Fresh food for pet chipmunks
Chipmunks love fresh food, I give mine a daily selection of mostly fruits. To begin with I tried nearly everything I came across, I can tell you they are picky eaters. different chipmunks like different things, for example none of mine will touch bananas, but on other sites you may read that their chipmunks love them. So to some extent you might have to go through what I went through trying all sorts of things out.
There are some foods that all my chipmunks like, they are raw super sweet corn, pomegranates and the cheaper varieties of grapes (yes it's not all posh food), raw peas are also popular. When available mine also like blueberry's and cherries, and they also quite enjoy digging into a butter squash cut in half.
They can be a bit messy with fresh fruits, as they will often take a blueberry from the bowl then climb up somewhere high, eat a bit of it and then drop the rest on the floor. One of the reasons I changed from carpets to wood flooring throughout my place. Tyke used to be a monster with cherries, tearing in to the flesh part and flicking it off his paws in a race to get to the stone inside. BTW, don't give them the stones from plumbs, apricots and nectarines. Certainly the latter two contain a toxin.
They also like greens, but you need to give them leafy food in moderation, as it can upset their stomachs. Vegetables such as brockley and cauliflower also make a change, but mine will leave carrots alone. If you have access to a garden you may also give them dandelion leaves and marigold flowers. A lot of Uk flowers are toxic to chipmunks, so be very sure you know what you're doing if you give them any other plants from the garden. I take care to wash all the fruit and veg I give my chipmunks, you don't know what's been sprayed over it these days.
Surprise rejections for me were strawberries and raspberries, mine don't touch them but yours could love them.
I give them organic apples, only because I found that all the non organic ones don't have any pips in. In the autumn I cut a pumpkin in half. Though, I noticed with last years ones there were hardly any seeds in. It seems as if the farmers are trying grow food without pips or seeds in these days. It's the seeds and pips the chipmunks most enjoy.
If you only have the one chipmunk you could end up getting your government recommended five a day fruit allowance, as a chipmunk does not eat huge quantities, so there could be lots left over for you.
Fresh fruits can also help to tame them, as they will often start getting used to you by taking half a grape from your hand. I find I have to keep an eye on where they run off to with the fruit, but have never found them taking fruit back to the nest.
In the summer it can get very hot for chipmunks (they slow down a lot when the're hot), so I give them a couple of wet lettuce leaves from the fridge, which they seem to enjoy. Sliced melon is also a good fruit to try in the summer, mine all like it.
My special needs chipmunk Totos' teeth won't grow straight, so she can have trouble eating. I give her sliced avocado, which all the others will pinch given the chance.
I don't give mine sticky fruits such as dates and fresh figs, they don't like getting sticky paws. It seems to annoy them, so sticky things are off the menu.
My friends take the mick out me when they hear the trouble I go to each morning preparing their food. I cut up their grapes, pomegranates and pick off the sweet corn from the cob. Ok yes I admit it, I do spoil them, but cutting up grapes in half or quarters has a benefit. As I said before, chipmunks will take a piece of fruit eat a bit then drop it. So cutting up fruit in to small bits means there is less waste, and the chipmunks seem to prefer holding smaller pieces of food.
Live food
Chipmunks are meat eaters, in fact I once read that in the wild they can catch anything up to the size of a mouse. It's very unlikely that any of mine would bother chasing after a mouse, far to much effort for their pampered lifestyles. I give mine live wax worms, which I order from the Internet. These are quite sweet for chipmunks, and you need to limit how many they have. I give the adults about two a day, and let supplies run out for a couple of weeks. There has been the odd occasion where one has broken into the tub of worms and scoffed loads, with no ill effects. But when that's happened I don't give them any more for a couple of weeks, just to let their system cope. Not all my chipmunks will eat a worm, most do, but Izzy will never take one, and Sue only took them when she was pregnant.
It's not essential that they have live worms, so if your squeamish you can give them egg biscuits instead.
Droppings
Sometimes you might see your chipmunk eating its own droppings, but don't be alarmed. It's normal for them to do this, as they need to get vitamin B12.
|
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Next | Last |