Babies left on their own

[amar]

Hi, unfortunately its been a trajic day. My chipmunk gave birth to seven beautiful babies one month ago but she passed away this morning and im not sure why. We are all realy upset, im not sure what to do with the children, they were very dependant on her and its all too upsetting.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Also a reason for her to pass away, she was very good but last week i saw her leg wasnt working properly, she couldnt walk or climb.
Thank you 

[chris]

So sorry to hear your chipmunk passed away especially as she was feeding a litter of 7 babies.
As for the reason she died, you said she had hurt her leg. Could she have fallen and broken it? I guess that recovering from something like that as well as feeding 7 babies could just have taken too much energy out of her.
As for the little ones I don't know much about this as my chipmunk has just given birth to her first litter of 7 babies but you could try hand feeding them.
I have found a recipe which may help 4 teaspoons of baby cereal, 1 teaspoon of evaporated milk, 1/2 a teaspoon of honey or glucose powder. This should be mixed together to the consistency of gruel. Or you could try milk rearing food sold for kittens. Use a dropper to feed with and feed them every 6-8 hours.
If they start blowing bubbles through their nose this could mean the food is entering their lungs so pick them up by their back legs and support their body with another finger until the liquid drains.

Keep checking on here for advice though as there are alot of experienced chipmunk keepers who know much more than me.

Good luck and keep us posted on how things are going.

Chris

[amar]

thank you i will definitely try that! ill jus need to go buy a dropper, do i jus put it into their mouth wen its open or shal i buy a small dispenser like thing so they can suckle on it?

[chris]

Not sure but you could buy both and see which works best. Also after they have fed rub their stomachs gently this helps the food pass through.

[chris]

Your local vet may be able to supply you with the droppers if you ask and they aren't very expensive we bought some just in case and he charged us £2.50 for them

[amar]

im jus waiting for the vet to give me a call. i think he may want to see them. Hopefully they will have the droppers so they dont have to worry.

[chris]

Good and keep us informed of their progress

[tarcus/Kevin]

At four weeks you have a chance with them it will be hard work though organising them the last time this happened to me however I had six beautiful hand tame chips at the end of it.
As for the mothers death? she may have been suffering for quite some time but you will not have noticed because she spent so much time with the kids, it may have nbeen just a simple knock but with the babies taking so much out of her she could not heal as normal.
  reaaly sorry for your loss but the only way now is forward with determination. Best of luck.

[jennyb]

Hi Amar, i'm so sorry to hear about the mother, very sad, hope the babies will be ok. Chris and Tarcus have given some good advice and as Chris said they are a month old so have had a good start and are more likely to survive. My very first pair of Chipmunks were hand-reared, when i bought them at approx five weeks old they were being fed puppy/kitten formula milk, by this stage out of a bowl which we continued with for two weeks until they starting eating solid food. The main thing to do for them is keep them warm, i'd bring them inside the house, and use a hot-water bottle with a blanket over or as someone once told me a sock filled with heated rice. I have asked someone has had lots of Chipmunk babies if she knows anymore about hand-rearing, i'm waiting for her reply, will let you know as soon as i know.

I wish you good luck with the babies, hope all goes well

Jen

[Doghouse135]

Hi Amar

If you are going to feed the babies with a syringe or a dropper it's imperative that you don't feed them with the syringe/dropper pointing down.  you must feed them in an upright position with the dropper or syringe pointing upwards.  Failure to do so, may cause them to aspirate.

With regards to defecating, you need to rub their genitals/anal area with a warm wet cotton bud

Good luck - just out of interest, did you take the mother to the vets last week when you noticed she couldn't walk or jump - it sounds like she either had a broken limb or calcium deficiency from feeding the babes.  the vet may have been able to give you an insight into what was wrong.

[johno]

Hio Amar

Really sorry to hear the news. Hopefully everythings working out Ok, any news you would like us to know about? Hopefully its all good.

Kind Regards

John

[amar]

Thank you guys! yes they are brilliant, they were feeding themselves, i did try and feed them but they didnt want it, so i put a saucer with the mix chris told me and they all started drinking it. They all go to sleep and wake up together go for a climb and run on the wheel. they are all very well, and my dad just told me they started eating solids. we have introduced the father and he is very fond of them, he came over and licked them all, he does miss mini tho which is dissapointing. unforutnately i didnt take her to the vet, we started giving her milk so i assume its not a clacium problem, she used to hv alot. i was thinking maybe the limb was broken and she was unable to recover. she was excellent, we are still very upset about it, but she left us 7 beautiful babies. there is actually one female white chipmunk who acts exactly like her, has her characteristics which is briliant but at times upsetting as it reminds us of mini.
Thank you all for your help. i have videos and pictures of them any ideas how to upload videos? Ill add the picutres to my photobucket area.
Thanks doghouse135, jennyb, tarcus and chris (especially for the recipe, worked great)

[Gilly]

Hi Amar, it's good to hear the little ones are coping without their mother. I'm glad the father has taken to them and it sounds like he will be a great Dad  Not just the Father , as you and your family are taking excellent care of them as well.
If you wanted to upload videos you could do it on youtube or facebook.

Keep us all informed on the gang and good luck ......Gilly

[chris]

Hi Amar I'm pleased the babies are doing OK and able to feed themselves its still sad that mini died but at least she left you her babies in good strength and health. The recipe I gave you was in a chipmunk book I bought when I first got Scrat & Chip and I'm pleased it worked.
Keep us informed on how they are doing

Best wishes

Chris

[amar]

images of them r here, 'http://s661.photobucket.com/albums/uu335/playerumz/' i update them every so often, i have some more images but they are no my dads computer, ill put the videos onto youtube in the next few weeks. ive got exams for the next 4 weeks so will hardly be home, i hopefully will be seeing them tomorrow. they are mischevious already and they like to do their toilet all over the place. yeah hopefully theo (the dad) will be good. i rang the vet and asked them how much would it be to neuter the chipmunks, and they replied with £150 each, which is signifcant because i might want to keep them. any ideas?