Help with terrified mouse?

Question
Hey Natasha!
Its been awhile since my girls Lily, Honey, Molly, Pip and i have contacted you, but here i am again with some questions. Sadly Molly passed away in my hands on August 6th at 2:45 pm and Lily Pip and i miss her dearly but she's in mousey heaven with Honey.I have two questions regarding Lily and Pip. I have had Lily for almost three years now and i was sure she was going to pass away before Molly but she's still here with me and i feel her days are coming to an end, but iv said that two times before and she is still alive and kicking. She is sleeping a lot more then she was weeks ago and im worried this is her way of telling me shes getting ready to leave me. She now sleeps for three hours gets up to drink and have a treat then goes back to bed. Does this change in routine mean anything?
When i got Pipsqueak i didnt have a second thought that she wasnt a normal mouse but when she got fully grown she was half the size of the average mouse.
When i got her i had the girls caged together she got beat up so bad i had to isolate her until she healed, and 2/3 of her tail fell off. When she became fully healed i began to slowly introduce myself better to her. She began crawling on my hand but then she would freeze, her whole body shook, and the rest of her tail would spin in a circle. I have never had a mouse that has done this and im afraid to pick her up now as i feel when this happens it hurts her. I believe she is almost 2 and a half now and i she still freezes and shakes when she crawls on my hand.
Since her cage mate Molly has passed she is almost the average size now but im not to sure if shes just fat!? She eats like a champ amd loves to run on her wheels. She runs for 5 to 10 minutes every few hours during the day and runs all night long so im not to sure if she is fat or just catching up on her growth.
Thanks in advance
Emily, Lily, Pip, and Molly and Honey from up above.

Answer
Dear Emily,

I am so sorry about Molly. It is lovely that she passed in your hands because that is what a loving mouse wants. Many times a mouse has waited for me in wherever her please-pick-me-up spot is, and then died within 5 minutes after I picked her up.

Wow, Lily is a long-lived mouse! I myself have never quite gotten one to three. Her change in behavior might certainly be age.

It sounds like health-wise Pipsqueak is doing great! Let me find you a step by step program to make friends with a mouse. You may not need to use all of the steps. In fact, simply keeping her on you in your sleeve or in an escape free piece of clothing for a time might help a lot. Here is the post:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mice-3824/2011/7/frightened-mouse.htm

Tail spinning, called helicopter tail, is the mouse feeling off balance and searching for a place to wrap her tail. Always put your other hand for the tail to cling onto when she does that.

Best of luck with Pipsqueak.

Squeaks,

Natasha