Chipmunk pregnant or in pain?

[jennyb]

Hi, Pearl is looking very fat and has been in her box most of the day since i brought her inside, she does come out the box to go to the toilet and eat although i get the feeling she's not eating as much, she is drinking. She has been adding to her nest so has been behaving like a pregnant chippy. She has definetly put on weight these last few weeks, that was what i first had suspicions about. She's been having alot of cuttlefish and mineral block, she's generally quiet but at night sometimes she makes squeaking sounds and this is what i'm worried about. She's only starting doing it on friday. Anyway about this squeaking she don't do it all the time but last night she did a few times and on one occasion it really sounded like she was in pain, i thought it might have been her giving birth but she hadn't had any babies. I've been informed that near birth some females do squeak at times when they breathe. I didn't even see the mating but my mum says she saw mating about a month ago, i didn't plan for her to get pregnant and actually thought the male was infertile, now i don't know what to think. Really need some advice.

Thanks

[big_green_shoe]

I'm no expert but 1month is about the right time for her to be getting pretty chubby and if your mum saw them mating.... as the magic 8 ball says - all things point to yes

I will happily take the babies off you if you can't keep them... (location providing  )

[DayleC]

Fidget would squeak a lot just before she gave birth...I actually thought she had had them one night.   I wouldn't worry too much if she appears to be ok.  she seems to have everything in control if she's eating cuttlefish and mineral block and nest building.    I used to worry about Fidget but now get the old .."Stop worrying Mum I know what I'm doing" routine 

[donnamt]

awwwwww i hope you get babies 

[jennyb]

Thanks everyone for replying, i'll try not to worry but i didn't expect her to make so much noise before being in labour.
Donnamt thanks i hope i do too it's just the wait is making me anxious. When Stella was pregnant what did she look like and did she make any squeaking sounds? Most people on here are more experienced with babies so if you can let me know about your chipmunk pregnancies it may give me more of an idea of what to expect, thanks.
I can post some pics if you like of Pearl and Abigail (Abi i think is also pregnant, she's got a round belly and her teats are showing and she has been adding loads of bedding to her nest box and food and licking the cuttlefish aswell, she's alot more active than Pearl though but does go in and out the box several times a day adjusting the bedding ect, i haven't heard any noises from her).

[tarcus/Kevin]

They are all like women.....
Tempremental and extreamly hard to understand
the babies will come just like humans when they are ready. As for the noises I am sure most females on this forum who have had children will tell you about the varying levels of pain and their threshold of it .
Most if not all mine(chipmunks not women) have given birth during the dark hours, prefering that time as it is the safest from predators.
How they manage without a midwife is  awesome
But just as they have the ability to know what to do with ears of wheat and corn when they have never seen them before it must be genetical programming
As I have mentioned them if you have any fields of wheat etc near you gather as much as you can from the edges of them your babies will love them.

  heres hoping they come soon 

[sarah-J]

Hi Jenny,

I hope everything goes OK for you.  

When my 3 girls were pregnant, they did all the same things as before, they were never interested in the mineral blocks, and I had never tried cuttlefish.  They do build up the nest and stock on supplies before they give birth, and the belly's got very large so you tell who was pregnant or not, couldn't tell you if the teats were showing before hand or not. didn't notice any strange sounds, but they did live outdoors.  When it was time to give birth, then she would stay in the nest box I'm sure she only did this just before the birth, i would notice that I had only seen the other two for a week, and then you would hear the babies, I always waited a week then i just peeked in with out taking them out, check how many and then leave her to it.

She will stay with the babies, nearly all the time at first, even if i called her she didn't come out at all unless i moved the nest, only coming out for a short time to feed and drink.  The others females would all sleep in the nest box even with new babies, only the male had to sleep in a different nest box.

Also made it a little difficult as all 3 could be pregnant at the same time, so the babies would all be in the same nest box, with different sizes, depending on how far apart they were born.  It was possible to have 1month old and new born together.

I just left them to it and made sure they all had plenty of extra food.

fingers crossed, really all you can do is wait and see.

Sarah  x x x      

[jennyb]

Thank you Tarcus, maybe Abigail has a stronger pain theshold than Pearl but Abi is more tempermental, she went for Pearl a few times and Bailey especially in the nesting area. I didn't see any aggression from Pearl but Abigail has a temper at the moment.

Here are a few pics of the girls they are not very good but give some idea.

[jennyb]

Thanks for your reply Sarah so your saying that your female spent a week in the nest box before giving birth? Pearl has been in the box since friday so i guess that means she still has a little way to go. If your females behaviour didn' change much i guess it made it more harder to know when they were pregnant. Abigail never eats cuttlefish normally so that is different and is one sign i think she is expecting.

Sorry the other pic of Pearl didn't come out

[donnamt]

Thanks everyone for replying, i'll try not to worry but i didn't expect her to make so much noise before being in labour.
Donnamt thanks i hope i do too it's just the wait is making me anxious. When Stella was pregnant what did she look like and did she make any squeaking sounds? Most people on here are more experienced with babies so if you can let me know about your chipmunk pregnancies it may give me more of an idea of what to expect, thanks.
I can post some pics if you like of Pearl and Abigail (Abi i think is also pregnant, she's got a round belly and her teats are showing and she has been adding loads of bedding to her nest box and food and licking the cuttlefish aswell, she's alot more active than Pearl though but does go in and out the box several times a day adjusting the bedding ect, i haven't heard any noises from her).

she was no different at all... but she did only have the one so she didnt even get fatter at all.. i hate waiting for stuff too, i guess all you can do is keep an eye on her eating and stuff right now, fingers crossed shes ok and just a vocal chippie xx

[jennyb]

Thanks. No babies yet.

Abigail is looking even bigger in her belly if possible, today i noticed as i got a close-up look at her that her belly is looking pink, she doesn't look like she has long to go. Not much change with Pearl so i'm unsure about her, not heard squeaking from her for a few days. I have some pics of Abi from today which were taken on my phone so are not the best quality but she doesn't let me get close with the digital camera. I'll see if i can get a closer look at pearl tomorrow to see if she has changed in appearance at all that's if she hasn't had them by then.

[donnamt]

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay your gonna be chippie nanna 

[jennyb]

No babies yet, i'd have thought by now but both are keeping us waiting....

[margo]

dun dun duuuunnnn....
Ah the excitement

[jennyb]

Yes, but i wish they would hurry up 
It seems so long now i've been waiting, they must have gone over 31 days now probably nearing 35.
Pearl was squeaking again on friday night and sunday night and yesterday night and has also been restless most nights since friday, alot of scrapping in the box, moving around, stamping her foot, squeaking sometimes quiet sometimes loud and alot of teeth chattering. All signs that she is restless. She came out the box a few times last night for a wee and ate some fruit. This all seems to me how a chipmunk about to give birth would behave but theres no babies, i really wonder now if i got it wrong with her.
Abigail's behaviour hasn't really changed she's been active every day this week but maybe today she was out slightly less than the other days. When out she spents most of the time on the ground of the avairy digging around in the wood chips and rolling around in the chips and scratching her belly and rubbing it on the chips like she is in discomfort, she also eats often. When she does go up the cage she goes into the nest box, she does this very regularly, i've seen her resting behind the litter tray.
Does any of this sound like normal pregnant chippy behaviour? Hope some of you will be able to shed some light on the situation.