Becca
Well-Known Member
Chip pics
2008
Here was Chip as I found him: curled up, cold, appearing to be dead, in the middle of a trail in the Olympics.
Over the next hour, as I held him in my hand, he warmed up and started to move. Here he is nestled in my fleece hat. Heâs just a few weeks old ... eyes still closed, very immature.
What to do with a chipmunk on a 15 mile hike? Especially a chipmunk that, now warmed up, is hungry and trying to nurse.
I smashed up some nuts and dried fruit from my trail mix, mixed it with water, and fed it to the eager baby with a syringe from my first aid kit.
Needing my hands free for the hike, I found the perfect spot for Chip ... I emptied the water from my Nalgene bottle, put the fleece hat in the bottom to make a nice bed, and snuggled him inside. He had a good view of the rest of the hike, though it was a bit tinted ...
Back home, he gets his first real meal of chipmunk-appropriate formula.
In less than a week, his eyes are open!
As the days go by, he gets more and more mature.
Heâs eating a variety of foods now, in addition to his formula. Heâs also graduated to a bigger cage, and loves running back and forth from one compartment to the other.
He loves pockets.
A few weeks later .... itâs time to expand his cage.
This is a triple decker cage, with three nest-boxes, and itâs connected via plastic tubes to more cages. Lots of room to explore!
Based on where I found him (approx. 6000 ft elevation in the Olympics), Iâm guessing heâs an Olympic chipmunk (a subspecies of the yellow pine chipmunk (Tamias amoenus caurinus).
Sitting on my shoulder, enjoying a blueberry.
He doesnât care for the skin, so he carefully peels the skin off and just eats the pulp inside.
Sometimes he hides treasures inside my pockets ....
.... to enjoy later
