Hubby told me this morning he spotted a mouse in his closet so after he went to work, I went to roust them and found a mouse condo in there. That's what we get for not cleaning closets ... at any rate, all the bigger mice ran for the border, but one itty baby was too little for that. He just tried to hide. I don't like killing ANY of them (I just wish they'd go outside and stay there) but I definitely couldn't kill a baby. He's got fur and his eyes are open but he's tiny. So ... I found a plastic storage container and I poked holes in the lid and I put some of his bedding and him in it. He's got a little dish of water and some bird seed and some bread and he let me pet him. If he makes it -- and he's got lots of energy, he's running around and he's examined his bread, though I don't think he ate any -- I guess I'll go get a hamster cage for him.

No wonder my friend Judy calls our place The Ark.

I've had hamsters but this is my first mouse and he's such a baby, I hope he can eat on his own. He's about an inch long, maybe a bit more, not counting his tail, which is longer than HE is. I'm not sure he's a boy, though I thought I saw little testicles. I think I'll call him Mortimer. Mickey is too obvious. And Mortimer is what Mickey's name was going to be originally, when Walt Disney thought of him. If he turns out to be a girl I'll change it to Morticia.

Ewwwwwww! Sorry but I don't like mice, pets or otherwise. You are braver then I

I don't like for them to run around and chew up the bread, but I just didn't have the heart to turn this baby out when he's so little and probably would die before the day is over. It's not his fault he's a mouse. He really is awfully cute. I can't wait to hear what Hubby says when he comes home and I introduce him to our new baby. Provided said baby makes it through the day.

hahahaha this reminds me of my brother when he lived at home.

Imagine my Mom's surprise when she realized he was live trapping mice that got in the house, and then keeping them as pets in a cage he bought

I don't think his lived for very long..maybe a few months.

My Dad was convinced they carried all kinds of parasites, and deadly diseases. Mom was too much of a softie to make my brother get rid of them though. It was winter, and it was cold

Aren't Baby field mice adorable Siobhan

Have fun at the Ark <giggle>

Hmm..teach the mouse to play drums.. I can already picture the whole band together

Debbie

Mice don't live very long, but if you keep them as pets, they can last two or three years. Not having to hunt for their own food helps. The only parasites the baby could have at this point, I think, is fleas and he doesn't seem to have those. We treat the dogs and there aren't any in the house and Mortimer hasn't been outside. He's not at all upset by my petting him. He just kind of looks up at me like, "Are you my mommy?" If he's big enough to eat and drink on his own, I think he'll be okay. My brother caught and made a pet of a house mouse some years ago, so I'll ask him what to give Mortimer.

Here's a photo of the baby. I showed him to Hubby, who said we could probably turn him loose at bedtime and his family would find him. I said, "I wanted to keep him" and Hubby said, "OH. Okay."

I'm like you. I think mice are cute. I could never kill a cute little animal like that. I can't even kill spiders. I catch everything and let them go outside. If I did have grown mice here I would live trap them and let them go in the woods. Cute Picture too. Is that soap suds I see?

No, that's some pillow stuffing I put in there to give him more soft stuff to hide in. I don't think he's eaten a thing or had any water, and I keep dipping my finger in water and offering it to him, but he just won't drink. I hope he's not too little to make it without his mama. When I pet him, he responds. He looks at me, anyway. I'm afraid that, even if I put him back where I found him, the adult mice won't come back so he's stuck with me.

Aww he's very cute! I couldn't let him go either. Do mice nurse their young? I guess they must? I wonder if a kitten forumula would be OK for them?

Here's some good info
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_do_you_feed...en%27t_open_yet

Yes, mice nurse their young. I just cant imagine why on earth anyone would want to keep one of the nasty things .. He is cute in the pic though.

