Eastern Chipmunk - Genus Tamias

Eastern Chipmunk
March 25, 2009

The Eastern chipmunk is a member of the rodentia family and like all members have long front teeth for gnawing. They mate in the spring and again in the summer. One pair can produce 8 to 10 offspring per year. Our family is well acquainted with the Eastern chipmunk with most of that experienced gained though a couple of decades of camping. These cute little critters scurry about campsites hoping to get a glimmer of food from campers and in fact despite being told not to, many campers still feed chipmunks. Around campsites and even homes they will become rather friendly. To date I have seen absolutely no reason not to encourage chipmunks in the yard but at the same time even being in a rural area chipmunks have never frequented my gardens. They provide marvelous clean-up under bird feeders and the worst I've seen is a bit of light digging looking for food at the home of oldest grandbaby. However, from camping experience I do know they burrow so that could be a problem in the garden. I also know they are rather partial to most vegetables and although they do prefer grains they also eat insects, birds eggs, nuts, small frogs, fungi and worms. In the big picture a resident chipmunk family can be both a good thing and a bad thing from a gardening perspective. Aside of burrowing which really does aerate the garden, they transfer seeds and spores while providing a free clean-up service. Essentially this is an eco-friendly rodent you want in your garden.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
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