Chipmunks are small, active rodents often found in gardens and around homes, recognized by their striped backs and busy foraging. While charming, their digging and food-gathering habits can impact cultivated areas. Understanding their behaviors and how substances like cinnamon affect them is key to managing their presence. This article explores cinnamon’s effect on chipmunks and offers humane management strategies.
Chipmunk Dietary Habits
Chipmunks are omnivorous. They primarily forage for nuts, seeds, and berries, which form a significant portion of their natural intake. Depending on their habitat, their diet can include acorns, hickory nuts, sunflower seeds, and seeds from various trees like maple and beech. Beyond seeds and nuts, chipmunks also consume tender plants, fruits, and vegetables such as strawberries, blackberries, squash, and corn. They supplement their diet with fungi, insects, and other small arthropods. Chipmunks are known for stuffing food into their cheek pouches and carrying it to underground burrows for storage, relying on these caches particularly during winter months.
Cinnamon’s Effect on Chipmunks
Chipmunks are not attracted to cinnamon as a food source; instead, the spice generally acts as a deterrent. Its potent, spicy aroma can be overwhelming to their sensitive olfactory senses, which they rely on for navigating their environment and locating food. Its strong scent can make an area unpleasant, masking desirable food sources. For this reason, ground cinnamon or cinnamon essential oil is often suggested as a natural repellent to discourage chipmunks from certain areas. While widely used for deterrence, scientific studies on cinnamon’s direct toxicity to chipmunks upon ingestion are limited. However, common Cassia cinnamon contains coumarin, which in large amounts can be harmful to some animals, including causing liver issues.
Humane Chipmunk Management
Managing chipmunks humanely often involves modifying their environment to make it less appealing. Removing accessible food sources, such as fallen birdseed, nuts, and fruits, can significantly reduce their presence. Storing pet food and birdseed in secure, airtight containers also limits their foraging opportunities. Habitat modification is another effective strategy; clearing brush piles, trimming overgrown vegetation, and sealing cracks in foundations can remove potential hiding and burrowing spots. Physical barriers like chicken wire or hardware cloth can protect garden beds and bulbs by preventing digging and access. Additionally, various natural scents can act as deterrents, including peppermint, garlic, coffee grounds, and cayenne pepper, which can be applied around areas chipmunks frequent.