I seem to have acquired a chipmunk, and I'm finding him very
confusing.  Let me explain:

Last week, my 3 year-old cat caught a chipmunk in the yard, but we
caught him before he could injure the chipmunk.  The chipmunk got
away.  A few hours later, the cat caught the chipmunk again, brought
him inside, and the chipmunk escaped when the cat was startled by our
shouts. (It took us four hours to get him out.)

Twice, this creature has been spared a miserable death.  Now, he comes
*to the window* of my garden level apartment at least twice a day. 
It's no small source of frustration to the cat, to see this little
creature peering in the window, taunting him.

Why is he doing this?  Is he suicidal?  Terminally mischievous?  What,
precisely, is possessing this creature to come to my window several
times a day, to make faces at the Black Death sitting upon the sill? 
Is this normal chipmunk behvior, or is the one that has adopted me
just stupid?

Obviously, I'd prefer a good explanation, because this is really
bugging me. If there is truly no information available, I will settle
for an answer that makes me laugh.  Have at it, boyos.

--Missy

Hi Missy,

I do have a couple of possible answers for you, of varying degrees of
seriousness.

The first is a paper entitled "Rodent Cannabis Abuse"
(http://www.cannabis.net/rats/)
While the abstract reads in part, "...we examined characteristics of
abnormal behavior such as catalepsy-like immobilization, aggressive
behavior including irritable aggression and muricide, and spatial
cognition impairment induced by acute and chronic treatments of THC in
rats," the cognitive impairment may be shared by chipmunks, squirrels
and other rodents. Perhaps you can conclude that this abnormal
aggressive (passive-aggressive, even?) behavior is the result of a
drug-induced stupor?

Second, and somewhat more seriously: from
(http://www.uslink.net/~rosebudm/squirrel.htm)
A problem and potential solution? This person fed a chipmunk
peanuts...
"It wasn't long before he figured out that we were disappearing
through the glass door. It wasn't long before he figured out that if
he got right up on the edge of that glass door, he could peek in and
see us. This, of course brought us to the door to feed him peanuts. It
wasn't long before he figured out that sometimes there was this mesh
kind of stuff that he could climb up and chew through. It wasn't long
before we knew we needed to do something about the little darling. The
screen door was easy. A mixture of tabasco sause and water sprayed
onto the screen and left to dry. He did not like the taste of that at
all."

While it seems doubtful that the cat has been feeding him peanuts, is
there a chance that someone else has been feeding him? Perhaps it
would be possible to use some sort of distasteful substance or sound
to get him/her to stop...?

Finally, if you do want to get the chipmunk to quit torturing the poor
cat, you can search under "chipmunk repellent" in Google - there are
quite a number of humane repellents (taste and smell, mostly) that
claim to drive them away.

Finally, there is a book available called "Eastern chipmunks : secrets
of their solitary lives" The text and photographs are by Lawrence
Wishner. It was published by the Smithsonian Institution Press in
1982. Surely a book about chipmunks' secrets will reveal the impetus
behind this strange behavior!

I found the websites via Google, using such terms as +chipmunk
+behavior and "chipmunk repellent" and +chipmunk +hormones (hoping to
prove that the chipmunk was an adrenaline addict, but I found nothing
to back me up!!)The book I located in my local library catalog under
the Library of Congress Subject Heading 'Chipmunks'.

I hope that helps, or at least briefly entertains...

Libronaut-ga

I hope this

---

Request for Answer Clarification by missy-ga on 24 Jun 2002 13:47 PDT

Libronaut,

(And anyone else still following this silly thing), I thought you
might be interested in learning that I did find out what the
chipmunk's deal is.  I caught my 6 year-old son leaving food on the
outer sill for him.  CAT FOOD!!  No wonder the cat is so agitated -
the critter is out there eating *his* lunch!

I still like the cannabis abuse theory the best, though. ;)

Thanks...

missy

---

Clarification of Answer by libronaut-ga on 24 Jun 2002 20:22 PDT

Hi Missy-

Mystery solved! Poormattie-ga below came close, too. Well, at least
your son provided us with some entertainment...!

Libronaut

If it's cannabis induced behavior, I'm going to have a few words with
the neighbors about their gardening habits!  I think I'm going to have
to check up on the cat, too.

Thank you, libronaut, for a well done and entertaining answer!

Hi Missy -

I had a bash at this, but couldn't find any concrete answers (besides
territorialism, yada yada yada). Someone else can have a shot.

You ought to know, though, that you're not alone. Suicidal chipmunks
are more common than you'd think:

Self-Inflicted Chipmunk Suicides! (how can you have a suicide that's
not self-inflicted? Don't ask me... NB: These photos are (probably)
staged, and rather horrible.)
http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/birdland/6682/deadmunk.html

They were clearly also the inspiration for this punk rock band:

The Suicide Chipmunks
http://thesuicidechipmunks.indiegroup.com/

all the best,

grimace

Missy,

A recent survey conducted among the chipmunks target group collected
the following responses:

27% - I'm definitely suicidal
34% - Sometimes I'm depressed
20% - No risk, no fun
10% - Won't answer for political reasons
9% - Did not understand the question

The source is so dubious I won't cite it, but I hope this helps.

I dunno .. sounds to me like the victim of a peer-induced hazing
ritual ... "no man, you can't be in with us cool chipmunks 'til you
get carried in by the cat THREE times ...that's the rules ...we'll be
over here munchin' on barley watchin' you so no cheating!"

K~
<former Ethology major who knows these scientific things about animal
behavior>

Actually, I suspect during that four hours the little guy found
something really tasty underneath your couch or in your kitchen. He
just wants to come back in where it's comfortable and yummy.

(Then again, maybe he lost his wedding ring and his wife will kill him
if he comes home without it. Given the two options, it shouldn't be
too surprising that he's taking his chances with the cat.)

On a more practical note:

A safe and usually effective way to deter little pests from hanging
around, is to mark the areas they frequent with a disagreeable odor -
ideally, the urine of a predator.

Since you have a houseful of rodent predators, this should present no
practical difficulty.  I would, however, recommend doing this BEFORE
the weather gets hot (at least if you plan on opening the window in
question).

Missy, check out the photo on this page. Maybe he just wants to be friends. :-)
http://www.bestfriends.org/members/memhome.htm

It sounds to me like he's just on his "turf," and there's a handy
source of food nearby.  (Have you checked the security status of your
trash bins?)  Animals will risk attack if there's a consistent source
of food around.  Having escaped the Paws of Death twice, the munk
feels lucky.

...Are you sure it's the same chipmunk?  They all look alike to me...

Re: the cannabis toxicity theory: I'm reminded of an item on the
"Weekend Update" segment in the early years of Saturday Night Live. 
I'll quote it as best I can...

"Researchers at the Drug Abuse Institute have released the results of
their latest study on the effects of marijuana.  In the study, 20
squirrels were forced to smoke 5 ounces of blond Lebanese hash per
day.  Scientists noted that the squirrels tended to take the laws of
survival less seriously, preferring to play with their nuts rather
than storing them for the winter."

Good evening; I'm Cliff Clavin, and you're not.