Orphaned mouse- advice please!

[RedLimoncello]

DH was clearing earth on the garden and accidentally disturbed a mouse nest. Only one baby mouse survived😥

It's currently in a box beside me, squeaking having spend the first 20 mins in DH hand.

It's got fur and ears but eyes still closed so we think less than 2 weeks old??

We've got a mini-hot water bottle in its box, a towel and some torn up kitchen paper that he has snuggled into.

DH fed him with some warmed milk in a teeny bottle belonging to some rubbishy toy or other of the DC! I see online puppy milk replacement is best but we've nothing like that and all shops closed of course.

Has anyone any advice? I'm seeing online info that they need feeding 1.5-2 hourly but don't know how long that needs to happen for, or when to give him other foods, if he even survives😔

We're willing to do our best for him. If he survives the night I'll go to local pet store for advice.

Any pearls of wisdom would be much appreciated. He's awfully small and adorable.

She's in my 4 year old's hands there so looks bigger but she's still a complete titch😊

Awwwww, I'm so pleased and happy that she's become part of your family
Looking forward now to all the updates.

Bless you OP..LOVE stories like this!

This is the loveliest thread I’ve ever read. It’s like something from a lovely children’s book

Gorgeous what a lovely family you are.

Bloody adorable I luffs you OP

Sooo cute.
Good luck OP.

Sorry if already mentioned (and I'm sure you are doing it anyway) but I hope you are being careful to wash your hands after handling the mouse. I think they can carry salmonella and other things. (Leptospirosis?)

Maybe double check if that's true a sim not sure.

I was about to say ‘She’s got a lot bigger.

Oh my giddy Aunt. I just adore those tiny mousy ears .😍😍😍😍😍😍.

Mice are like Pandas they stay cute for life.

Thanks for all the lovely comments😍

@ItsIslandTime thank you and yes we are being obsessive-about hand washing. I read mice can carry hantavirus though I don't think it's present in Ireland. But all the same we're sticking with attic hand washing protocols! No harm giving the DC a refresher on it before school starts back anyway👐

"Attic"?! Strict!

Oh thank you OP, that photo is the loveliest!!

I'm so happy you found her OP. Shes beautiful. I love mice (and rats) but can't have any of my own as I have cats. What a lovely thread.

Lovely thread and lovely mouse!

We had three cuddled up left on our front lawn. A fourth the cat next door had been at. Dh put them back in the shrubbery. I couldn't have brought them into the house! Eek!

@RedLimoncello

Thanks for the advice all you lovely people! I can't respond individually as DC are in the bath and I'm in and out refereeing numerous off the ball incidents.

We'll definitely have a chat with the kids about mice not living very long lives. They have goldfish so are prepped that small things often have shorter lives than humans.

The cage I got has a plastic base that goes about halfway up the sides and then small bar cage over the top but I might line the outsides of the cage bit with cardboard initially just in case!

Thanks too for the weaning info. We've loads of blackberries down the garden so I'll try her on one of those when she's old enough and I'll get some ready brek for weaning time.

Eyes are still closed but she's getting quite active so hopefully she'll crack them open soon!

On a side note, the avg lifespan of a goldfish is 10-15 and can even go upto 30. The reason they live sho short in captivity is because people dont give them the proper care they need. I'm not saying you aren't! You sound very compassionate and caring and it's wonderful how much time you're putting into taking care of the little mouse. I'm just saying if the gold fish is taken care of as well as the mousey, you can expect to have him/her around a lot longer than you thought!

You should set up an Instagram account for him.

@LST

I'm so happy you found her OP. Shes beautiful. I love mice (and rats) but can't have any of my own as I have cats. What a lovely thread.

I used to have rats and cats! The rats lived on top of a wardrobe that the cats couldn’t jump on top of, and the cats were kept out of that room so as not to stress them out. We were very careful to keep the door closed when the rats were out roaming and it worked out great for everyone.

@NoMoreMrNiceGaius that's actually great to hear! I'm very fond of our fishies. My aunt had one live to the ripe old age of 13 but I thought that was just an anomaly!

[quote RedLimoncello]@NoMoreMrNiceGaius that's actually great to hear! I'm very fond of our fishies. My aunt had one live to the ripe old age of 13 but I thought that was just an anomaly![/quote]
I only found out a few years ago when I wanted to get a turtle that the tiny turtles that we see in pet shops that everyone thinks stay tiny usually grow up to 30cm and require a massive aquarium! (Almost 500 liters!!) They only stay small because pet shops put them in tiny tanks without adequate lighting and nutrition and they can't grow. And similarly most people think goldfish live only a few years. It's so sad that often the owners of the shops themselves are so clueless, or worse yet they keep the turtles small so they are easier to sell, and that they do nothing to educate themselves or their customers 😥

I'm sorry I dont mean to turn such a positive thread into a sob story. I hope your little goldfish lives many happy years and your little mouse few but happy years as well 😁 You sound like a wonderful owner and they are lucky to have found you!

Aw not at all. You're so right. Our pet shop lady was great about making sure the goldfish had a proper sized tank and that we didn't underestimate the need to give them a good quality of life. I still feel kind of bad about not having a lovely giant pond for them to live in with family groups, but we do our best.

My DBro has a lovely bumbling old tortoise along with two lovely doggies so we're open to having retirement aged pets to keep in the comfort to which they have become accustomed😌

It's funny, I've always been ambivalent about pets because I always felt sad that they are being deprived of their natural environment and probably complex social structures and lots of other nuance that we know little about- but I can see that rescuing them from dangerous/sad situations is the right thing to do too so I suppose this is the compromise!

This reminds me, last year I found a mommy and daddy mouse and 5 (!) babies in our kitchen. I used humane traps but I was worried there would be babies left behind and die so I kept them in an aquarium with a mesh lid until I could be sure there were no babies left. I had to get up every few hours every night to check the traps cause I didn't want them to be dehydrated in there.

Unfortunately we had no choice to release them as keeping 7 wild mice was impossible and would have quickly become 30. I asked some charities but they didn't want wild mice either.

They were so adorable, they used to jump 30cm to the lid of the aquarium and hang upside down from it like bats. The mommy and daddy could practically sleep there but the babies kept jumping up and failing to get a grip so they fell back down it was so cute. I didn't have time to take a lot of pics but I found these two:

Creek Valley critters on YouTube hand rears mice - she's Canadian I believe and has a whole how-to about hand rearing that could help.

Also the bars of the cage need to be less than 1cm gap or she will squeeze through, even as an adult mousey.

She will eventually need a large (8inch diameter) running wheel too - silent spinners are great.

Mice need surprisingly large cages - if you have the room, an IKEA Detolf shelf unit on its back is fantastic for a cheap DIY, but its 6ft long!

here is the CVC playlist