Since this is more about the mouse itself now than advice on how to care for it, let’s move this over to MPSIMS.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Hey!!! Come back and post. You know a lot about this sort of thing.
Sorry, I don’t know nothin’ about raisin’ no baby meeses.
(I’m not a good person to post in a thread like this in any case. As a field biologist, I’m accustomed to seeing nature take its course.)
He’s adorable! Thank you for doing all you’re doing to save him!
Have you seen the “Raising a baby mouse” videos on YouTube?
The first one’s here:
Will this thread be the next pigeon eggs? I hope so.
What a very nice thing to do. You are a better person than I am. I am afraid of mice. It is so good to hear a story like this. Thank you for sharing, and have a nice Holiday.
ETA: I just looked at the pictures you posted, and my heart melted.
We rescued a baby deer mouse more than 5 years ago and posted about it on the Dope. There were a lot of smart-assed negative comments about mice in general and as pets.
We kept our dear little mouse for an incredible 5 years, and he was always a friendly little bundle of energy which we loved. Last September he suffered a stroke. We kept taking care of him, giving him special food and re-arranging his cage so he could easily get around on 2 legs. Once after his stroke he fell into his water dish and nearly died from the cold, but we brought him back by warming him in our hands for more than 2 hours.
Finally one day Fierra phoned me and said “I think mouse is dying.” I drove home as fast as I could, but arrived about 5 minutes too late - he had died, curled up in Fierra’s hands, while being petted gently and told he was a good mouse. We buried him out back right by our house. We miss him.
Now I’m crying…
I hope you take care of the little creature. Mice are vermin by definition, but having rescued him he’s now a pet, and a good measure of character is how one treats the most wee, most helpless animals which one takes into one’s care.
Our mouse: http://www.coalgoddess.net/files/mouse.jpg
It’s those dang ninjas in the corner chopping onions I think. And also the picture…
And that last bit, that’s so true. It’s reminding me of The Little Prince:
“I am looking for friends. What does that mean – tame?"
“It is an act too often neglected,” said the fox. “It means to establish ties.”
“To establish ties?”
“Just that,” said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world…”
“People have forgotten this truth," the fox said. "But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose.”
“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
“People where you live," the little prince said, "grow five thousand roses in one garden… yet they don’t find what they’re looking for…
They don’t find it," I answered.
And yet what they’re looking for could be found in a single rose, or a little water…"
Of course," I answered.
And the little prince added, "But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.”
“You’re beautiful, but you’re empty…One couldn’t die for you. Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she’s the one I’ve watered. Since she’s the one I put under glass, since she’s the one I sheltered behind the screen. Since she’s the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three butterflies). Since she’s the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she’s my rose.”
(This one is for Una:)
“All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems… But all these stars are silent. You-You alone will have stars as no one else has them… In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars will be laughing when you look at the sky at night…You, only you, will have stars that can laugh! And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me… You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure… It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh”
(And this in case the OP decides to set the little mouse free:)
“So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near–
Ah," said the fox, “I shall cry.”
It is your own fault," said the little prince. “I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you . . .”
Yes, that is so," said the fox.
But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
Yes, that is so," said the fox.
Then it has done you no good at all!"
It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields.”
“I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of crying a bit if one allows oneself to be tamed.”
“Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.”
Aww, Una. You are a good person.
We rescued a deer mouse ourselves at one point (after the remainder of his family, who had taken up residence under our stove, was caught and relocated and he got overlooked). He was old enough to live on his own, and he never became truly “tame” in the sense of being comfortable being picked up…but he did love to sit in his plastic tubes, looking out at the world, and he would come to the end of the tube to lick peanut butter off a finger.
There’s something special about the smallest creatures – they pack an awful lot of living (and capacity for connection) into their short, precarious lives.
Malleus keep us updated, if you can.
Tears in my eyes after reading about Una’s little mousie.
I cuss at those *&^% mice in the garage, chewing on things and making a mess! But I’d melt if there was a tiny helpless orphan mouse that needed my help. We’d have a new pet if it survived. :rolleyes:
It sounds like a miracle that you’ve gotten Chametz this far, Malleus. Crossing my fingers for him!
Stupid. I must have done something wrong. He literally keeled over and died while I was feeding him.
Sorry to hear that. I’m sure it was nothing you did wrong. It was you who gave him the chance to live long enough to open his eyes and see the world. RIP Chametz.
What he said. Tiny little beasties like that are fragile indeed, and you kept him warm and safe for as long as you could. Thank you so much for trying.
RIP Chametz.
Maybe he was left behind by his mother, in a survival-of-the-fittest thing, because she knew he was too weak to survive?
I can’t say it any better than TriPolar and FerretHerder.
I’m sorry Malleus! That is sad news. I’m sure the little guy felt cared for in his brief life, you did a great thing. Little did he know that humans all over the world cared too…
I’m so sorry about Chametz. At least he died warm and not alone. Hugs.
Awww. That sux.
Drat. I was rooting for him…and you. The odds were against him, but you gave him a good chance, at least.