
Chipmunk Growth Chart
Age | Characteristics | Food Type | No. of Feeds | Amount |
1 week | Naked; Closed eyes | Liquefied food; Electolyte solution; Esb ... | 6 times/day | 1cc |
2-3 weeks | Eyes still closed; color pattern fully d ... | Liquefied food | 5 times/day | 2cc |
4 weeks | Eyes and ears open | Supplement solid food; Rodent chow | 4 times/day | 8cc |
5 weeks | Move around; Eyes open and focused | Nuts, crackers, veggie bits; twigs and b ... | Free feed | — |
What are chipmunks favorite food?
The way in which you position your bait should:
- Force the chipmunk to fully enter the trap (body and tail).
- Encourage the chipmunk to engage the trigger (step on the metal plate).
- Take into consideration the trap's door configuration (1 vs. 2-door):
How often do you have to feed Chipmunks?
You will need to feed small amounts many times a day. The act of feeding is followed by helping the animal urinate and defecate which will help you understand if you are over-feeding the animal. The best thing to feed a baby chipmunk is puppy milk replacer.
What do chipmunks eat and how often?
Their diets are more diverse during the warmer months, during which time they hoard nuts and seeds in their burrows to eat in the winter. Some favorite foods include: Chipmunk Behavior. Activity: Chipmunks are active in the daytime during spring, summer and fall. Chipmunks remain in their deep burrow systems during the winter, where they enter patterns of torpor (deep sleep and lower body temperature) interrupted by periods of feeding.
What do chipmunks eat in the wild and as pets?
Here are some signs of chipmunk damage:
- structural or foundational damage from chipmunk burrows
- holes in lawn or garden from digging for plant roots
- seed piles underneath bird feeders
- uprooted bulbs
- chipmunk tracks: tiny prints with four toes in the front and five in the back (front and hind feet are generally reversed)

How do you take care of an abandoned baby chipmunk?
If you find a baby squirrel or chipmunk that is small with eyes unopened and very little fur, it may need your help. Place it in a small shallow box, leave the area, and allow the mother time to return. If she is alive and able to relocate them, she will come back and pick them up one by one.
What kind of food does a baby chipmunk eat?
Once a baby chipmunk is around a month old, you can start to feed it soft, solid foods. Start with soft fruits like apples or berries. You can also introduce softened pellet formulas suitable for rodents. Eventually, you can start to add things like seeds, nuts, and veggies to your baby chipmunk's diet.
What kind of milk do you feed a baby chipmunk?
Feed the baby chipmunk esbilac, which is a puppy milk replacer that you can purchase at a vet's office and some pet stores. Do not give cow's milk or any other food to the chipmunk.
What do baby chipmunks need to survive?
Keeping Baby Chipmunks Warm They need to be kept warm for their survival. When you place them in a box, ensure that it will keep them warm. Place a warm water bottle in the box to provide warmth. Keep a check on the water temperature, and refill with warm water constantly.
Do chipmunks need to drink water?
Chipmunks drink water – the liquid required by all living things on Earth to survive.
What can you not feed chipmunks?
Don't feed them processed foods, dairy, or meat. Try healthier options like small pieces of grapes, apples, cucumbers, strawberries and dry raisins. Other good nuts to try in moderation are pine nuts, walnuts, and almonds. Chipmunks have also been known to love dry oats.
Do chipmunks eat bananas?
Fresh fruit and veg - small amounts of washed, chopped fruit and vegetables, such as apples, pears, bananas, oranges, carrots, sweet potatoes, bean sprouts, and tomatoes, add extra variety to their diet.
Do chipmunks eat apples?
Chipmunks eat nuts (acorns, hazel nuts, beechnuts), seeds (from many ornamental trees, wildflowers, clover, ragweed, and sunflowers, and birdseed), flower bulbs, berries (such as raspberries, strawberries, black berries, and chokecherries), fruit (watermelon, apples, pears, peaches, cantaloupe, cherries), and wild ...
Do chipmunks eat bread?
Other than the natural foods that they eat, it has also been observed that they enjoy quite a few varieties of 'human food' (for the lack of a better term). They have been known to eat bread dough, sugar, cookies, baked goods, bread pieces, chips and the like.
What is a chipmunks favorite food?
