Another chipmunk rescue

One thing I realised this time in the rescue is that you will have to sacrifice your time, energy and your most valuable sleep if you want to be successful at rehabilitating abandoned chipmunk babies.

Last Saturday I couldn't help investigating the constant squealing (if that's the right word) from a house near my brother's house. The noise seemed to come from the electric meter box. I instantly knew there was a chipmunk nest there. At my home I had found two nests in the electrical meter box. After calling the neighbour and on opening the box I found a big nest very close to the fuses unlike my box where the nests were built in an adjacent box next to the electic fuses. I found three little ones. The one that was crying out loud had a bruised tail that was entangled in the fibres of the nest. The babies were already pale indicating that they might not have been fed for quite some time. I told the owner of the house to give it a couple of hours to wait for the mother to come and take them away as is the case when you touch a nest or a baby.

After a few hours when I called I was told that the baby was still crying. It was time for action. I removed the entire nest and took it home. I also managed to de-entangle the crying baby's tail. This time I wanted to do a good job and so rushed to a nearby pharmacy and bought a thermal bag. But by the time I came back with Chaithu from school one of the chipmunks, a female, had perished. I felt extremely sad. If only I had given it a few drops of water or rehydrated it I could have saved it. Time is precious when you are trying to save lives. I quickly got the hot pack ready and gave them a solution recommened by this site http://www.squirreltales.org/. There are things I couldn't do that were mentioned on the site - 1. Use Esbilac Milk Powder. This is because you hardly get them in India. I also didn't find an electric thermal pad. I used the hot water thermal pad instead. That was the real hassle as I had to change water almost every two hours. I solved this problem by using a flask.

The night was the problem. How could you wake up in the middle of the night. This was my acid test pending. Will the other two survive? I had to wait for about 5 hours for the next water change. But did I succeed? Oh Yes! The two little ones were doing fine next morning. My sleep was disturbed but it was worth it. I realise it is hard work but the pay-offs and mental satisfaction is gives are worth it.

The babies are doing fine with the home made hyrdrant and diluted cow's milk. On day four one of them is already growing soft hair below his mouth. The two are very active. They scratch at their bodies at times and the most wonderful thing. I have seen them yawn. Wonder who will take care of them when I leave for Kerala this vacation.

Here's a poor shot of them on day 6, blissfully sleeping after a feeding.