Well, it's my fault his mama ran off and left him behind, because I routed their nest. I found another mouse nest a couple of months ago in a drawer and the babies were naked and new and had their eyes closed. There wasn't any way we could do anything for them and I felt really bad about it. I just want to take them outside and give them a fair chance, but with new babies, they weren't going to make it. I'm hoping maybe this one will. And if he does, he might be a really nice pet. Mice are smart.

I agree, maybe some KMR formula? Or even bird handfeeding formula, or baby food, fed with a syringe...

he wouldnt be weaned yet so you should get some of that baby milk for none breast feeding if you know the stuff
put it in the microwave and feed it to him in an eye drop or syringe
if the baby milk is not available then just use regular milk

and good luck

Yuk yuk yuk lol i don't like mice since its a baby only means mommy is around and that means more baby mice which will mean freak out for me lol . Outside mice bring sickness its different than getting them at a pet shop. Ps feed it some ratex lol

how is he this morn?

Hooray! He not only made it through the night, he's sitting up on his haunches and eating some budgie seed for breakfast!

My brother has an old aquarium he's going to give me to make a house for the baby. I'll just use newspaper for bedding and give him stuff like toilet paper rolls for toys. He'll be easy to please, I think.

How adorable!!! He'll make an awesome little pet Just don't let him near the birds cuz mice do lurv them some chicken!

Not that I don't think you will but if you're using an aquarium to house them make sure to keep it extra clean and keep the top open for ventilation. They have a high amonia content in their urine which can cause fumes making it hard to breath.

I've always wanted a rat but hubby said absolutely not. So I got a ferret instead.

Good luck with the baby.

I got a hamster cage with all sorts of neat stuff from someone on Freecycle, but the bars are far enough apart that Mortimer could scoot through at the size he is now. So he'll only live in the aquarium until he's bigger, and I figure I'll clean it every day, like I do the bird cages. Mice pee and poop even more than birds do. I had hamsters when I was a kid, so I've been there and done that. I've fixed him up and put him in and the Freecycle person gave me a little plastic mouse house which Mortimer has already explored. Last time I looked, he was peeping out the window of his little house. I'm just using newspaper for bedding because that's what mice use themselves, and feeding him whatever we have around the house. He's got some budgie seed and bread and a little bit of fried egg and I also bought some mousie treats.

I bet the next time hubby will do the mouse-rousting himself and evict them on his own rather than leaving the job to you!

He is soo cute. I had two pet mice, but they were not found in the house. lol I purchased them as two baby females and they had babies! lol There must have been something wrong because I woke up the next morning and the mice had eaten all 3 of the babies. I couldn't kill the baby mouse either. I am the one who spent an hour when I was 10 trying to unglue the baby mouse from the sticky trap in the basement. Lets just say with a lot of veggie oil he was free. Have fun with your new baby!

We think his little eyes aren't quite all the way open, which would explain why he squints like Mr. Magoo. But he is eating his budgie seed -- he sits up and holds it in his front paws, it's so cute -- and when I picked him up a little bit ago, he didn't want to get off my hand. I kept trying to put him down and he kept scrambling back into my hand and clinging to my finger.

I gave him a toilet paper cardboard and he runs through it like it's a tunnel.

He's no better than I am. If he'd found this baby, he'd have done exactly what I did. Last winter we had a crippled mouse in the house who would drag his poor little self across the floor -- we theorized a cat had gotten him but he'd gotten away somehow -- and one evening when poor little Crip was dragging himself along, we each held a dog back and Hubby says to me, "Why don't you run to Petsmart and get a hamster cage for him?" It was too late in the evening for that, they were closed, and we never saw him again or now we'd have TWO.

That's too sweet- you two were made for each other Can't wait to hear more of the adventures of Mortimer.... and don't be so stingy with pictures, either!

whenever we get mice in the house it is because of the dog food--they love it. We laugh when we catch one in a trap (sorry) because they have beautiful healthy shiney coats.---better than the dogs. Try crushed up dog food, or maybe even soaked in a little milk or water.

