Orphaned baby mice! help!!

[Birdinhand]

Interesting phrasing . . . my horses have been within 100 feet of a lightning strike 3 times in the last 5 years, and there has been at least one shark bite incident every year since about 2000 here in North Carolina.

And I know a kid who had to get rabies shots because she handled a rabid bat.

interesting though, I can't find references to actual documented cases of someone getting hantavirus or rabies from taking in a wild mouse. honestly, I think we have the pest control people to thank for our extreme fear of rodents, that's not to say we shouldn't practice good hygiene, I certainly stress that with my kiddos. life involves calculated risk, actual mileage may very, gauge your risk as you see fit.

if you don't live in the 4 corners region of the US or don't come in contact with bats, you are talking about maybe 1 case a year in a population of roughly 300,000,000 people across the US that **might** fall into the category of infection from mice. that is of course not the lottery you want to win, but your chance is darn close to 0%.

 

[Maddison]

in the last 2 and a half pages of this thread all I see is bickering about diseases and whos right or wrong how about you step up and give me actual advice? this is very difficult for me y'know because on one hand I shouldn't be attempting to kee- no raise and release them (because I've decided not to keep them since that's not practical) because its kind of ridiculous and a health hazard but on the other hand I'm far too compassionate and I'd feel horrible if I just threw them to the chickens. by the way, what exactly do you people expect me to do with these if not raise and release? do you want me to wack them against the wall? drown them? your bickering certainly isn't helping me I'm so confused as to what to do that I'm actually cryingbecause I feel like a monster!!! so far the only helpful advice I've gotten is from @cassie and everyone else is either judging me or arguing about some nonsense!! so excuse me for being more compassionate than most because I value the life of an innocent little creature! if you have NOTHING to help me then just get out!! oh and by the way, I wear gloves when handling them so dont treat me like im some idiot!!

 

[imnukensc]

Feed them to the chickens. They'll love'em. Problem solved.

 

[Birdinhand]

in the last 2 and a half pages of this thread all I see is bickering about diseases and whos right or wrong how about you step up and give me actual advice? this is very difficult for me y'know because on one hand I shouldn't be attempting to kee- no raise and release them (because I've decided not to keep them since that's not practical) because its kind of ridiculous and a health hazard but on the other hand I'm far too compassionate and I'd feel horrible if I just threw them to the chickens. by the way, what exactly do you people expect me to do with these if not raise and release? do you want me to wack them against the wall? drown them? your bickering certainly isn't helping me I'm so confused as to what to do that I'm actually F*cking cryingbecause I feel like a monster!!! so far the only helpful advice I've gotten is from @cassie and everyone else is either judging me or arguing about some BS!! so excuse me for being more compassionate than most because I value the life of an innocent little creature! if you have NOTHING to help me then just get out!! oh and by the way, I wear gloves when handling them so dont treat me like im some idiot!!

you're right, sorry I got sucked in to the BS. I found this pretty decent step by step "how to" wiki:
https://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-Baby-Mice

this site has videos for various stages:
http://mouseranch.com/FYI/orphans.shtml

hope that helps

 

[Meg-in-MT]

The last thing I would be worrying about is whether this would be a legal issue or not. If you want to save every little creature you can, than that can't really be stopped (I'm sure you get what I'm saying).
On the other hand, not everyone will agree with that. I really felt for you until the little blow up. If you can't handle people disagreeing with you than you need to find a different outlet aside from the internet.
Some people deal with rodents in different ways, but a common end is the rodent being dispatched. Most people don't want to promote mice on their property.
Try and save the mice or don't. My advice (since this is what you were looking for, advice) is to find someone with a snake. Otherwise, feed, coddle and save, but if you let them go after that they will probably meet the same end.
FYI: Most people here very much value the lives of animals. Most are very practical, though. Mice infestations are not something people deal with lightly.

 

[Conan]

Honestly, pretty silly arguing about the legality of keeping orphaned mice. As if anyone in the court/legal system could possibly care less - Hahaha! If you want to try and save them, then do it. The eye dropper and warm milk method worked for me as a kid with tiny bunnies. Sometimes they lived and sometimes they didn't.
Personally, I would have dispatched them humanely as I have rodent issues, but then, you're not me
Birdinhand with the mouse ranch link probably has much better info than anyone here.
I hope you have success regardless of your decision. Best wishes and good luck!

 

[Maddison]

well, I just gave them a piece of meat and they ate it. and now they're eating nuts too. they are also starting to open their eyes so I guess they were older than I thought. at least now I'm not burdened with the stress of what to do with them, I feed them till they are old enough to fend for themselves and then I set them free in the wild, (away from my house) whatever fate awaits them isn't my problem but at least I know they have a fighting chance. and to those saying they don't want mice in their homestead, did you actually think I was just going to release them into my yard?

 

[Bunnylady]

Sorry about the drama, but believe it or not, we had someone here a few months back who was talking about catching a few mice, breeding them, and selling their offspring as pets. Wanted to make clear that it's not as simple as, "it doesn't belong to anybody else, so why can't I use it?"

Definitely asleep at the wheel yesterday; I didn't notice the OP is in Australia. Since these were found under an outbuilding, they are almost certainly not a native species, but the introduced Mus musculus.

It's been a long time (nearly 40 years!), but if my memory serves, they reach independence/weaning age at about 2 weeks, which isn't long after their eyes open. We called that the "popcorn stage," because they are super hyper at that age; jumping like mad at the least excuse.

As to releasing them in your yard, why wouldn't you? Since they were living there, you know it has the specific food, water, and shelter requirements that they need. If any fostered animal is to have even a ghost of a chance at surviving after release, it needs to be released into conditions as near as possible to those it was found in. If these are what I think they are, survival means a man-altered environment. Tough choice, huh?

 

[Maddison]

Sorry about the drama, but believe it or not, we had someone here a few months back who was talking about catching a few mice, breeding them, and selling their offspring as pets. Wanted to make clear that it's not as simple as, "it doesn't belong to anybody else, so why can't I use it?"

Definitely asleep at the wheel yesterday; I didn't notice the OP is in Australia. Since these were found under an outbuilding, they are almost certainly not a native species, but the introduced Mus musculus.

It's been a long time (nearly 40 years!), but if my memory serves, they reach independence/weaning age at about 2 weeks, which isn't long after their eyes open. We called that the "popcorn stage," because they are super hyper at that age; jumping like mad at the least excuse.

As to releasing them in your yard, why wouldn't you? Since they were living there, you know it has the specific food, water, and shelter requirements that they need. If any fostered animal is to have even a ghost of a chance at surviving after release, it needs to be released into conditions as near as possible to those it was found in. If these are what I think they are, survival means a man-altered environment. Tough choice, huh?

well it wouldn't be too far from home, only over in the next paddock I'm guessing, or near the remains of an old shed which was also down in the storm, which isn't likely to be taken down anytime soon. other than that, there is the abandoned wheat silo which no one uses anymore, and theres probably mice in there already so...

 

[Maddison]

by the way, since there near weaning age how long do you think I'll have to wait to release them?