Not having a good time with my chips

[jennyb]

Hi as many of you know Pearl one of my chipmunks is poorly and the vet found nothing wrong with her, i'm trying everything to make her better but just as she makes progress it all goes wrong again. I've owned chipmunks for eleven years and never had a problem with them, apart from one who had to be rehomed because of bullying but lately its all going wrong, first Pearl's illness and now i've had to separate Hazel and Ginger because Hazel would't stop chasing him around the cage, there was terrible squealing from him, i don't think she was hurting him but she was defently scaring him and his old now and doesn't need all that so had to get another old cage from the garage, this time a rat's one so much bigger than the hamster one (the biggest one i have left now), we're already getting a new cage for Pearl and Abigail. This separation is a real shame as they made such a good couple i don't know what has caused it as i didn't see, they were like that when i got up but it i was going out for the day and couldn't risk leaving them together. Pearl isn't making great progress, just as i think she is she gets badly ill again. I took your advise Nate and covered the floor in hay incase she fell and hurt herself, i tried a hot water bottle but it didn't stay warm long enough and i've moved the cages around so that Pearl is away from the drafts from the back doors, we have a thermitor to keep an eye on the temperature by the cages and it hasn't droped below 19 so don't think it can be cold enough to cause her illness, anyway she was used to the cold at her previous home. I now suspect seizures as the main cause, she can be fine in the morning then i get home in the afternoon and find her in a bad way again, short time frame for something to happen. I'm keeping a log of when they occur, how she is when i find her and how long before she is normal again. So far she has had four i think - first was friday 17th oct, second friday 24th oct, third thursday 30th oct and now today tuesday 4 nov. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to it but everytime it is the same symptoms - Pearl is cold, lifeless, unconscious and once i warm her up in front of the fire and place her on the carpet, she walks shaky at first and then walks normal and once placed in the cage starts climbing and moving normally and eating fine. Recovery time varies from today it was about 10 minutes, other times it has been half an hour with last thursday about 40 minutes. At least she seems happy and gets on good with her cagemate Abi and eats well. She is moving around the cage more which will help her lose weight at least, she weights 149 g (that is quite abit overweight). It takes me about 10 minutes t sort out her food now to try and make sure she isn't eating fat foods and that she is getting fruit and extra calcuim. Finding Pearl like that was abit of a shock today particularly as i had a bad day at work and tomorrow have to take my cat into the vet surgery to have a tooth out, at least the vet can help her, she knew straight away what was wrong unlike with the chipmunk, which was said to be fine.

Hope everyone else's chipmunks are well and happy.

[chris]

I hope all goes well with Pearl. We are new chipmunk owners and we have no idea if our vets have any experience with chipmunks, and I hope we never have to find out.
All I can say is keep a good eye on her, make her feel warm and safe and then everything else takes its course.
Hopefully you will end up with a fine healthy chippy again.

Best wishes from us both and kepp us informed of how things are going

[chris]

Is it possible for you to take a days holiday from work to keep a close eye on pearl and see what happens over a 24 hour period?
Pets including chips are part of the family even though bosses don't see it like that, throw a sicky and just see how she is for a day, watch her see what happens and  ask the vet for advice on what you have  seen,  also post on here maybe someone will come up with a solution.
We wish you and especially Pearl all the best and a good outcome to the problem.

[jennyb]

Hi Chris, thanks for your message. Pearl is not a very active chipmunk, my other four act perfectly normal, they get up early in the morning, stay up the whole day until evening and then go to bed and often get up several times during the night. Pearl only seems to come out for about 10-15 minutes at a time sometimes up to half an hour and she seems to have become more nocturnal being more active late evening and night, it varies day to day, she don't move about as much as the others. As i'm not around i have an idea that i could set up a video camera pointing at her cage all day to see exactly what she gets up to when i'm not around, we did this when we had a chipmunk escape under the floorboards, every day we set up a camera and he would come up every morning before my dad got up for work and me and my sister for school (this was about 7 years ago i think) we used to enjoy watching the recording every evening just to see he was still well. So thought it would be a good idea for Pearl. I feel this is going to be the only way we will know for sure what is happening, i only ever find her after the 'seizure' has taken place so don't know events leading up to it, whether her behaviour changes and exactly how long it lasts and how bad it is. I think your right if we could give the vet more information about what happens to her before the event she could probably help more (my vet is specialised in exotics).

[chris]

A Video camera would be a good idea if you cannot spend any length of time watching Pearl. At least you would have some idea of how she reacts in the morning and follow her progress through the day. It may still be usefull for you to spend a day at home with her though as I'm sure like us you treat your pets as part of the family. I guess I'm kind of lucky as I work from home so can keep a good eye on all our pets throughout the day. We have 4 cats 1 dog and indoor and out door fish and now 2 chips.

[juliusanewyork]

hi from new york state usa  i wanted to suggest that a good way to keep little critters warm is to fill a sock with rice...plain uncooked....and warm it in the microwave...it  holds the heat very well and doesn't chill like a water bottle does... and one question....can a chipmunk ever get TOO much calcium? good luck with your chippies! juli

[jennyb]

I actually took the next day off work and although watched Pearl nothing happened (seizure wise) which was good, behaviour was normal. We still have to set up a camera but not sure how to do it as the camera needs to be plugged into the tv and it is right at the other side of the room so would mean lots of cables and possibly an extention lead, we would then need to plug into a video or dvd recorder, again could be difficult as at other end of the room. We haven't given up on the idea but its going to take more thought. We was also possibly thinking of a webcam but again would be difficult as the computer is not near the cage either and we couldn't record long periods. Julius - hi, the idea about the sock with rice is a good one, i tried a water bottle as you mentioned but found it didn't stay warm for long. What would you do with the sock, just put it in the nest box with the chippies? i put the water bottle under the cage. To answer your question yes a chipmunk can have too much calcium which can be bad like too little, my chipmunk though had not enough. Pearl has been quite active today which has been good but she still doesn't come out for long periods and seems to choice evening. Unfortunately although Pearl is getting plenty of fruit (oranges, grapes, blackberries, apples and figs) and now has access to a full spectrum light 12 hours a day (light we purchased about 2 weeks ago from pets at home when we picked up our cat from the vet, its a reptile one called Repti-Glo) she seems to be getting worse, as in the seizures are more frequent. She has had 3 seizures since i last posted, last one on tuesday. Symptoms are always the same, she appears to be cold, unconscious, heart-rate is reduced. Once put in front of the fire she warms up, wakes up and then starts moving about, then behaves normal until the next one. 

[Nate]

I don't know if this is worth a look, but I did a search on the Internet and found these pads which go in the microwave and they say they last for upto 10 hours

http://www.snugglesafe.co.uk/heatpad.htm