First breed :D

[tarcus/Kevin]

Guys, nothing I do works. It is odd, because Luci had her first heat early March. I paired her with Poet early April, with no results. The stayed together daily, for two weeks, without even copulating. He chased her, but she never stopped to let him get close. Luci did not chirp during that time, or even the week after - I let her take a week off before meeting Charlie. He does not appear to have caught her favors, either. I don't understand why they aren't copulating - no mounting attempts at ALL.
There is such a thing as choice even in the rodent world
I had three females and one male together for two years without any pregnancies occurring however when I removed the male and put in another one all three became pregnant, The first male I put in with another pair of females who also became pregnant
Perhaps its a love thing or just like us it could be down to attraction :dontknow:I would give it this year and see what happens and if nothing happens next spring try introducing another male

[Chiptastic]

I am not positive, but I don't think she is pregnant - however, since this is my first breed, I'm going on what I've read and have not experienced it so I could easily be missing signs. Her belly is bigger, but I have been adding lots of food (more than normal). I am looking for teats (I thought that was the biggest sure sign of pregnancy) and haven't found any yet.
The odd thing is that she was very chirpy, having those cycles in March, but come April when I actually paired her she went quiet. Before that she was not only calling, but more aggressive around her 'special times' (Chip pms). I would think she became pregnant since she stopped squeaking, except my other female Michy also stopped her squeaks around the same time, and that Luci was paired AFTER her 3rd squeak (which was the last I heard of). Do chipmunks only have so many cycles?? I thought it was basically endless until the fall. I am very confused - one minute she was in the mood, the next she's so flighty.

The female may not chirp once housed with the male because she has his attention, the females vulva swells when she is in season and it goes pinkish on the day she is ready to mate.

She sure does have lots of attention Last squeak was late in march, and Poet was introduced April 6th. I tended to house Poet with her during the daytime for anywhere from 2-6 hours. Could his presence in that capacity have stopped her squeaking?


Random question, but, Jenny you have owned many chips - have you ever had one act shy about their mating? Meaning, Michy didn't mind me coming into the room, but if Luci was squeaking in heat and saw me, she would stop. I always found that quirky.


True that, Tarcus. Maybe it is that she doesn't like them,  unfortunately Poet & Charlie are my only males; It's them or nobody basically. Though she should be receptive to anyone on the 2nd day of her cycle, right? I'm hoping Charlie jumps her then.. The weird thing is that she stopped chirping, otherwise if she was and still rejecting, then I'd know for sure that she isn't interested.
Animal attraction is neat to study =D In a psych class we watched an ape documentary where the dominant's right hand man was actually 'taking care' of the dominant ape's ladies because the females preferred him despite his status. It's interesting to see what animals are into - sometimes they're just plain handsome. 

[Sarah-Jane]

Hey and welcome!
 When i breed I put the two together and I leave them for a while and as motioned above i look for the tale tale signs from pippin that she wants Louie out! she likes her own time so i bring pip indoors to keep an eye I don't breed much really and my 1 st litter like u was terrified! incase something went wrong! more so than my own pregnancy! I put my male louie back in after i see babies ready to emerge as he is a great dad and Pippin allows him in but he has to stay within her sights!  xxx then move babies when Pip has had enough! Hope this is useful!


Sarah

[Chiptastic]

Thanks Sarah-Jane; Every piece of advice helps. Even just knowing someone else was scared their first breed too =) Your male sounds like a great dad! I am hesitant with my males, as both are untamed.

I've tried leaving them together for awhile, hoping they could stay together overnight and maybe beyond but then I noticed a little nick on Luci's nose. I just removed Charlie from her cage, and it's 6pm - the mark was fresh, so he had been decent for the day but had some kind of issue.

Something weird happened just now - I was in with Luci, and I had removed Charlie's nestbox (not realizing he was in Luci's at the time). I had given Luci a snack so she would be still enough that I could check for other injuries. I found none, and pat her on the nose through the bars. Then I went to check Michy, since she hadn't been checked yet as I was busy with the breeding pair.
Once I had moved just beyond direct sight of Luci's cage, she began making the WEIRDEST SOUND. It was NOT a mating call, I've heard those and even hers in March but this was something weird. It sounded like a deep throated chicken clucking. She had buried down in a corner that I had thrown bedding materials into so that she could work on nest adjustments should she be pregnant. I saw her turn over, lay on her side on the flooring, and make that odd sound. Then she sat up and continued making it. It was moderate in loudness, not the loud mating sound or the soft chirp they sometimes had. I was amazed by the new sound, but realized in the frequency was a pattern (sometimes alterations and additions) of one "cluck" and a very short pause then three rapid "clucks" in succession, then a pause and another single "cluck". While making this sound she was down deep, with her little ears poking out. It was a deep throated sound, but was more a cluck than any sort of chirp. It was so ODD! I looked closely to make sure Charlie wasn't in there, that he wasn't mating with her and THAT was the reason for the noise but later found and removed him. He was not mating her, she was alone and making that odd sound. As soon as I moved in too closely, she hopped up
When I removed Charlie I looked into Luci's box since it was on hand. Storage food, no babies, but a real stink. It was unlike any other nestbox smell ever and I've had 4 different chips around for quite awhile. The box is being cleaned. I'm almost considering it was because Charlie was in there, maybe he urinated from stress with Luci, but all the material inside was dry.

