September 2005
I have some baby chipmunks for sale at the moment, I have counted at least four, but I am sure there are probably about six maybe seven. If anyone is interested please e-mail me, I am in the Merseyside area. I am selling them for £30 a pair.
August 2005
I must first apologise for the lack of time I have spent on the Chipmunkery website over the past few months, but unfortunately I do not have the time I used to have in the past but I would now like to try and make more time in the future to update the website more and to reply to the numerous e-mails I have received. The reason for the lack of time is do to my work commitments and the dreaded DIY around the house. I am hoping to pick things up soon and start updating the website more from now on.
I do have a number of photos which I have taken over the past few months of the enclosure and I am hoping to add them to the website soon and I will also be taking more over the next few weeks.
The roof of the Chipmunkery is in dire straits at the moments and with the lack of funds and PayPal donations, I am not sure how long it will last out. I am convinced that one day I will wake up to my chipmunks running around my garden after the collapse of the roof. I have patched-up one section already which almost caved in, so I am hoping the rest will last a little longer, at least until I get the whole lot repaired before the winter rains.
If you have been using the message board to sell your chipmunks, please help the chipmunkery and donate a little to the Chipmunkery roof appeal. All donations will be used to repair the failing roof.
The Chipmunkery has been very active over the past few weeks especially with the new babies. I have counted six at the moment, three from one burrow and three from another, there maybe more, but they don't seem to come out all at once. Since the new extension to the enclosure was built, the chipmunks seem a lot happier in their new surroundings, but they are becoming less tame. I feel this is due to the semi-wild environment I have setup for them and the fact that I have not been in the enclosure as much as I would like.
The mouse situation has still not been dealt with fully, but I have caught around fifteen mice up to now, so I am hoping I will have caught them all soon. The only problem now is that I have not had a chance to put the new mesh up yet, so new mice could very easily move in. I will have to find the time soon otherwise the whole exercise of catching them would have just been a waste of time.
Thank you all for the donations for the new roof, I have received £25 up to now, which is still a long way off to the total amount I need, but I am getting there. I have had a few people who have been a little weary using Pay-pal, I have used it for the past two years with no bother, so please don't be worried it is quite safe, as long as you don't tell anybody your username and password.
April 2005
I do not have any news about any babies as of yet, there are a few females that look like they are pregnant, so it should only be a matter of days, maybe
a week, before I should hear some baby squeals. I have seen a number of other females that have been mating over the past week, so I may have some more babies around June time, I will keep you all posted.
A number of visitors have been e-mailing me regarding a different four legged animal in the chipmunkery, this being a mouse (or should I say mice). I noticed the mice myself about three weeks ago and I have been trying to catch them with a humane mouse trap ever since but to no avail. The mice have numerous places to find food in the enclosure, so they will not go anywhere near the trap, except maybe sit on top of it and laugh at me. If anyone has any ideas catching them without harming the chipmunks, please let me know.
I am hoping to have a good litter this year, as I need to replace the roof on the enclosure because it is starting to leak and it looks like it will cave in very soon, so I am hoping the funds I get from the babies will be enough money to pay for the replacement roof. If anyone would like to make a donation to the Chipmunkery roof fund, please feel free even if it is only £1, it will all go towards the replacement roof and I will take photos of each stage to show where the money has gone.
Thank you for all the e-mails and comments about my website, I seem to be getting more and more visitors to the site each year. The Chipmunkery does seem to be getting very popular throughout the UK, Europe and the US, which I am extremely pleased about. Please keep sending your photos and I promise I will create a page for each user and will I place their chipmunk photos on the website, please send at least six photos, as this will be more than enough to fill a page.
March 2005
March has been quite a busy month in the Chipmunkery for both myself and the chipmunks. Eight chipmunks eventually emerged from hibernation, which was a lot more than I thought at first. I now have nine chipmunks, as one of my visitors to the website asked if I had a home for a lonely chipmunk, obviously I accepted and the chipmunk is doing fine and has settled into an underground burrow.
I have planted numerous heather plants in the open air area of the enclosure, not sure how long they will last, as the chipmunks usually devour them quite quickly, hopefully they will last a few weeks at least. I have also placed even more branches and logs in the enclosure (which were donated by another neighbour of mine), making the place is look very full. I will take some more photos and place them on the website.
I have also noticed a number of female chipmunks looking a little larger than normal, so I am hoping I will be able to tell you about some new arrivals to the chipmunkery very soon. I am sure there are at least three pregnant, maybe more if things go well, so I am sure I will be selling some around late May, early June, so watch this space.
I have noticed the message board I setup seems to be doing well, I would love some feedback if possible, so if you have managed to purchase a chipmunk via the message board, please let me know and I will keep it going.
February 2005
The weather was still very cold throughout February, especially during the night, but a few chipmunks were still out and about searching for food. I have only counted five chipmunks at the moment, which is a little worrying, hopefully more will appear as soon as the temperature rises. I know I had about twelve chipmunks before the winter, but I have buried three over the past few months, not sure why they died, as they had plenty of food and there was plenty of warm bedding in the enclosure. I suppose in the wild not all survive the winter, only the strongest get through it.
You may have noticed another flag on my website, I have now managed to get the website translated into French, with the help from another kind visitor (Anne Cécile). Anne also has a website herself, which you can see for yourself from this link.
I have been very busy this month re-arranging the enclosure, I have managed to get quite a number of branches from a neighbour who was cutting down a tree from his garden. I have placed these branches in the new section of the enclosure and I have also moved a number of plants into this area. I am hoping to take some photos soon, so you can see the changes I have made.
I have created a message area for you all, this is to be used for people who are searching for breeders in their area or for breeders to advertise their chipmunks to sell. Please do not leave any telephone numbers on there, as I will delete them straight away, please leave a valid e-mail address instead.
January 2005
Over the past month or so there has been very little movement within the Chipmunkery, which has surprised me a great deal because this time last year there was at least two chipmunks out and about most days. I did see one out the other day but he only stayed out for a few minutes and then he was gone. I have noticed the food I am placing in the enclosure is slowly disappearing, so one or two chipmunks must be out collecting it and taking it back to the burrow.
You may have noticed the Spanish flag on certain pages of the website, this is due to a kind visitor (Sergio Martin) who translated certain pages for me into Spanish, so my Spanish visitors who do not read English too well can also enjoy the website. I have made arrangements for the site to be in Dutch and I am hoping someone will e-mail me offering to translate it into French. If there is anyone else out there who would be willing to translate the website into whatever their language is, it would be most appreciated.
I had a few e-mails sent to me last week which I was going to reply back to that evening, but unfortunately I had trouble with my outlook and lost all of my emails from my in-box, so if I have not replied back to you over a chipmunk question, please e-mail me again and I promise I will reply back straight away.
I will report back next month, hopefully I will have more to talk about with regards to the Chipmunkery.
Colin
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