plz help, found abandoned wild baby mice! **PICS**

[tinychicky]

a night or two ago a weasle got into the barn. the chickens were fine thank goodness, but i found two young mice, dead, one half eaten and crawling with flies. i buried them in the woods and a little while later i walked into the barn and saw two young mice by the barn door. they have fur and thier eyes were open. i picked them up and offered them water (which they licked off my fingers enthusiastically) then put them in a shallow container where i found them and hoped the mama mouse would come back. in the mean time i found another baby mouse. the next morning the last baby mouse i found had died and the mother still hadn't come so i offered the two remaining babies a variety of food (cream, pureed banana, oatmeal) but i still need some advice on caring for them. does anyone have experience with any of this? please don't tell me to feed them to the cat (she's scared of mice anyway, i'm serious

), i like mice, i have a pet mouse and i really want to help these two.

 

[mother o' chicks72]

if they have fur and their eyes are open you could try feeding them regular mouse food. I also have a soft spot for mice and rats and can definitely see why you wouldn't want to feed them to the cat. You could post a picture of them so we can see how old they are.

 

[Ashleyy_x3]

awwwh i love when i see people who seem to care about animals as much as me (no matter the type)

im glad you didnt just kill them or inhumanely discard of them like the majority of people would have done.

 

[tinychicky]

there eyes are open, but still a little squinty like they just opened them and yeah they have thier fur. the two surviving ones are much more active then when i first found them yesterday. i have a heat lamp on them because they were very cold before and they're still in the barn because if they have any kind of disease i don't want it spreading to my mouse, Forrest. i'm not sure they're ready for regular mouse food. i read that they are weaned at around 2 weeks but thier diets are supplemented with milk until 4 weeks and i judge them to be around 2 1/2 weeks old. i'll post some pictures as soon as i can. i'm going to go to the pet store tomorrow and pick up another tank, they're only in a small 1 gal. one right now and if they survive long enough to get to adult size i don't want them to be cramped. when they are old enough to be on thier own, can i release them to the wild? i wouldn't mind keeping them if they couldn't, but they'd have to get some vaccines and stuff probably. i believe they are both bucks, so they should get along with each other but they'll never get along with my buck i have now. i do i need anything else for them at the pet store while i'm at it do you think?

 

[tinychicky]

thanks, ashleyy!! i'm glad SOME people are like me, my mom wanted me to toss them in the woods. they wouldn't survive if i did that! she hates mice

she lets me have Forrest cause she never has to see him

i'm so tempted to name the baby mice but i know i shouldn't until i'm sure they'll live

 

[mother o' chicks72]

Quote:
they may not be able to survive alone in the wild after being raised by people, but i'm sure you wouldn't mind a couple more mice.

. I have no idea what kind of milk you would feed baby mice...

 

[Ashleyy_x3]

Quote:
EXACTLY! thats what most people wouldve done and it drives me crazy when people seem to have no respect for animals lives. especially little babies that obviously are helpless and wouldnt have a chance.

so thats why when i saw this i was like AWWH finallyy someone who's not cold-hearted! haha

like i read a post a couple days ago where a lady found some abandoned newborn bunnies in a nest, and just shoveled them up and just chucked them into the woods! not a chance!

ive been bugging my mum to let me get a dumbo rat. buuut she is completely against having a "disgusting dirty rodent" in the house... i got a pet rat behind her back last year.. and ohh boyyy. that was not prettyyy.

lol
anyways. keep up the good work with the baby mice! sounds like you're doing the best you can

 

[tinychicky]

yeah, i lovve rats too! i wanted a rat, but my mom said a mouse was "bad enough" . that's really really awful about those bunnies, i swear it made me cry

my baby bunny story was much happier, this jamaican guy kind of shoved my rabbit on us when he was barely old enough to be away from his mother and my mom agreed and now she loves him so it all worked out. oh and don't feel ashamed about getting a rat behind your mom's back i have kept many, many animals (mostly wild caught: a toad named scotty, a young field mouse named thumbalina, a turtle i found on the side of the road to name a few) over the years without my mom knowing

 

[tinychicky]

soo i just remembered this morning that it's memorial day and the petstore's probably not open. i was hoping to get them a water bottle since they don't really get how to drink out of the container of water i gave them and some bedding besides pine shavings because i read those are really bad for mice. i have some other bedding i use for my mouse, but i don't have enough

i can't tell if they're eating or not and they spend most of the time sleeping even at night. are they sick or is it just because they're babies to postd a lot of sleep? i'll get some pictures of them today to post

 

[Terri O]

You can just give them something soaked in water for their moisture. It will be enough until then drink out of a dish. Soak some of your regular mouse food (or bird seed) in water to soften it up and they will probably eat it. Or give them some cooked veggies and fruit. THey will eat almost anything and can exist on near to nothing! HTH Terri O

(PS) yes, really sad about those bunnies...especially because the mama rabbit goes in the nest to feed the babies for only seconds a day! Probably they werent abandoned at all!