Nuts and seeds are an absolute favorite of chipmunks. Both pet and wild chipmunks eat sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, and grains. The nuts that chipmunks eat depend on where they live.
Do chipmunks eat fruit?
Chipmunks aren't particularly choosey about what they eat. Along with seeds and fungi they scarf grain, fruit, nuts, insects, worms, bird eggs and even nestling birds and baby mice.
Can u keep a chipmunk as a pet?
Chipmunks should not be kept as pets because they are wild animals. Chipmunks don't make good pets. Although some people might enjoy keeping chipmunks, it takes a lot of space, dedication, and hard work. It's also not ethical to keep pet chipmunks, as it comes with very few benefits to the animals themselves.
Can you keep a chipmunk as a pet?
Can I keep chipmunks as pets? Chipmunks have only been kept as pets for a relatively short time and experts are still learning about how best to care for them. If you currently own a chipmunk as a pet, it's legal to keep your chipmunk until the end of their natural life, but you're now unable to buy another.
What is a chipmunks favorite food?
Nuts and seeds are an absolute favorite of chipmunks. Both pet and wild chipmunks eat sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, and grains. The nuts that chipmunks eat depend on where they live.
Do chipmunks eat fruit?
Chipmunks aren't particularly choosey about what they eat. Along with seeds and fungi they scarf grain, fruit, nuts, insects, worms, bird eggs and even nestling birds and baby mice.
Do baby chipmunks carry diseases?
Yes, chipmunks can carry diseases. The most common diseases chipmunks are most commonly known to spread include plague, salmonella, and hantavirus. Plague is a bacterial infection that attacks the immune system. You can be infected with this bacteria via the bites of fleas carried by infected rodents.
What Do Baby Chipmunks Eat?
Chipmunks that have been abandoned or orphaned are most likely to be dehydrated and chilled. Instantly get the chipmunk acclimated. Place him in a warm area with no draught. For extra heat, place the chipmunk beneath a 100-watt bulb.
How To Feed Pet Baby Chipmunks?
Whether you’re feeding a pet chipmunk or a wild one that comes by frequently in the vicinity of your home, it’s an enjoyable experience. Chipmunks are omnivores like hamsters.
How To Feed Wild Baby Chipmunks?
It is not a simple operation to save a wild baby chipmunk. Even if the baby chipmunk will eventually eat, it does not imply that it is completely domesticated. The ASPCA does not support the keeping of wild animals as pets because they are unpredictable and for the animal’s safety.
What Are The Natural Predators of Baby Chipmunks?
Chipmunks are delightful little animals, and we can sit and watch them scamper for hours. Of course, humans aren’t the only ones who enjoy seeing chipmunks. Chipmunks are eaten by a variety of animals, both wild and domestic. Chipmunks are considered tasty snacks and excellent meals by a number of species of animals.
How Do Baby Chipmunks Protect Themselves From Predators?
Chipmunks build multichambered underground dwellings, such as the eastern chipmunk. They store their provisions, rear their young, sleep, and spend the winter in their burrows. Chipmunks utilize the safest locations in which they may lay their eggs, such as hollowed-out logs or bushes that offer some protection from potential dangers.
For Fruits You Can Feed Them
Any sort of berries. blueberries, banana (it is a berry) but chopped is better, mangoes, kiwi, watermelon, grapes tomatoes (it is a fruit), anything. What you need to make sure is that if the fruit is sour too much, they might not like it. Sweet and juicy items are what they prefer.
The Behavior of Chipmunks
If you have thought of feeding them fruits it is better to make sure it contains no seeds and rotten parts. Also, do not give any bad food to them like leftovers or a week-old pasta for dinner. This can make them sick and eventually die if not cured.
What You Need To Know About Chipmunks
1. They need at least 15 hours of sleep to function properly. So if you see one of their nests around your place, don’t experiment and irritate them.
What Is The Right Way To Feed The Chipmunks?
Along with feeding them the right food, how easy and fast they are able to reach the food is another important factor.
How to keep a chipmunk's baby alive?
When you find a deserted chipmunk, ensure that you keep the baby safe from predators in the very place where you spotted it . In case the mother is still around, she will come in search of her offspring. However, administer it a few drops of liquid food at regular intervals to aid the baby in sustaining through the day. Also remember to keep the baby warm to curtail it from dying. If you find that the mother does not come back, take the chipmunk home, and provide it with the much-needed nourishment and warmth. Firstly, it is essential that you determine the age of the chipmunk in order to give it proper nourishment. The following chart will help you know the age of the baby. It describes how chipmunks characteristics change as they grow.
