Chipmunks and mice are from the same family, so do chipmunks eat mice?
Chipmunks do eat mice. These animals prefer to eat defenceless rodents like dead mice or baby mice but if push comes to shove, and resources like water and food are scarce, a chipmunk will eat a live adult mouse. The diseases and parasites that mice carry won’t affect a chipmunk in the same way that they will affect your domestic pet.
Chipmunks are small mammal species forming part of the rodent family. They are omnivores and thus eat both plants and animals. For the most part, they eat plant matter such as berries, nuts, seeds and grains, and animal matter in the form of insects, baby birds, frogs and bird eggs.
When hunger strikes, chipmunks gorge rats. Both mice and chipmunks’ are from the same rodential family, so how can chipmunks possibly eat mice?
Table of Contents
Do chipmunks eat mice?
Chipmunks and mice are similar in size. This fact makes it difficult to imagine chipmunks eating mice. But when push comes to shove, the “survival of the fittest” mentality in animals leads to all kinds of behaviours.
Studies have shown that chipmunks do not regularly prey on live adult mice. A chipmunk will rather eat a dead mouse or a helpless baby mouse. These types of mice are easier to eat because they can’t fight back or are too helpless to fight off a chipmunk.
Chipmunks may also eat mice if food and water in the area are scarce. The self-preservation drive of chipmunks kick in and this forces them to eat anything they can get their hands on whether its mice or even other chipmunks.
Generally, if your domesticated animals eat wild mice and rats they run the risk of being infected with diseases. Chipmunks won’t develop health-related problems because mice are more in line with their natural diet. Their bodies are more equipped to fight off diseases in mice.
What animals eat mice?
To a predator, rats and mice are small and weak animals with little ways to protect themselves from danger. This makes them an easy target and easy prey for larger predators like cats, spiders, foxes, snakes, birds of prey and even humans.
Cats: House cats are seen as archenemies of mice. Unlike most predator and prey relationships, where the predator would kill the prey and eat it right after, cats play with their prey and discard of it once the prey is dead. When it comes to larger cats like lions, mice are too small to be considered a full meal. Mice are used as snacks or starters before the main meal.
Spiders: The Huntsman Spider preys on mice and rodents, these spiders are also known as Hairy tarantulas or giant crab spiders. Unlike some spiders, Huntsman spiders don’t build webs but hunt and forage for their food. Upon catching its prey, this spider will bite into the mouse and secrete venom to immobilise the rodent.
Birds of prey: Hawks and barn owls are known to be skilled mice hunters. Barn owls are nocturnal and so are mice, the birds have evolved to hunt mice at night. When hunting in the dark, barn owls use their acute hearing to locate their prey.
Humans: In countries like Malawi, Zambia, Vietnam, China and Korea, to name a few, mice are eaten as a meat just as other meats like chicken or fish are. Mice are eaten in homes and in restaurants. These tiny animals are an everyday source of protein in these countries
What do chipmunks eat?
Chipmunks are omnivores, they hunt, harvest and forage for their own food. Just as with humans, a chipmunk’s diet consists of both plants and animals.
In the wild, they eat plants such as grass, nuts, hazelnuts, acorns, fungi and fruits. They eat meats such as insects, arthropods, small frogs, worms, nestlings and bird eggs. Food foraged by chipmunks include non-perishable foods like nuts and acorns
In urban areas, domestic chipmunks are fed garden and farm plants such as lettuce, seedlings, daisies and sunflowers as well as cultivated grains and vegetables
Are chipmunks bad to have around your house?
Chipmunks can be bad to have around your house. If they get into your house they may disrupt or damage the ornamental plants you may have as they look for fruit and nuts. If you’re growing flowers in or around your home in flower beds, porches or sidewalks chipmunks may eat the flowering bulbs.
Chipmunks won’t chew through wood in your home but their burrowing can cause some issues. This burrowing can lead to structural damage to your foundations, sidewalks, and stairs. In addition, these cute little animals can carry bacterial diseases, fleas and plague. This can negatively affect you and your domestic pets
Should I kill chipmunks?
Whether you should or shouldn’t kill a chipmunk will depend on what state you’re in and your local regulations. Different areas have different laws regarding the killing of chipmunks. You can kill them with a snap trap if your state allows or use a humane trap if your state doesn’t
Humane traps: This is a mess-free and ethical way to get chipmunks away from your property. Trapping is easy when you have only a few chipmunks on your property. You can use a live trap to catch chipmunks. Live traps use spring-loaded doors to catch the animal. You don’t need to find a trap specifically made for chipmunks, chipmunks are of a similar size to rats so you can use a rat trap.
Snap traps: Snap traps will kill chipmunks. They are easy to use but require some clean up after the chipmunk has been caught. If you don’t clean up and get rid of the chipmunk in good time this can bring other unwanted animals.
Conclusion:
Chipmunks do eat mice. These animals are omnivores, they eat both plant and animal matter and one of the animals that a chipmunk will eat is a mouse. Preferably a chipmunk will eat a dead mouse or a baby mouse because these are easy prey. If push comes to shove the chipmunk will eat a live adult mouse if there is a scarcity of food and water in the area.
Other animals that eat rats and mice are birds of prey, large spiders, cats of various sizes and humans. If you find a chipmunk in and around your home this should be cause for alarm. Chipmunks can cause damage to your home and carry diseases and parasites which can negatively affect you and your domestic animals. If you want to get rid of chipmunks you can use humane traps or snap traps made for mice and rats as these animals are of a similar size to chipmunks
