Diaries_2004

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October 2004
Due to a bereavement, family commitments and tons of studying, I have not been able to spend much time in the enclosure this month, so I have not had a chance to take any new pictures to place on the website. Due to these commitments I have decided to finish the diaries for this year, I will pick it back up again in the new year. There are not that many chipmunks out these days anyway, most of them have dug out burrows and are bedding down for the winter.

Thank you all for your support you have given me over the past year, I hope you all have a safe winter. I am still contactable over e-mail if you need any advice, I just wont be adding any new pictures or entering anything into the diaries for the rest of the year.

You will hear from me again soon with a promise of more photos and stories from 'The Chipmunkery'.

Colin

September 2004
To my surprise I saw three baby chipmunks in the enclosure at the beginning of this month, I thought there may be a few more but I was not quite sure. I am hoping to get a few photos of them soon, but I am struggling at the moment with my broken ankle to get anything done in the enclosure. I will probably keep at least one baby and sell the other two, so some time in October I will be advertising them for sale. I will not be selling a breeding pair as they would be brother and sister which is not a good idea for breeding, so I will probably sell either two males or two females depending on what sex they are.

With a lot of help from members of my family the extension to the enclosure is now finished, I have a number of photos which I will place on the site. The inside of the extension is very bare at the moment, I have managed to get some plants in there and a number of tree branches, but I do need to place some wood chipping and more trees and plants in there as soon as I get back on my feet. The extension on the enclosure has no cover from the rain so hopefully the trees and plants should get plenty of rain and flourish, as long as the chipmunks don't eat everything.

As the months have past this year, I seem to be getting more and more hits on the website, more entries in the guestbook and tons of e-mails which always keeps me motivated to keep the website going, so please keep it up, as it is much appreciated. I have also had a number of people asking me if I know of any breeders in their area, I do know of breeders around the country but not that many, so if you want to track a breeder down in your area please feel free to add an entry into the guestbook asking the question, but I must stress that do not take any responsibility for the breeders you find.

August 2004
I have no more baby chipmunks left, as the last few were sold on the 12th August. I have a feeling there will be more babies soon because I think another one of the females is pregnant, I will keep you all informed.

I have started the first few stages of the chipmunkery extension this month, it has been a slow process and a lot of hard work. I have been taking photos of key stages of the build and I was hoping to finish the extension this month, but unfortunately I have had a fall and I have broken my ankle, so the extension is on hold for the time being.

After selling most of the babies over the past two months I now have fourteen chipmunks left, which is quite a large drop from twenty-six chipmunks after the babies were born. The enclosure was a busy place back then, things have quitened down since, there is a lot more space for them to run around now and when the extension is built there will be plenty more.

I have had more people sending me photos of there chipmunks this month, so please keep e-mailing them to me and I will place them on the site and please keep signing the guestbook.

July 2004
I still have a few pairs of chipmunks left if anyone is still interested. I have sold quite a number over the past month and I have had some great responses from buyers saying how well the chipmunks have adapted to their new environment. If you are still interested please e-mail me, I am selling them for £20 each or £30 for a pair.

I have also drawn up the plans to increase the size of the Chipmunkery, I have decided to increase the width of it from 10 feet to 20 feet half way down the enclosure, making it L-shaped. Hopefully I will get it finished over the next month or so, I will take some photos as I go along.

The remaining chipmunks are doing well, they seem to get on with each other and have teamed up into small groups which sit together, search for food together and even sleep in the same nest together. I was expecting a number of fights due to the amount of chipmunks in the enclosure but surprisingly there are very few, although that may change if some of the females become pregnant again, I am sure they will become very moody to the others.

Please keep e-mailing and signing the guestbook, as it does keep me motivated to keep the website running and please send me your chipmunk photos (at least 6 if possible) and I will place them on the website.

June 2004
I have a number of baby Chipmunks for sale(see picture below) if you are interested, unfortunately there are no white ones as of yet, but if you are interested please e-mail me as soon as possible, as I am sure they will go quickly. I am sorry I am unable to deliver them to you, but if you are willing to collect them, I am in the Liverpool area.

