eastern chipmunks
Posted by Kari Deutschman on August 1, 2005
Q: I'm having trouble finding any photos of baby chipmunks. Last evening at our lake home they were scurring about as they usually do, when I screamed! There looked to be a brown field mouse following one around. (I do not care much for mice) I began to wonder if it could have been a baby since it was dark out I didn't get a good look at him/her and in the morning they were acting rather odd...as if they were trying to tell us something or get us to leave.
A: By the time baby chipmunks leave their burrow and are out and about feeding, they look like miniature chipmunks - same pattern of stripes as the adults. So, sounds as though your "brown field mouse" was a different animal. It certainly could be a mouse or even a shrew. Depending on the habitat around your home area, almost everyone has some kind of native mice but these usually stay outside rather than come in to your home so they shouldn't pose a problem. If you can get a good look at your visitor, this should help you figure out what it is. Might want to spend some time watching at dusk to see if it returns. Thanks for your question.
John Wiessinger ( August 2, 2005)