male and female help

[mazmich13]

Hi

I have three chipmunks, two females and one male, they are only 12 weeks old and come from the same litter.

They all seem happy living together, except for the fact that the male chipmunk seems over interested in the females and they are starting to snap at him.
Am I right in thinking that they don't breed for the first year?
Does anyone have any ideas on what I should do.

[tarcus/Kevin]

Bestthinbg to do is seperate them if possible and then look to advertising for a swap with someone for another unrelated male.
The breeding is dependant on weather conditions as well as daylight hours.
I have in the past known people to put a fridge in their aviaries and put the chips box into it so they got cold at night for a couple of weeks during august then turn the fridge off at the begining of september, the resulting warmer nights would trick the chips into breeding again in september so he had babies for sale around christmas.

[mazmich13]

Thanks Tarcus

I was not sure if brothers and sisters could live together. I do not want to breed them and this was what my problem was.
Unfortunatly I had to have all three chips because one did a runner at the shop and I ended up with one male and one female at first as the other female did a runner. We could not get the male back into the cage as he was already in the box and we was not sure who or what had been caught.
Think I will have to find Chip a new home, at the moment he is only about 13 weeks old so wont be to bad I hope.

[Nate]

If they were mine I think you will be safe keeping them altogether for the remainder of this year. But you should know that bothers can breed with sisters, and this must be avoided of course. But yours are still quite young at 12 weeks.

As you say you don't want to breed them, providing you get the male natured before next spring they should live very happily together. I have three brother and sister couples living together. Yes two pairs squabble from time to time, but on the whole they seem to really like each others company. The third pair are the closest and never seem to fall out. All the boys are neutered, so to rule out any three headed babies in the future I recommend you get the boy done.

[mazmich13]

Thanks for your help on this one.
I wasnt sure if this could be done with chipmunks. I will try and find a vet that can do it. Looking through the website I noticed that there was a link to a vets that is about 15 miles away from me in Rugby, so I will give them a call and see what they say.
Do you know at what age they can be done?
I had a chipmunk called Alvin for above 8 years and he lived happly by himself, so buying more this time was a big step for me and I am always learning and they are always surprising me.

[Nate]

Hi

I cannot find an age for when you can first neuter a chipmunk, but I normally wait until they are a year old.

I have not had any problems when mine have been treated, and all have recovered quickly from the operation. But my vet is experienced with chipmunks, and it is important to find one that is. This is because, although a simple operation, the chipmunk will need to be gassed. Putting to sleep any small rodent comes with some risk, so you will want a vet with experience, and the correct equipment. You may also ensure that your vet uses the closed method when carrying out the operation.

I've also written a little bit about when some of my chipmunks were done on my blog:

Neutering three chipmunks
http://super-chipmunks.co.uk/blog/?p=55

8 years old is a very good age for Alvin, and it's interesting to read you had one happy chipmunk living on his own. People wonder if they should have a group and or just one, I guess it depends on how much attention you can give them and their own personality.

[jennyb]

Hi mazmich13,  i have a brother and sister pair living together and they get on really well, they are both 7. They used to live separate up until a month ago as i was worried about inbreeding but my female hasn't called now since june so i think she has now finished breeding. It wasn't like they had been apart at all, they sleep in the same box, eat out of the same bowl and enjoy each other's company. When they lived separate i let them out together to runaround but i've only recently started letting them out about six or seven months ago, never thought about it until i read on here about letting them out. I was luckly that after all the time apart they got on well, didn't fight at all when they were let out together. None of my males are neutered so my young white is kept separate at the moment but he is a little young at the moment anyway, about 7 months. I suppose i never neutered Ginger because i wondered about the danger of the anethetic and thought i might change my mind about not breeding him in the future, he is a very good looking male.

As Nate said the best option would be to neuter your male if you want to keep him with the girls while they are young.