Chipmunks Fighting

[Wilsy]

I have recently noticed that my chipmunks have bleeding and damaged ears although I have not actually witnessed any fighting! I have 6 altogether, 4 males and 2 females. 1 of each are the parents and the rest are their litter. They have all been getting on really well until recently. I am wondering if it is because it is reaching mating season and there are obviously more males than females. I was under the impression that the babies, born Feb 2008, would not come into season until Jan/Feb 2009! I have had the father chipmunk castrated, which has settled him down.

I am thinking of selling 2 of the baby males as this would leave me with 2 of each sex. I really dont want to have to sell them but I may not have a choice.

Can anyone help or give me some advice?

Sarah

[Nate]

Sorry to read about your fighting problem. I am afraid to say it, but I think you may need to separate them. Sometimes siblings can stay mates, but more often than not there is rivalry between them. If you can spend some time watching the group at the weekend, you will get a better idea of what's going on, who's picking on who and how bad the fighting is. I have several with nicks in the ears, this normally happens when out on free range, as I have to give mine separate aviaries. The maximum I can have in any one aviary is only two now, as that's how they paired up. I did have three in a aviary not so long ago but one died whilst out on free range.

I was really disappointed when mine had there first litter, as I thought they would all be one happy family. They all seemed to be getting along great, then one day things changed, no more happy families.  This happened in about the same time scale as yours, the fights started, even though I had them in a big aviary. I didn't want to have to part with any, so I fast had to build new aviaries. Since then I've seen this happen many times. The father often really seems to look after the kids, then after a while they turn on him.

To help reduce the fights, put in plenty of tubes and other places where they can all get away from each other. Put in separate food bowls with the same food in, so the shyer ones can all get to some food. Having them neutered does calm them down but it won't stop the fighting altogether. Also, don't be surprised if you see the young males trying to challenge their father, or the mother having a go at her daughter. You could keep them all, but you may need to build or buy extra aviaries. Although this all depends on how much more room you have, and the additional time it takes supervising separate free range.

So stick with for a while, see if anyone else posts some ideas, and keep an eye on them if you can. You never know you might be lucky and things settle down again, and this was them just sorting out an order. Oh, if you do end up keeping them all the lads will need to be neutered when they're a bit older.

[Wilsy]

Hi Nate,

Many Thanks for your advice. I have been looking around and cant find anyone looking for males. Mostly want females. I obviously dont want to sell them to just anyone as alot of people dont know how to look after them properly. I dont really have enough room for another aviary but I do have an indoor cage that I originally had Mum and Dad in. I may have to put 2 males in there for the short term.

You are right about the Father, it is him that is taking most of the aggression. I will keep a close eye on them over the next few days.

Many Thanks
Sarah

[Gilly]

Hi, Just thought when I got mine a few weeks ago. The owner there, kept the father seperate from all the rest. He only joined the others to do the bad thing.
It could be the best option for the gangs health.

[Nate]

Hi Sarah, just noticed your other post of the photos, so now I have a better idea of your setup. Looks a very nice home you got for them. A few people have had problems uploading photos so if it's easier just send them as an attachment to photos @super-chimunks.co.uk (just remove the space after photos and before the @ symbol), I can reduce any in size that you send in and put them up in your posts.

Everyones chipmunks are different but I think you may have to have the lads separate. With more males than females I think the young males are going to keep challenging the father until one of them wins. This is going to get worse as dad gets older. Even if you separate them that way you will probably notice that the girls will boss the father around, sometimes seeming quite hostile, but this will change through the year, and should only be squabbles. Because the three boys are brothers there's a good chance they will get on alright if they are kept together, so long as they don't have to compete for a female. Steve (Gilly) has two boys and so far he hasn't mentioned any problems.

I was never able to part with any of mine, I just could not make the choice of which one to part with, so I understand how you must feel. I am glad I kept all mine, and I've found once they reach the age of about two years they do get calmer, or they have worked out who's going to be the boss. If you do separate them it will likely to have to be for good, it will be very hard to introduce them back together again. I've got both brothers and sisters that almost hate each other.

Let us know how it works out for both of you, because lots of people want to know if it's better to have one or a group. They all look so sweet you would never think they can fight so bad, and seem to forget their own famlies.

[jennyb]

Hi Wilsy, i had a colony of chipmunks once, who lived well together until one female started to pick on one of the males, a very shy chipmunk. She only picked on him and not the other two a male and female. To give stripe the male (being picked on) a better life i decided to separate her from the group and then rehome her as at the time i had alot of chipmunks and just didn't have room for another cage. I also had two white chipmunk females who again got on well but had occasional fights and some of these were quite bad, both females had nicks in their ears and one female, the oldest lost her tail. Other than these occasional fights they got on really well and slept in the same nestbox. I found that pairs generally worked better than colonies. A pair my first Agouti female and a white female got on great and i never had any problems with them. I also had my Cinnamon male and female (who i still have now) and their mother (now deceased ) live together and get on well, until i removed the male because of the risk of inbreeding. I then kept mother and daughter together until the mum died.

[Wilsy]

Hi Nate,

Many Thanks for your advice. Since your last post I have been putting an extra food bowl in separate from the others and have loaded the aviary with more obsticles and two little conifers. This has worked a treat as they have not fought at all since. I dont think it will last too long though! I think I have to separate at least 2 of the male babies if not all 3 of them. Unfortunately the aviary just isnt big enough to be able to put partitions up. As my boyfriend wont let me have any of them back indoors Im going to have to sell them, its going to break my heart though.

Jenny, Thank you for your comments, im still learning all the time so advice is very much appreciated. I just wish space was not an option so that I could keep all of them. All of the nest boxes are in an enclosed section so I actually dont see who goes into which box. There are enough boxes for them to have one each, although before they went outside they all, apart form the father, still crammed into one box, very cute to see. I cannot imagine that they still do this now though.

Ill try and get some more photos this weekend, they are not at all camera shy and usually come and sit right on top of the camera for a close up

Sarah

[Nate]

Sarah

Simple, keep the chipmunks and ditch the boyfriend, after all, chipmunks don't smell as much

Seriously though, if I was backed in to a corner and did have to part with some chipmunks, I would try to persuade my friends what a great idea it would be to have a pet chipmunk. It must ease the loss if they do go to someone who will keep in touch with you and let you know how their getting on. Still you're not there yet, and having them neutered calms them, plus it might just only be some squabbling, and things could settle down for the better.

Fingers crossed for ya.

[jcoombes2002]

Hi Sarah, I keep all our chipmunks indoors and should you need to sell them would love the opportunity to add to my clan!

[Wilsy]

Hi jcoombes,

The fighting unfortunately is still apparent but not like it was. There is only one chipmunk without any marks on his ears at all, and its one of the male babies. I assume its quite possibly him thats causing the trouble between them although I still havent witnessed any bullying! I still think I am going to have to separate a few.

I noticed in one of your other posts that you live in Portsmouth, is that not too far away from South Wales?

I would love them to go to a home where I knew they were being looked after.

Sarah.

[DizzyMoo]

As mentioned above  & by yourself it will be because of male/female ratio, you really need 2-3 females per male . Unless you just have 1 breeding pair of course & no others. The males will fight to the death to mate with females so ideally you need to seperate the males asap. I have a spare cage to take in any chipmunks at the moment but you are to far away from me unfortunately.

Hope you manage to sort them x