Baby chipmunk

[LaShae1995]

We found a young chipmunk I don't know how old she is. Her eyes are fully opened her tail is bushed and she has long bottom teeth and tiny top teeth. Can someone help me age this baby and see what I should feed her?

[Charley Chuckles]

Oh I'm sorry I have no idea about chippys as Florida doesn't have any....
Bumping your thread 👍

[LaShae1995]

Her weight is 46.9 grams
I haven't given her milk as she looks like she may be weaned and personally i have no idea what kind of milk to give her. I gave her hamster/rat food for now. Her tummy seems plump but I haven't seen her eat myself. I'll weigh her again the day after tomorrow and keep yall posted.

[TubeDriver]

Hi, you can still offer her Esbilac puppy formula or Fox Valley 20/50 if she will take it. You should use a small syringe with miracle nipple (you can get this from Henry's pets.com or amazon etc). Keep weighing her daily, you want to see weight gain. Weight loss is a red flag that sonething is wrong. If she is weaned, get her some quality rodent block like Teklad or Henrys. A lot of stuff advertised as "rodent food" is just nuts and seeds and is actually not very healthy for them.

Her weight is 46.9 grams
I haven't given her milk as she looks like she may be weaned and personally i have no idea what kind of milk to give her. I gave her hamster/rat food for now. Her tummy seems plump but I haven't seen her eat myself. I'll weigh her again the day after tomorrow and keep yall posted.

[LaShae1995]

Thank you!! Will kitten mill work? That's all I got. And how much would you feed her? And how often.

Do you know about how old she is? Her eyes open ears open fully furred tail bushy has long bottom teeth and top teeth are coming in? Or maybe shortish? Normalish? Idk. Very fast.

If anyone has a care sheet that would be awesome ♡

Would oxbow adult rat food and blocks by mazuri work as well?

[LaShae1995]

Her weight this morning at 8am was 45.6 grams..... it was 46.9 and she had a big poop this morning maybe that's why she lost 1.3 grams?

I think she was asleep this morning, when I opened her cage one eye was shut but after moving around it opened. So she may have also just not eaten or drank this morning yet is the reason for -1.3 grams 🤔


So maybe she's eatting and getting nurtionment? My sister said she drank a little bit of water from a small bowl. Here is a pic of her poop. Had her since Oct 1. So today would be 2 days now.

If I need the puppy formula I can try to get some today I believe I do have esbalic kitten formal on hand though .just let me know please. Thanks ♡♡♡

P.S. I really don't want to offer milk unless it is necessary as I don't want to hurt her tummy if she is weaned.

[Centerline]

You want the Esbilac puppy formula. Kitten formula is not ideal.

[Spanky]

P.S. I really don't want to offer milk unless it is necessary as I don't want to hurt her tummy if she is weaned.

The Esbilac puppy formula (the powder and not the one that comes as a liquid) will not hurt her... it is the single best thing (nutritionally) she can have!

[LaShae1995]

Thank you for all the advice!! I had a few more questions plz...

Do you think she may could already be weaned?

And what if she won't drink? Should I take away her dry feed and try to make her or consider that she may actually be weaned.

How much should I feed her? And how often? 5% of her body weight perhaps?

Anyone know the approximate age of this baby?

When is a release able age?

I am new to chippys so sorry for all the questions. I just really want what is best for her. Thank you all ♡♡♡

[LaShae1995]

My mother bought the liquid she said that's all they had. Can she try it?

[LaShae1995]

I warmed the liquid formula up and offered it to her in a syringe. she didn't want anything to do with it. She had a piece of food in her pouch and her weight is. 52.2 grams.

Here is her weights...
46.9 grams
45.6 grams this morning around 7 -9am
52.2 tonight at 9pm

She seems alert fast and doing well. So I'm going to stick with food for now probably. I'm still curious on age though.

[TubeDriver]

My guess is a young, adolescent. Maybe 8-10 weeks but that's just I don't have a lot of experience with chipmunks. As long as she continues to put on weight with quality rodent blocks then I think you'll be fine. We generally let animals wean themselves so try the warm formula again a few times to see if she'll take it but if she continually refuses to take any, then she is probably weed herself. I don't know where you were located but chipmunks build up a single large cache of food to get through through the winter. If you are in a region, where it is cold, she will need to be overwintered in your house in a cage. She will probably enter a period of torpor, where she sleeps a lot and does not move around much. You could release her in the spring.

[LaShae1995]

She does look to be a adolescent to me as well. Do they "hibernate" even in a house? Just wondering if I should leave her alone or try to continue to weigh her. She's gaining weight steadily. There is cold Temps right now but nothing too serious but it will be colder next month. I'll over winter as you suggested and go from there.
Thanks for the advice.