Anyone know what the deal with that whole situation and sound is, or what it means?

[Karen]

Hello to everyone on the site - I'm so pleased to find like minded folk willing to share their experiences.

I'm a new mummy!  (okay my chipmunk is, but I'm just as excited)

I've 3 chips, 1 male (Thornton) 2 females (Toffee & Nutella) (all unrelated)  bought them two years ago in June and they live together in a good sized purpose built 'munkery' in our garden.  Hoped for babies last year, but nothing.  Hadn't even started thinking about babies this year, but was totally shocked last week to hear the squeeks!  We'd been on holiday (granpa was keeping an eye on things).  Last thing on my mind was that Toffee would be pregnant.   Anyway, that was last Friday.  On Wednesday I got the fright of my life, she went into her box and brought out a baby, ran up the cage, did a summersault then back to bed with it.  It's as if she was showing off her babies!  she's been doing it since.  Any thoughts?

Anyway i'm hoping to start handling them today.  Had a wee sneek peek yesterday and it looks like 4+ .

Other two chips don't seem bothered, they all have their own nest box.

[alan]

Hi Chiptastic. I have heard one of my chipmunks making unusual sounds. But I can only surmise to say that he was either sneezing, coughing, or yawning? Thay are usually very clean, so I reckon their nest box would be so too. If yours are lively and jumping about, I would not worry too much. Monitor the situation.

[jules]

hi i dont know if this is any help in my aviary i had  6 nest boxes of varying size,this was prior to having the babies,i just had 4 adults , and what i found was they decided amongest themselves that the smaller of the boxes would be a toilet, which became extremely pungent even though cleaned regularly  and ended up in the bin,maybe as you had 2 nest boxes your chips wanted to share as 2 of my females do and decided  to  use the other as toilet as  chips do have a habit of using the same area of the cage for this reason ,as to the behaviour and noises i have no clue.but maybe someone else on here will.

[Chiptastic]

Congratulations on a successful breeding Karen! I have zero baby chip experience and I've never heard of that behavior being done. I bet someone else around here will have more advice though. It sounds exciting though! I bet the babies are adorable 

I have seen some sneezes, though not coughs I don't think - and sometimes I get up especially early just to see yawns and stretches  So cute!! Especially when they lie on their bellies for a stretch/yawn at once!  But I digress;this noise was something weird. I've keep a camera around more than normal in case it is made again so I can get some video of it this time around. Someone suggested it was an alarm call and so far that sounds most likely but who knows unless I catch it on film. =(
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/vB0KJbdqoSQ&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/vB0KJbdqoSQ&rel=0</a> (But there is a yawn on film! )

Eww, toilet box! My males nearly did that and destroyed a box but I eventually potty trained them (3/4 of them, grr Michy!). Luci and Charlie didn't seem to get along well enough to share a nestbox - Maybe he just decided Luci's bedroom would make a nice potty, regardless of her opinion! 

[alan]

Cool. try record a vidio or audio clip. It will give everyone a far better chance to solve the problem. I may get a toilet for mine. They are clean and use one corner. A toilet seems the right way to go.

[pinkpill]

mine all use hamster toilets  except my oldest male as he's just a dirty boy 

[Karen]

Toffee, one of my females makes a funny 'warbling' sound now and again.  I thought this was part of the mating call as I think she uses the 'chirping' sound just to get me to come out and talk to her sometimes.  I too am keeping the camera to hand, I've caught her on video with one of the babies in her mouth, doing a loop the loop will need assistance (hubby) to load that up onto something.  She usually does a loop the loop when she's happy to see us.... 

I use the plastic biscuit boxes, with  two sides cut off and then put in each of the corners.  Thornton - M, he uses it, however the females just seem to wee anywhere.

 

[Chiptastic]

I'll get a picture of the toilet mine use. It makes cleaning easier to do, and less often. They also use a globe-shaped house so they can kick it up without sending it all over the place (I love that).  I used to use cut boxes but they kept kicking things out and making cleanup a mess.

Here's a video of the mating call =D
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/m-yXO3eawHE&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/m-yXO3eawHE&rel=0</a>

A baby in her mouth! Awwww!!!

[pinkpill]

my late chippie hellboy R.I.P. did a kind of screech that i'v never heard any of my other chips do before, and he only seemed to do when i would talk to him, at first we thought he was fighting with another as they were close together, but it wasnt, but it was very loud certainly on the same pitch as the mating chirp 

[bernacj21]

Hey and welcome!
 When i breed I put the two together and I leave them for a while and as motioned above i look for the tale tale signs from pippin that she wants Louie out! she likes her own time so i bring pip indoors to keep an eye I don't breed much really and my 1 st litter like u was terrified! incase something went wrong! more so than my own pregnancy! I put my male louie back in after i see babies ready to emerge as he is a great dad and Pippin allows him in but he has to stay within her sights!  xxx then move babies when Pip has had enough! Hope this is useful!


Sarah

Actually, I think that was a good idea for the first time breeder. Leave them together first and then observ. So that for the next breed you will know what will do. Thank you for sharing that information for us.