What to do with an abandoned baby chipmunk?
When you find an abandoned infant chipmunk, carefully take it home, and provide it with the needed nourishment and warmth.
How to get rid of a baby chipmunk?
Remember to replace the sheets every day, to ensure hygienic conditions for the newborn. Disinfect the cage every week. Do not forget to dust the chipmunks with rotenone powder to ward off fleas and lice.
What to do if a chipmunk's mother doesn't come back?
If you find that the mother does not come back, take the chipmunk home, and provide it with the much-needed nourishment and warmth. Firstly, it is essential that you determine the age of the chipmunk in order to give it proper nourishment. The following chart will help you know the age of the baby.
How to keep baby chipmunks warm?
Just like a human baby needs his/her mother’s warmth, so do the baby chipmunks. They need to be kept warm for their survival. When you place them in a box, ensure that it will keep them warm. Place a warm water bottle in the box to provide warmth.
How to care for chipmunk babies?
Baby chipmunk care also involves keeping them well-hydrated. While feeding the babies, be in control of the feed, as infants try to lap up too much too soon. If the baby begins to sneeze due to excessive feed, gently turn it over and stroke its back.
What to do when you find a chipmunk?
When you find a deserted chipmunk, ensure that you keep the baby safe from predators in the very place where you spotted it. In case the mother is still around, she will come in search of her offspring. However, administer it a few drops of liquid food at regular intervals to aid the baby in sustaining through the day.
How long do chipmunks sleep?
They will sleep for a few days, emerging briefly to nibble on some of their larder items, before going to sleep again for another brief period, and so on until spring. You may have seen pictures of cartoon chipmunks with bulging cheek pouches! These pouches are used just like grocery bags to transport items of food.
What do chipmunks use their pouches for?
And they can actually stretch to become three times larger than the chipmunk’s head – awesome! Chipmunks use their pouches to transport items of food back to their nest or burrow.
How many acorns can a chipmunk eat in a day?
In fact, according to National Geographic, a single chipmunk can gather up to 165 acorns in a single day!
How many species of chipmunks are there?
Chipmunks are members of the squirrel family. There are 25 species of chipmunks. With the exception of the Siberian chipmunk that is found across northern Asia from central Russia to China, all the other varieties are all found widespread right across North America.
Why are chipmunks obese?
This problem is largely caused by overfeeding oil-based or high-fat diets. Obesity in chipmunks can cause renal, cardiac, or hepatic diseases and result in a shortened lifespan.
What are the farmers of the forest?
Chipmunks – the farmers of the forest! Chipmunks perform a very important function in the forest ecosystem. Their harvesting and hoarding activities help to spread tree, fungi, and plant seeds around their habitat, helping the woodland to flourish.
What happens if a chipmunk's teeth are overgrown?
This habit helps to wear down the chipmunk’s front incisor teeth. If the teeth become overgrown, the chipmunk may suffer injuries to its mouth and will not be able to feed properly.
How to get a chipmunk to come over?
Leave the food out in an open area and step far back. Give the chipmunk lots of space to feel comfortable to approach it. Shelled peanuts or sunflower seeds are good to entice them to come over. Repeat the pattern of feeding every other day at the most, to not make the chipmunk too reliant on you for food.
How to keep chipmunks away from my house?
Build Trust & Keep Them Coming Back 1 Start by watching to see where chipmunks frequent most on your property. Leave a couple of shelled peanuts for them to find. 2 Next wait for them to show up, and leave one or two peanuts a little closer from their spot to your seating area. Leave the food out in an open area and step far back. Give the chipmunk lots of space to feel comfortable to approach it. Shelled peanuts or sunflower seeds are good to entice them to come over. 3 Repeat the pattern of feeding every other day at the most, to not make the chipmunk too reliant on you for food. You don’t want them to abandon their natural hunting instinct. 4 As a relationship is established, start slowly putting food in your hand and letting the chipmunk take it from you. This is where you can introduce more types of food. (You can also grab your phone and join the Instagram trend with your new chipmunk).
How long do chipmunks live?
