The title of this blog references a famous early American Painting, "A Boy With a Flying Squirrel" by John Singleton Copley.
Sometime in mid-August I was on the porch and I saw a very baby chipmunk struggling along our walkway.
I tried depositing him into a nearby hole in that is occupied by one of our favorite chipmunks, hoping that was where he came from, but he just kept coming back out. I tried putting a rock over the hole after redepositing him, but he wouldn't stay down there. I found another spot under the front porch where I knew a chipmunk lived in hopes of an adoption or at least foster parenting. He got pushed out of there pretty quick by the current owner.
Then 3 more emerged from the original hole so I knew that was indeed where he came from. No luck in them staying down there. We furiously Googled options and called various sanctuaries in the area. A wildlife rehab center eventually said they could take them. I was on the fence as we had the time and resources and thought it would be nice to keep them and raise them ourselves. I told the rehabber we would take care of them, but they did not like that comment. Apparently, it is illegal to raise wild animals if you are unlicensed.
We sat until dusk, hoping for the mom to come back. We gave them goat milk from the local pet store.
The mom did not return unfortunately, and we assumed they only emerged out of starvation. I put them on a box with a towel, and thus began our journey with the “4 horseman.”
I went to the recycle shop and got some drawers for them to live in, like when Kramer on Seinfeld had a whole family of Asians sleeping in his dresser drawers.
We got formula and a syringe to feed them every 4 hours. We worked on shifts slowly following this chart on how to ween them off milk and eat rat food, before transitioning to fruits and peanuts.
There were many escapes in the 2nd bedroom, fortunately they never got loose into rest of house as that would be a nightmare to find. I eventually had to obtain a butterfly net.
I found a torture device reminiscent of the Saw movie franchise at the recycle shop that I modified to fit our needs. Unfortunately, by this point 2 of the chipmunks had passed away. Just would not take enough milk and not growing like the others.
We would sit with them outside as other animals interacted with them. I also filled one of the drawers with dirt and leaves to try to let them dig.
On one outing outside, the female got away and I was frantically running around the neighborhood with a butterfly net. She was found hiding in the rock wall. She ran away again and I pretty much tore the whole place apart looking for her hiding spot
I went to visit another local rehabber in the area to get some advice and met her opossum.
Back to recycle shop getting Barbie houses for them to live in. I also got a wire cage from a neighbor
At this point we had to go to Europe for 2 weeks. The woman sitting for our dog was kind enough to keep them fed and provide water. At this point the male and female had gotten to a size and development where they did not like each other, and the territory separation of a small cage was getting rough. When we got home from Europe the male had scars all over from the female and my office was covered in dirt from the cage. We left one in the wire cage and kept one in old plastic drawer. It was time to release them as we only had a couple of days before we were off on our next trip and they also needed to start building a home in the ground for winter.
We thought the female should go first since she was bouncing off the walls whereas the male was still calm and climbing on us.
We put her in the wire cage outside. She got away as I was moving her. I did not think she was ready for freedom yet so I got the butterfly net back out and spent 3 hours looking for her. I used food, but the problem there is that the other 10 chipmunks and squirrels in our yard all gather at my feet and beg for more. And if they see this rookie female, they attack her and flip her up the air and off she goes again. Eventually I got her and put her in cage overnight outside.
The next day I built a 4 bedroom house and buried it 1ft down with a tunnel to the surface
When I put her cage over the entrance she did not like it. I tried digging starter holes for her but no dice. The next day I left her cage door open and she was gone. She moved into the woodpile, which was ok temporarily, but was not going to work for the winter. Over then next days and subsequent weeks I could no longer identify her, but I am sure she is one of the 10 that come to take peanuts each morning.
The next day it was time to release the boy. By this point he had lost most of his hair and had scabs on his back. We thought it was ringworm and not sure if he would make it. We kept him outside in the box and treated him with anti-fungal cream and coconut oil
The next day we gave him an opening and he took off. He hung around and we could tell he was not enjoying the freedom. We placed his towel on the outdoor table and he just zoomed under the cover and made himself comfortable for the night
The next day we sat with him and fed him peanuts. He was now able to shell them, which was crucial. The only problem was that he had not built a underground home or gathered nuts. Instead he just buried them in the pot on the porch. Oh well, better than nothing.
We left on our 4 day trip and hoped for the best. When we returned we did not see him for a couple days. Then there he was, climbing up in my lap and feeding; and looked so healthy!
Now he comes to see us every couple days. He lives across the street as our yard is just too crowded and we have a couple tough chipmunks that run the deck area (talkin’ to you Shorty!)
I am also in my training to become an official wildlife rehabilitator. I had to drive down to Taylor MI to get a dead rat and a quail for my training lab from a reptile trade show. That trip was an entire blog entry itself.
So we rescued 4 and saved 2, which is about in line with baby chipmunk survival rate. Just this week I saw another chipmunk baby that looked about 5 weeks (we released at 10 weeks) and he was hopping around exploring and looked casual and chill. Ours were certainly not capable of such behavior at that time.
It was fascinating to watch how fast these animals develop. It seemed almost daily that we would open the drawer and they would exhibit a new behavior whether that be biting my finger, switching from milk to fruit, shelling a peanut, avoidance of humans, sibling fighting, first chirping noises, and digging/burying.
It was also interesting to see what skills were taught and which came naturally. Obviously, the ones above were all instinctive as I could not teach them, but when it came time to release there definitely was a learning curve to adjusting to freedom and the steps necessary for survival (building a den, interacting with others, climbing and jumping skills) We took a lot of pride in what we accomplished and really love that we still have a relationship with 1 little "beautiful boy."
Until next time,
Darren
