About chipmunks
Most people of her Lexington chipmunks courtesy of the movies and cartoons that star Alvin and the Chipmunks. Chipmunks are only
found in two places in the world, North America and Siberia, the genus name for Chipmunks is Tamias which is Greek for
treasurer or housekeeper which refers to the animals habit of collecting food and storing it for use during winter. Chipmunks
are omnivores that mainly live on a diet of seeds, nuts, fruits and buds. They also occasionally eat fungi and insects. Kentucky Chipmunks
that live around humans will also eat cultivated grains and vegetables, in fact the fact that they will raid gardens is why they are
considered a pest.
Even though Western Lexington Chipmunks do not hibernate, their Eastern cousins do, but the Western chipmunks do stay in their burrowers all winter
living off the stored food supplies they stashed away during the summer and the fall. Chipmunks provide several important functions to a forest
ecosystem, there activities in collecting and hoarding tree seeds are a crucial part of seedling establishment, the main fungi that they like is
the one that grows into truffles, and they are a vital part of dispersing this fungi underground. Truffle spores can only be dispersed by animals
like the Kentucky chipmunk as the fungi has lost the ability to disburse its own spores.
Chipmunks are very important food source for a lot of predators including coyotes, owls and even wolves. Most Lexington Chipmunks will only live about three
years though some in captivity have lived for up to nine years. Most of the Kentucky Chipmunks in captivity also slept about 15 hours a day which is a habit of
mammals who sleep in hiding where they are safe from predators.
Chipmunks are easy to identify, they have short stubby legs, bushy tails and the black and brown stripes that run down their backs. According to National
Geographic Chipmunks are the smallest members of the Kentucky squirrel family with the Eastern chipmunk, the biggest chipmunk, growing to a size of about 11 inches
nose to tail and weighing in at 4 1/2 ounces, you have to add the 3 to 5 inch tail.
Like all rodents Lexington chipmunks have live births after a gestation period of 30 days, females give birth to at least two and up to eight young each time and they
do this once or twice a year. Kentucky Chipmunk babies are called pups and are born hairless, blind, pink creatures about the size of a jellybean.
To learn more about our services, visit the Lexington wildlife removal home page.