Chipmunks hibernate through the winter, but wake every few days to eat. Chipmunks have a life expectancy of 2-3 years. Have fun with your new outdoor pet, and don’t forget to name them. Ours are named Alvin, Simon, and of course, Theodore.
How many species of chipmunks are there in North America?
There are 21 identified species of chipmunks in North America. Chipmunks can make burrows more than ten feet in length. Chipmunks mate between February to April and usually produce 2 litters a year. The young are on their own by eight weeks old. Chipmunks hibernate through the winter, but wake every few days to eat.
What to feed a chipmunk?
Don’t feed them processed foods, dairy, or meat. Try healthier options like small pieces of grapes, apples, cucumbers, strawberries and dry raisins. Other good nuts to try in moderation are pine nuts, walnuts, and almonds. Chipmunks have also been known to love dry oats.
Can chipmunks eat sunflower seeds?
But overfeeding a chipmunk with peanuts can be bad for their diet. If feeding them becomes a habit, try to limit the amount of sunflower seeds and peanuts that you feed them. The high calorie content may result in the chipmunk becoming ill. Peanuts can swell in their stomachs making it potentially harmful. Instead, offer a variety of treats. It may entice your chipmunk to come back more often for more.
Can chipmunks come over to your cottage?
You may have a brave chipmunk at your cottage that boldly comes right up to you, making this very easy. However, most of them are pretty skiddish and will take some coaxing to get to come over.
A baby chipmunk habitat
Once the baby chipmunk is brought home use a small cardboard box, towels, or pine chips and a heating pad or a hot water bottle which is better, if you’re using a heating pad place the heating pad on its lowest setting.
Nursing your baby chipmunk
Your baby chipmunk needs to be rehydrated, Pedialyte will work wonders. Warm the Pedialyte to body temperature and with a syringe or eyedropper being to feed the baby chipmunk.
Getting a baby chipmunk to urinate
Releasing bodily waste is a must for a baby chipmunk, to accomplish this use a cotton swab wet in warm water, once this is done gently rub the cotton swab over the baby chipmunk genitals which will cause the chipmunk to poop or urinate.
Releasing a baby chipmunk into the wild
Before releasing the baby chipmunk back into the wild ensure the chipmunk is defecating (poop) and urinating. Once the baby chipmunk reaches around 9-10 weeks, during the early morning hours release it. The baby chipmunk should be released or set free in a wooded area that has a water source, trees, vegetation, and rock outcroppings.
Some chipmunk fun facts
1. It has been recorded that North America has the largest population of chipmunks.
How big is a chipmunk cage?
It is ideal for the chipmunks to spend a couple of weeks in their large cage (2ft x 4ft and 4ft high, made of 1/2” welded wire mesh), with a nesting box (1ft x 1ft) on the floor of the cage, in a secure garage or shed.
How to stimulate a baby chipmunk?
To stimulate a baby chipmunk hold it over a face cloth. Dip either your finger or a Q-tip in warm water and then light feathery strokes over its genital area will cause the chipmunk to urinate and/or have a bowel movement. Once the chipmunk starts to pee don't stop as the chipmunk will then stop.
How long after chipmunks are released can they be released?
Check the forecast to be sure there will be at least 2-3 days of dry weather after the chipmunks are released.
What do chipmunks use to release food?
When the chipmunks have become acclimatized, the nesting box can now be used as a release box. Provide natural nesting materials in the box such as dry leaves and grass. Return to the site daily to provide food so that the chipmunks can adapt more easily.
How to reunite a baby?
To reunite, leave the baby in the exact spot where found (mom won't know to go look anywhere else), you can place a hot water bottle (wrapped in a towel) under it for warmth. (Do not cover the animal with any materials; leave in plain view, otherwise mom won't be able to find it). Monitor from inside.
Can a chipmunk die from cow milk?
Human baby pablums, cows milk, and most pet products (except Esbilac) are not suitable and will likely cause death. Use a 1cc oral syringe (try a vet or pharmacy), warm the formula, and hold the chipmunk in a towel, firmly, and covering its eyes.
Can you use a bottle for chipmunks?
This is why bottles are not suitable to use. To avoid this from occurring feed in a quiet room, go slowly and watch both the chipmunk and the syringe, if air bubbles appear in the syringe, stop feeding and expel the air, (see chart on back for feeding schedule).
