty of food & nesting material. Mine use meadow hay & ripped up kitchen roll & anything else they can find!

I have never had any problems with fireworks. Unfortunately nowadays fireworks are not just used on 5th Nov. They seem to be going off several weeks before & after. It wouldn't hurt just to keep popping out & checking that they don't seem stressed in any way. I live a stones throw away from the Isle of Wight festival site which closes every year in June with a spectacular firework display which can be heared for miles but my chippies don't so much as pop their heads out of the box!

[jennyb]

Thanks Candyfloss, that's great that your chippies are not bothered by the fireworks, hopefully mine will be the same. Fireworks start weeks before here too so i just wondered if even though the chips will be asleep they would get woken up and frightened by the bangs but it's reasurring to know that yours are ok. My chips are right by the house so i will be able to check on them regularly and see if they are moving about or looking out of their box or i can hear any sounds in the box. Once they get though their first winter ok i'm sure i will be lot more relaxed about the next years.

[jennyb]

The new aviary is well under way, the thing thats against us though is it gets dark earlier, last time we could work til 10 at night, now only to 7 and my dad doesn't get back from work until 6 so not alot of time. Even so we have it put together, painted and the ground has almost been finished. It's looking good. Next we have the wire to put on and finishing touches to the base and the connecting together. The aim is to use the double safety door (porch) of the old aviary as entrance to the new one, so both aviaries can be accessed through the same door, it's abit hard to explain so i've added some pictures. We will need to cut a door out and it may involve cutting the whole side out and a new side put in with the door in. Theres a slight problem with the base because of a tree we can't use a paving slab under one part. Would cementing the gap be ok or wiring it? And because of this tree the two do not completely line up so the new one sticks out abit. Pic 1 shows the gap between the cages lower down. Pic two shows the gap from higher up, the gap is quite wide so we've not sure how to fill that. Pic 3 is inside the new aviary looking into the safety porch. Pic 4 shows the gap where the tree is, its not that large luckly. Pic 5 shows the two aviaries side by side.

[jennyb]

Some more pics.
Pics 6 and 7 are from inside the existing aviary looking into the new one. Pic 8 is in the new aviary looking into the box which hasn't been wired yet. Pic 9 is both aviaries length ways. 

Next week my dad will take a day off work so we can get the rest completed. I'll add pics as things get finished.

[Grasshopper]

Hi jennyb
Havn't been on the forum for a while and the avairy shore has come on allot since i last looked .(I last saw it whene it was just a few slabs on the ground.)

[jennyb]

We have now worked out how to connect the two aviaries together. It did give us some difficulties and took some trial and error. My dad came up with a few ideas. The first idea was to use a wood frame and cover both sides with mesh. The next idea was to use just wood (with mesh on the side the chipmunks will have access to) and use this on both sides to fill in the gap, which we have done. With the gap at the top between the two wooden houses that caused alot more difficulties, the wood was going to be screwed into the bottom of the house but the drill kept getting stuck in the wood and there wasn't enough room to move the handle of the drill, it kept hitting the bottom of the box so we gave up on that idea. Dad then used brackets to connect the wood to the bottom of the house. The door turned out to be the easiest bit, connecting it onto the existing aviary porch went without any trouble. We used cement to fill in the gap by the tree. Asriel and Hermione should be able to move in on monday, theres a little bit of work to do on sunday, we need to use grandad's electric drill to drill into the paving slabs so we can fasten this aviary to the ground like the other one. Then we have another layer of paving slabs to add same as the other one and some wood around the outside to keep the wood chips in the cage. We will also triple check the avairy that there is no gaps/way for the chips to get out and that everything is fully secure. I'll take some more pics once aviary is completed and of the two chips when they go in. Hermione had made loads of progress and will now come up to the cage for food, this means i can now get much better pictures of her up close. She had got alittle nervous outdoors but hopefully will get better once in the new aviary properly. I've also 2 pics of Pearl in her indoor cage recovering from her injury. Her ears are looking more normal in this pic and shes looking quite well.

[jennyb]

Asriel and Hermione are now in their new home, as planned most of the work was finished on sunday there was just a bit of stapling to do on the monday but they did go in on the monday after a thorough check for possible escape routes. Asriel left the cage quite quickly once he realised the door was open but it took Hermione quite some time to leave, she seemed very scared. It wasn't until it was nearly dark that she left. She then explored for a few hours after it was dark (we left a light on in the garden so she could see around). I went in with them the next day and she was very nervous at first and kept her distance, she slowly got more bold and took a few steps up my trouser leg then ran off but it was the first time she'd ever climbed on me, i wasn't expecting her to do that. Today Asriel was climbing up my shoulder and in my jacket hood and he seemed to enjoy just sitting on my shoulder and looking around while Hermione was on the ground until he got a bit of a fright when Hermione appeared on my shoulder, he was not expecting her to climb up and i don't think she knew he was there so there was abit of a scuffle, he soon climbed back up.  The aviary looks good but could do with a few more things as its abit bare compared to the other one.

[Gilly]

Good to see Hermione is getting used to you and her surroundings 
I cant wait to see some pics of the finished home. It sounds like a lot of work has gone into making it just right. Nice one.......Gilly

[Nate]

Nice to see Pearl, she has been through so much this year. Do you think she's put on some extra weight since last time? I think you said you may keep her indoors through the winter, that will be nice as she shouldn't hibernate. Her ears don't look too bad either, some of mine seem to have flat ears with the odd nick.

Asriel and Hermione look as if they can't wait to move in to their new home 

[jennyb]

Thanks Gilly and Nate,

Hermione is becoming very bold now checking all my pockets for monkey nuts and shes less nervous of the camera now, before there'd be no way she would come near me it's only recently she's taken food from me so she seems to be loosing her fear.

Pearl is huge she had lost weight but seems to have put it all back on and maybe more. I think as she was outside i couldn't control what she was eating as she was sharing the food with Abigail and Bailey and she was probably eating all the nuts i was giving them all. Now she is inside i've put her on a diet, i will only give her a few nuts and sunflower seeds on fridays, the rest of the week she will get Chipmunk food with sunflowers and nuts removed and fruit. I cleared out her nest box as it was full of nuts and seeds that she'd stored all the time she'd been outside. I will keep her inside as given her past illness i think she'd be more vulnerable to cold weather and hibernation. She seems happy enough inside although she's not moving around much!

Gilly i've added a few pics so you can see what the aviary looks like. Hermione on the wood chip floor. Asriel looking into the safety area and Asriel in the night house. I've added a few more things into the aviary which i'll take some pictures of i will add them soon.

[Sam_Spice]

Your dilutes are soooo gorgeous  I've always been on the other side of the fence but now I'm getting tempted 

[jennyb]

Thanks Sam, i've only had five Dilute's in total, my first two i got not long after my first pair of Chipmunks and they were two females i got them a few months apart but they got on well. I started looking for another one in 2006 but it wasn't until 2008 i was able to find a male Asriel and then end of 2008 a female Pearl. I suppose i do have a soft spot for Dilute's but i do like Agouti's aswell and have owned many Agouti's but only have one at the moment.

I've put a few things in the new aviary including a shelve which there is a pic of Hermione sitting on there watching me, she likes to sit up there. I've also added some ropes so theres a few more things to do now. I'd like to add maybe another tube so Asriel can hide away from Hermione if shes giving him a hard time. Theres a few pics of the aviary showing the connected part. The final pic is Bailey meeting Hermione in the safety area.