I have been having a few problems with my e-mail over the last month or so, a
number of people have e-mailed me and I have not received the mails. I
apoligise if you are one of them, I have not ignored you, I just did not receive
the mail. I have made some enquiries with the web hosting company I use and
they assure me that it will be fine now. So please keep e-mailing and signing
the guestbook.

May 2004
To my surprise I have managed to take a number of photos of a different female who has just recently gave birth to her babies, she seemed to be showing her babies off one by one, by carrying one out of her nest in her mouth, doing a quick tour of the enclosure and then taking it back into her nest. This went on for about an hour which gave me a chance to take some photos, so now you can all see this strange behavior. I have since looked into the nest and found that she has moved the babies, where they are I'm not sure. I will just have to wait until the babies have grown up ready to leave the nest before I will know how many there are.

I have also discovered that my dilute Chipmunk has also had babies, I think there are at least four. I managed to take a little peek into the nest when she was out searching for food, they don't have much fur and their eyes are still closed, I am hoping to take some photos of them if I get a chance next time she is out searching for food.

April 2004
There are now five baby Chipmunks that have ventured out of their underground nest, as usual I did not see any of them grow up because the mother once again decided to have them underground. All five babies seem to be healthy except one, which has a sore eye, which I may have to try and catch it and take it to the vet. I will monitor her over the next week or so and see what happens.

I have planted a number of small trees in the enclosure his month, I have also planted a number of herbs, but they didn't last too long, they were eaten within two days. I have also laid a watering hose pipe into the enclosure which I switch on each day, this waters the plants and gives the Chipmunks a shower each day. They seem to enjoy the water shower and spend the following hour playing in the mud, by the end of the hour they are covered from head to toe in mud.

March 2004
Eight Chipmunks have eventually appeared after the mild winter, leaving four AWOL. Not too sure why the four have disappeared, as the enclosure is totally sealed off and nothing can get in or out, I'm sure one day I will figure it out.

I have once again added more wood chipping's into the enclosure this month, the place seems a lot brighter now. I have also cleaned all the nest boxes ready for the mating season, so hopefully I will have another successful breeding season this year.

I may have a number of baby Chipmunks for sale this year, depending on whether or not my female Chipmunks have babies or not, if I do have any spare, I will advertise them on the site, so watch this space.

February 2004
The weather was fairly mixed throughout the month of February, with a number of nights dropping below zero. This didn't stop the Chipmunks though, about six of them have been out every day searching for food and restocking their nest with fresh hay.

No new photos yet, still a little too cold to be sitting in the enclosure for long periods of time, but I will start taking some soon. I need to go in there soon and start tidying the place up, there are tons of empty peanut shells everywhere. The Chipmunks are quick enough to take them out of my hand, but they never clean up after themselves, they just discard them once the nut has been taken.

I have been getting a few more photos sent to me through e-mail lately, which I have placed on the website. My favorite one at the moment is the wild Chipmunks in Georgia, it is amazing how much food wild Chipmunks will place in their cheek pouches, it looks so un-natural.

If you would like to see your Chipmunk pictures on the website, please feel free and e-mail them to me, ideally you need to send at least six photos, I will then create a page just for your Chipmunks and you can add more whenever you like, just send them to me via e-mail and add a few line of text about yourself and your Chipmunks.

That's all for this month, hopefully more of the Chipmunks will venture out in March, we will just have to wait and see.

Colin

January 2004
January has been a very quiet month for the Chipmunkery this winter even though the weather has been quite mild. Out of the twelve Chipmunks there has only been two that have remained active throughout the winter months, one of them being a dilute, the others have not been seen for at least two months now. I'm hoping the remaining Chipmunks will start to venture out over the next few weeks, although I am a little worried that some may not re-appear. The reason for my worries is from my experience of last year when five bedded down for the winter and only three re-appeared. I never did find out where they went.

I have not been taking any photos of the enclosure over the winter due to the lack of Chipmunks really, plus the fact it is too cold out there. I am not a winter person myself, so I will not be taking any photos until March when the weather gets a little warmer and the enclosure has had a spring clean with new plants planted and new wood chipping's spread over the floor.

I am thinking of buying a digital video camera this year, so I will be taking more video footage this year so I can build up my library of video clips for the site, so watch this space for updates.

That's all for now, I will report back in February, I'm sure there will be more activity then.

Colin

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