Thinking of buying chipmunks!

[muadmz]

Hi there, Im currently living in a condominium in the capital of Malaysia and
Im thinking of getting a few chipmunks. However have a few questions which
Im not too sure of yet.

Living in the city, my place has a lot of wires from the computer, tv, microwave, etc.
Also our dining table is made of wood. So the question is will the chipmunks go around
biting these like rabbits do? Or are they different?

I know that I wont be letting it free just yet, but want to make sure that when its time,
that nothing goes wrong really.

Tks for any input.

[Nate]

Hi

I've found that chipmunks will only bite cables if they are lying across their path. If a cable goes across a path they like to use then they will bite through both communication cables and mains cables, or more often just chew the cable a bit. I've had a few mains cables, scart leads and telephone cables chewed, but it's not something they tend to head straight for so it should be manageable.

They prefer to chew on untreated wood, so if you put some in their aviary, like plain wood shelving and some branches they will leave the furniture alone. Most furniture is treated in some way, with varnish or wax, so given the choice they will go for the untreated wood in their home.

On the whole they are not destructive at all, they are just very curious and excited. If they have plenty of things in their home to chew on, when you do let them out for a run they mostly want to just hide nuts and seeds around your home.

I do get through a lot of keyboards, because they have dropped seeds between the keys, so I always have to close any laptops. Once in seven years I had a chipmunk chew the data cable connected  to the monitor, but he only got as far as the shielding. Had about three telephone cables chewed through as well. Mine are also partial to nipping of the ends of head phones, lost about ten sets because I keep forgetting to put them away.

The first few times you let them out in your home you have to keep a close eye on them all the time, because they will find every place in the room they should not be and want to investigate.

[muadmz]

Thanks for the educational info! Will try to keep an eye on them once I get them soon. Oh yeah, you talked about them dropping seeds between keyboards and places. So does this happen often and do they do that everywhere? Also what about when nature calls for them? Where do they actually use as a toilet.. hope not the living room.. 

[Nate]

That's OK, I'm happy to help, though i should point out my replies are only based on my experiences, so anyone else with chipmunks reading is more than welcome to chip in with their thoughts.

With the seeds thing, yes they can make a lot of mess. When you get yours try to keep them in their aviary for about a month, so they learn that that's the place to go to toilet, and bury/hide seeds. Seed storage is something they do all the time all year round. Given the chance they will try to hide seeds and nuts not only in their home but all around yours and often somewhere on you. Some owners try to control this by only letting them out when their cheeks are not full. But the way I look at is, they are still semi wild pets, and they have already made a compromise by living indoors, so most times I try to let them do what they do because it's natural. They only store dry stuff, so it's quite quick to clean up after them. However this would not be good if they went to toilet everywhere, I don't mind cleaning up seeds but having a pet that went toilet anywhere would not suit me, that's why I don't keep pet rats. Chipmunks will go to toilet in the same place, they will back in to a corner and do their business, so making it easy to clean. I found in reality that young chipmunks (up to about a year old) take time to get into this habit of using the same place. A youngster can have accidents, I've found a young chipmunk will urinate if it is frightened or very excited, so they're a bit like kids. Once they have matured they will use the same place as their toilet, and are either so used to me or bored by me they never have accidents when they are older.

I have twelve chipmunks, with about six out on free range at anyone time, I have about the same number of computers (bit of a nerd me), along with all the other gadgets a home has. Apart from keyboards and cables I've not had any other significant misshapes. But over the years I have altered the rooms that the chipmunks go in, mostly by de-cluttering of things. There is not much stuff out now that they can knock over or hide seeds in. But I hope you don't get the wrong idea about them, they would not just sit there chewing up any documents or bank notes you might have left out. They just like exploring, and have the ability to get to any part of the room they can see.

Let me know if you have any other concerns, as this is a good thread for anybody who wants to know what keeping a chipmunks indoors is like.

[Marci]

Hi Nate

I am in the US and have corresponded a bit with Jenny.  She is such a wonderful member of the board.  I was researching the forum and I would appreciate it if you could help me out continuing this thread about keeping the siberians indoors. 

In the US, there is only a handful of people that have siberians, so there are not a whole lot of people here with experience.  The US siberians are kept indoors.  From what I have read on this forum, is that most of UK owners keep them in outdoor avaries.

Keeping the chippie indoors has some challenges especially with my current setup.  I am keeping Buddy (he's about 6 months old) in a cage in my kitchen.  I just bought a new cage, it is 5ft high and 3 ft X 2.5 ft,  so it is pretty big.  I was going to keep it in one of my spare bedrooms but then I would never see him as I am always walking thru the kitchen.  I got the cage from Martin's cages - chinchilla townhouse.  http://www.martinscages.com/products/cages/chinchilla

I have lots of questions like bathroom habits, food, behavior, etc so I will post a new reply to keep the thread organized.  I have researched alot using the US and UK forums and have read a chipmunk on my shoulder and the 3 Henwood books, and lots of info on the internet from links that I have found. 

Marci