# Chipmunk(s) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 16, 2018, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054 "2018-10-16T18:32:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/1 "2018-10-16T18:32:02Z")
I’ve lived on the coast of NW Washington for almost 15 years. In that time I’ve seen raccoons, dead opossums, lots of birds – including the resident bald eagles and great blue herons, the occasional skunk, and the rare rabbit; but until two or three weeks ago, I’ve never seen a chipmunk. It looks like there is at least one that has taken up residence in one of the nearby trees. Cute little things. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/2 "2018-10-16T18:50:08Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Cute little things. Opinions vary. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/3 "2018-10-16T18:51:58Z")
I saw this was a **Johnny** thread and assumed it would be about Art Scholl and his airplane. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/4 "2018-10-16T19:00:37Z")
Allllvvvvviiiiinnnnnnn! ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/5 "2018-10-16T19:06:08Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Cute little things. Until your cat lets one loose in your kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![I.Dunno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I.Dunno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I.Dunno)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/6 "2018-10-16T19:15:02Z")
They’re just squirrels with better PR. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/7 "2018-10-16T19:16:21Z")
If it is a variety of rodents you seek, I suggest moving to New England. We gotcher rodents right here, from beavers and porcupines and woodchucks on down to a billion chipmunks living in all those rock walls and the unidentified but according to the mountain of poop smaller than a rat species which ate my apples set aside to treat the horses. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/8 "2018-10-16T19:16:47Z")
In a couple of months they will start singing very annoying Christmas carols. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/9 "2018-10-16T19:22:05Z")
Mrs. Plant (v.1.0) left food out for them. They would make themselves know to people and demand to be fed. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/10 "2018-10-16T19:39:20Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I saw this was a **Johnny** thread and assumed it would be about Art Scholl and his airplane. 😃 > [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Until your cat lets one loose in your kitchen. The last rodent Tonka caught was a shrew. He brought it home dead and tried to play with it. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Mrs. Plant (v.1.0) left food out for them. They would make themselves know to people and demand to be fed. No food outside! It attracts raccoons and the skunks. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/11 "2018-10-16T19:47:02Z")
We got chipmunks in spades around here (don’t tell **Saint Cad** I said that, he’ll come over from the Pinochle thread and say I shoulda had 'em in hearts). They are cute little buggers and don’t seem to like to chew wiring or squatting in my attic like their demon cousins, the squirrels. Might as well keep 'em, they ain’t trouble enough to kill nor big enough to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/12 "2018-10-16T20:08:40Z")
I’ve got yer chipmunks. Thought they were pretty cute until they decided to start burrowing around my home’s foundation. I’d be happy to live and let live if they chose to live on any portion of my property that did not involve undermining my structures. So I’ve got a bucket of water out back with sunflower seeds sprinkled on the surface. Pull a dead one out every day or 2. The other day I had 3 at once - apparently the whole family decided to take a dip. Turns out they can’t swim all that well. So far the death toll is at 15 and counting. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/13 "2018-10-16T20:34:38Z")
I think they’re cute. This summer, they suddenly became highly interested in my wife’s tomato plants, and grew skilled at stealing tomatoes a day before they had grown ripe enough to be picked. My lovely bride, who is a total bleeding-heart animal lover, quickly grew to abhor chipmunks with every fiber of her being. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/14 "2018-10-16T22:44:48Z")
I live in a creekside apartment, and see them occasionally. They seem to like to hide in, of all places, the downspouts. One wonders what they do when it’s raining. There’s a nearby wooded area with hawks, and I’m guessing this is what happens to an awful lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/15 "2018-10-16T22:54:28Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The last rodent Tonka caught was a shrew. He brought it home dead and tried to play with it. Nitpick: shrews aren’t rodents. [Shrew - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrew) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/16 "2018-10-16T23:00:47Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Nitpick: shrews aren’t rodents. [Shrew - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrew) OK, ‘rodent\*-oid\*’. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/17 "2018-10-17T00:13:41Z")
Them little rat-ba\*tards are devious little bird feeder theives. It’s uncanny how they can get to them. I have tried all manner of hindering devices, none work. I had a squirrel problem that way til I started picking them off. A near-miss must have alerted the others cause they have stopped, for now. Chipmunks are hard to hit.☹ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/18 "2018-10-17T00:59:14Z")
Did you try the Slinky trick? . ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/19 "2018-10-17T02:39:16Z")
I hate reading threads like this sometimes. Just going along, reading about cute little animals and then someone always has to chime in about how they happily, slowly kill them. Why can’t people just stay the hell out of threads if they don’t like the topic. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054/20 "2018-10-17T03:40:37Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Them little rat-ba\*tards are devious little bird feeder theives. It’s uncanny how they can get to them. I have tried all manner of hindering devices, none work. I had a squirrel problem that way til I started picking them off. A near-miss must have alerted the others cause they have stopped, for now. Chipmunks are hard to hit.☹ Grease the poles that the feeders are mounted on. The little varmints will slide right on down instead of scampering quickly to the top. Warms the heart, it does. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Did you try the Slinky trick? > . What slinky trick? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chipmunk-s/823054.md?page=2)