Know Your Enemy
Accurate identification of pests is as important as choosing the best preventive pest management available on the market today. Preventive Pest Control has compiled a list of most common pests to help you identify the problem.
Chipmunk
(Tamias)
Characteristics
The chipmunks distinguishing feature are their seven to at least nine alternating dark and light stripes on their body, tail, and head. They also have a short, pointy head. Since there different types of chipmunks, their sizes may vary from 5 to 11 inches in length, and may have a gray to brown color.
Habitat
Chipmunks commonly live in woodlands and woodlot edges. They live underground near rocks, bushes, and fallen logs and may share a single burrow with other chipmunk families. When they live near suburban and rural homes, their burrows can be found under patios, foundations, stairs, garages, walls, attics, etc.
Behavior
Chipmunks are mostly active during the day. Depending on the species, these creatures can be forest dwellers, great climbers, great swimmers, swift movers, secretive, but at the same time curious animals. They are fast runners that will immediately run back to their burrows, when frightened. They mostly hibernate during the winter, and will be found active during March.
To collect food, they have special pouches inside their mouth that allows them to collect, hold, and store as much food as they can carry. At times, when these pouches are full, the size of it can be equivalent to the size of the head of the animal.
Food
They feed on hazelnuts, berries, acorns, tomato juice, flower bulbs, seeds or seedlings, grass seed, insects and snails.
Life Cycle
Mating starts when the female gives a heads up to a male through a rapid series of calls and sounds. Males will respond by competing against each other. Once mating happens, the female may have two to five young that she will nurse until they are able to disperse on their own. If circumstances are favorable, chipmunks can live up to three years.
Other Information and Tips
Although chipmunks are cute to look at, they may also cause nuisance since they are very persistent. They create burrows in homes so that they can forage for food easily, which would also result in structural damage to a home.
The most easiest way to find where these chipmunks are hidden is through finding the entrances of their burrows. In some cases where it is difficult to identify where the chipmunk’s burrows are because they are well-hidden above ground, it is necessary to implement trapping and exclusion to get them. Trapping is the most common method to get chipmunks out of their burrows, and then releasing them in their most natural habitat.