what do chipmunks eat

Chipmunks are omnivores that eat mostly plant foods like seeds, nuts, fruits, and berries, but they also eat insects and even small animals when they get the chance.

What Do Chipmunks Eat? (Quick Scoop)

Core diet: everyday foods

Most of a chipmunk’s menu is plant-based.

• Seeds (especially sunflower, grass, and weed seeds).

• Nuts such as acorns, beechnuts, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, and pine nuts.

• Fruits like apples, berries, cherries, grapes, and other soft fruits when in season.

• Green plant matter: leaves, shoots, stems, buds, and flower bulbs.

• Mushrooms and other fungi they find on the forest floor.

They’re famous for stuffing these foods into their cheek pouches and hauling them back to burrows to eat later or store for winter.

Protein: bugs and surprise “meat”

Even though they look cute and harmless, chipmunks aren’t strict vegetarians.

• Insects and other invertebrates: beetles, caterpillars, insect larvae, slugs, snails, and worms.

• Animal protein when available: bird eggs, nestlings, small frogs, and sometimes even small snakes.

Nature and wildlife groups describe them as opportunistic feeders that eat “whatever they can stuff in their cheeks” if it’s small, high-energy, and easy to carry.

What they eat in your yard

Around people, chipmunks happily raid easy food sources.

• Bird seed, especially sunflower seeds from feeders.

• Garden crops: grains, vegetables, flower bulbs, and ripe fruits or berries.

• Fallen nuts like acorns and beechnuts under trees.

This is why gardeners often see them as little “pests” that dig up bulbs or raid feeders, even though their seed-stashing also helps spread plants and fungi in forests.

Seasonal changes in their diet

What chipmunks eat changes with the time of year.

• Spring: fresh shoots, buds, early greens, and emerging insects.

• Summer: fruits, berries, insects, and lots of seeds.

• Fall: intense nut- and seed-gathering (acorns, beechnuts, sunflower seeds) to build winter stores.

• Winter: mostly cached nuts, seeds, and other food they stored in their burrows.

Even though you might still see one pop out on a mild winter day, it’s mostly living off its carefully packed pantry underground.

If you’re thinking of feeding chipmunks

If you want to offer them something close to their natural diet (and local rules allow it), sources that discuss pet or backyard chipmunks suggest:

• Small amounts of unsalted nuts and seeds (like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, acorns).

• Bits of fresh fruit (apple, berries, pear, banana) and vegetables (carrot, sweet potato, leafy greens) in moderation.

• Avoid salty, sugary, or processed snacks; those are not part of a natural chipmunk diet.

Many experts also caution not to overfeed, since abundant easy food can make them bolder around houses and gardens.

TL;DR: Chipmunks eat seeds, nuts, fruits, greens, and fungi most of the time, plus insects and small animals when they can, and they stash all of this in underground food “pantries” for the colder months.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.