Awww, he is cute...I use to keep mice as pets, when I was a kid. I never kept a wild one though.

I know, when I worked at the pet store, we sold a special baby formula, for baby rabbits, squirrels and mice and a tiny little baby bottle to feed them with.

It has been so long, I forgot what it is called, but, I agree, he looks like he is too young to eat on his own.


Good luck with him and neat name!

Mortimer made it through his second night and is up on top of his house again this morning. I actually found a mouse forum like this one is for parrots, and someone there said to remove his pillow stuffing because he might eat it and that would kill him. He was not a happy mouse when his stuffing went bye-bye. He LOVED it. Now I have to find him something he CAN have that he'll like just as well. Here's a picture of him on top of his house.

Oh my gosh...he is quite cute! I am sure the "mouse people" will be able to help you a lot!

I got him some kitten formula and a bottle and fed him a little while ago and he was very cooperative once he tasted it. Then I gave him an old sock to replace his pillow stuffing and he crawled right in to take a nap. The mouse folk say you have to coax your mouse to let you pick him up and not to swoop in from above because you'll scare him, but Mortimer's too little to be afraid of us, and he crawls right in when I offer him my hand. I sure hope he makes it. I'm very encouraged that he's survived this long and seems to be doing okay. It's hard not to love a baby you have to feed and who's as sweet and cooperative as he is!

I did NOT intend to become a mouse mommy. But then I didn't intend to become a bird mommy, either, and look at me now.

Sounds like you are doing great with Mortimer. You are sure going to form a bond with him, with all this nurturing. He is lucky to have you

Mice really can be very good pets, and very smart and trainable too.

I'd put a couple layers of newspaper in the bottom of the tank (for easy clean-up) then give him a bunch of piles of shredded paper and some empty boxes to play around and nest in. the paperboard boxes from medicines, bandaids, poptarts, mac&cheese, etc make great free (since you have to replace them every day or so to keep things clean) huts. You can also hide raisins, nuts, and seed around in socks and wadded up tissues to encourage him to run around and stay busy (when he's old enough for that). I used to cut up old tshirts and sheets to make washable and/ or disposable nesting hammocks for my pet rats.
Morti is adorable! I love how itty bitty he is

He's still hanging in there. I gave him a little canned dog food last night and he ate it overnight so I gave him more this morning. I put some of his formula in a shallow plastic lid because he drank some out of the lid last night. He didn't mind using the bottle the first time but he decided he doesn't like it. However, he does know how to drink out of a bowl so we'll just go with that. I'll change it two or three times a day so it doesn't go bad on him.

He has two toilet paper rolls and he likes to run through them and he digs into his pile of torn up paper towel and hides and sleeps. He just LOVES to be held in our hands. Isn't that funny, for a wild mouse? I know he's seeking warmth and comfort and that's why he's doing it, but it means that as he grows, he'll be used to us handling him from the beginning.

My friends at church this morning were shaking their heads over me and my baby mouse.

He sounds like he is doing very well!

He also sounds so very cute.

I am glad you posted, I was wondering how he was doing.

Try wood shavings instead of the stuffing. Also give him any spare tissue or shoeboxes he will set up camp in there. My rats are in a cage and i throw in newspapers, cut up strips of old pillow cases or handtowels etc. They chew and arrange and rearrange and have a great time. Good luck! He's very cute

Pretty soon you'll have to add him to your siggy!!!!

My little orphan didn't make it, but I missed him so much that I bought a fancy mouse at the pet shop. His name is Henry and he is on my siggy, thanks to Majj. I should probably ask her to add Benjy and the dogs, too.

Henry is very energetic and active at night and comes out a couple of times during the day to see what we're up to, but doesn't want to be bothered during the day and will hide from us. Around 10 at night, he's willing to play with me a little bit. Last night, he even let me pick him up for a moment.

I did my best with little Mortimer, but he was just too little to be away from his mother.