[TubeDriver]

She will not "hibernate" while inside but her activity level might drop off a bit. I would weigh her every couple days as long as she does not seem traumatized by it. Adding weight is a great indicator she is doing well. Once her weight levels off a bit, you can stop weighing her. She may get more standoffish as she matures.

She does look to be a adolescent to me as well. Do they "hibernate" even in a house? Just wondering if I should leave her alone or try to continue to weigh her. She's gaining weight steadily. There is cold Temps right now but nothing too serious but it will be colder next month. I'll over winter as you suggested and go from there.
Thanks for the advice.

[LaShae1995]

Ok thank you. She seems frightened some what when she is loose in her room (it's a small empty closet) so I'll probably do like you suggested and only weigh her when needed. She's looking good though so I think she'll fine. I hope so anyways she is precious 💗 thank you all for help 💓 💗 💕 💛 💖

[Charley Chuckles]

Glad she's better 🙏

[LaShae1995]

Hey everyone! Chippie is doing great she has doubled in size and is active alert and healthy in appearance.

Her tank was dirty today so I changed the bedding to new. It's the same bedding she's been on but I noticed she seemed more active? I guess today.

She was doing like flips by running on the side of her cage and grabbing the mesh top and flipping. Now my squirrel will do this when she wants out or just flipping cause she's playing its how she gets her energy out I guess. She will do big flips and even tiny flips. Buts she's absolutely perfect. So I don't know if Chipping is doing the same or not. I tried to let her have run around time in my closet because it's huge for her and safe she can't escape but she just acts like she's so scared even flipping in the air and running into the tank trying to get away so I just quit because I don't want to stress her. I mean I'm going to release her as soon as possible but I don't want to do it when winter is already approaching and her with no home or food stash just seems kind of not a good idea.

She has unlimited food and water and today I gave her a deer antler for a chew and a cardboard box. I had to toss her old cardboard box cause it was broke and stank. She's also been trying to chew out of the cage!

I know she wants out but I can't release her yet with a good conscious:/ is she going insane from being locked up or is she just bored? How can I make her not bored? I don't have another cage so the tanks all I got and I don't want to buy one for a couple of hundred when I'm releasing her next year.

I thought about some toys and chews ect. Maybe even a small wheel? I could get her a ball like a rat or hamster uses so she can roll around but that may be extremely stressful for her I'm afraid. I could put her a wheel in the closet and let her try to have run around time again but it's so hard to not startle the little thing. I mean when your the size of a candy bar everything is so big and scary. Also I don't want her to get attached to me or use to humans. But the only way I can let her safely have play time is by sitting in there with her.

How soon can I release her and how should I go about doing it? What month is good in zone 7a? Last frost I believe said it would be in April?

If anyone has andmy advice on making her overwinter peaceful and what steps I should take when releasing her that would be awesome thanks in advance.

Pics are from when we got her and a little bit ago. She's double in size ♡♡♡

[Dusty]

We found a young chipmunk I don't know how old she is. Her eyes are fully opened her tail is bushed and she has long bottom teeth and tiny top teeth. Can someone help me age this baby and see what I should feed her?

May I a nonexpert, suggest this link I found in searching for my group "Squirrel Nesting Box Construction" Here is the Link I think will help you with your question and much more. Please let me know YA or NA...

https://www.ewildagain.org/squirrel-...esources-tools

[LaShae1995]

Honestly I didn't see anything yet about what I was hoping to find. Looks interesting though. Thanks anyways. I'm probably going to buy some puzzle treat things for rabbits and maybe make a ramp so she can get in and out of her cage herself so when she's done playing I don't have to shoo her back to the tank and scoop her up. Maybe this will help? If anyone has suggestions please let me know. Other than flipping and scardish she's doing great. Sure is cute I know that! 😍

Funny thing she did was ran into my gown one night, took a minute to get her out. 😂 I never thought I'd have a chippie in my gown but hey life is full of surprises. My grandpa actually saved her from cats when she was a baby. They didn't hurt her but the cats apparently found her home or something. I'm glad she's OK and is thriving 💕

[supersquirrelgirl]

Hi There,

A suggestion for you.........Chippie looks too big to be weighed in the glass jar. I think its stressful in this small size. I would use a bigger container that is 3X size. Hopefully your scale has a zero feature to cancel weight of container. If not, just do the subtraction.

Another suggestion is checking with a rehabber or wildlife center for advice on release information. Having chipmunk for another 6 months (over winter), will certainly domesticate the animal and require you to wild-up the animal before release to prepare it. (They might even offer to help you ??)

*** Be careful when talking or calling to hide your ID since wildlife may be protected in your state. You can learn many things from wildlife center on age, weight, and possible release.

I say this because you indicated that you will not keep Chippie and do plan to release.

Just my thoughts.

Mr.SSG

EDIT: I see your scale has a TARE feature so you are good.