Wild baby field mice.

[placr04]

Hi,

I hope that somebody can help me. I went to my parents to help them open their pool yesterday and found a nest of four baby field mice. They probably aren't older than a day or two. I took them because my Dad was going to kill them. I've been feeding them KMR with a cotton string. Does anybody know what else I should be doing to try to raise them or anybody that I could turn them over to that would raise them.

Thanks for any info that you can give.

Sue R.

[Brown]

Hello placr04,

I have totally no experience with mice.
But i think you can bring them to a rescue home to seek for help/advise. I think they will have some vets and assistants who can give you adivses for the mice.

You are a great and kind person to adopt the mice!

------------------
http://brownieboy.homestead.com/files/lilbaogif.gif

[Keriish]

My husband works on cars and he found a nest of baby mice. My husband scared the mother away, and he couldn't leave the nest underneathe the hood, so he brought them home.

When we called the local pet store, they recommended that we buy a nursing mother mouse because they take care of baby mice even when they're not their own.

This was a great alternative to bottle feeding because it would require so much work. Now the mother mouse takes care of them like they were her own- although she does step on them. I figure that's normal... it's not like they're getting hurt or anything!

Anyway- these babies were pretty young- their eyes aren't open yet.

Hope that helps. The babies seem to be doing great!

Oh, I almost forgot. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Wild mice carry diseases like Hanta Virus. Make sure that you clean their cages often and wash your hands. Do not allow droppings to become dry because it's when the droppings dust gets in the air and people breathe it that they get sick. Hanta Virus is not harmful to mice but LETHAL TO HUMANS. Be very careful!

[Kagome100]

Ok well there is a 50 50 chance they will live or die. FEED liquid puppy milk NOT cat milk.

Here is a VERY good site on helping baby mice.
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/orphans.htm

Before you try to hand raise try to find a female mouse that has babies of her own, like a friends mouse, your mouse, pet shop mouse.... If you can't find any mom mice you can try and hand raise them. Just go to that site and read.

[Ann Vole]

I was desparate for a mother for a mouse and tryed a mother rat and the mouse and it's ratty siblings did very well. The mouse was even kind of the boss of it's ratty siblings and would lead these rats like baby chicks following a hen (very funny) and the rats would do what ever the mouse did! I'm only telling you this because if you connot find a mouse mother, a rat mom might do.

[booklady]

just be careful and watch the rat/mouse combo.. as in the wild, rats will often kill mice.. so not all such adoptions are likely to work.. (glad it did that time Ann!!) :)

[Ann Vole]

Mother rats love anything pink and do not attack any kind of pink babies. If they have hair already, the "rats eat all animals smaller than a rat" instincts might kick in. To help disguise the babies, I put them all the babies together (rat babies and other babies) for a while before I let the mother back with them and I put smelly stuff in the area (vanilla extract, peanut butter, mint jelly) so the mom is too busy smelling that stuff to notice that some of her babies smell funny

[Deermouse]

Here is a link to my site (Caring for Orphaned Baby Mice (http://mouseranch.com/FYI/orphans.shtml)) which is mostly links to information. There are some great comments by Ann Vole too.

Kagome100 said: "FEED liquid puppy milk NOT cat milk". Puppy Milk should be fine, but not an absolute. Many people (including myself) recommend Kitten Milk. There a number of other things you can use as formula, Puppy Milk, Cat Milk, Human Soy Formula, Soy Milk and Rice Milk. Many orphans seem to be doing fine and than just stop eating. I was contacted by someone with an orphan in just this situation. He was doing fine and than stopped eating. I suggested that she try different formulas. He still wouldn't eat anything until she tried VANILLA flavored Rice Milk, which he ate ravenously.

Kagome is correct that the survival rate for very young babies seems to be about 50%. It's not clear why one baby survives and another one doesn't. Your best chance for success is to find a surrogate mom. If you can't do that and must hand raise the babies and they stop eating don't hesitate to try different formulas. If they don't eat they will die, so it really doesn't matter if they eat Gatorade if that's all they will eat. At least it will provide some sugar nourishment.

Hand raised wild babies can be very tame. Much tamer that babies raised in captivity with a wild mother. Remember, you're at the beginning of a great adventure.

good luck,
paul

[leinwen]

Well, I also have baby mice. Mom had them in the lawn mower. She took off and hasn't been seen since. I followed your suggestions. They appeared to be about week old when I "took them in". That was aweek tomorrow. One of the two died yesterday. The remaining one is growing and opened its eyes yesterday. My concern is, When it is a month old can I set it free?
Thanks!

[pandiapita04]

It is not good to release a hand raised mouse, it will most likely not know how to fend for itself

[TobyRat]

It is not good to release a hand raised mouse, it will most likely not know how to fend for itself
I agree. I have a wild mouse and I am afriad to release him and I got him when he was already 3 weeks old. I'm not worried about hanta virus. Personally, I think it is blow way out of proportion.

[hitbystars]

I tried hand feeding babies when the mom ran off.. It was so hard. You gotta keep them in the right temperature too.

[leinwen]

I thought things were going well, but unfortunately, the second baby died yesterday. I tried so hard, night feedings and all. I feel bad, but thanks for all your support.

[Deermouse]

I'm very sorry to hear about the babies. It can be very difficult to raise them by hand. Thanks for trying, I'm sure their short lives were much better than they would have been without your intervention.

paul