Found Orphaned baby mice in laundry room

Question
Hi Natasha,

I've been doing a lot of googling, and after ending up here reading your advice for others with similar problems so many times, i've decided to just ask a few questions of my own :)

Yesterday morning my boyfriend and I found a baby mouse on the floor of our laundry room, he was laying on his side and not moving much. At first I thought he was dead and quickly realized he wasn't after gently touching his side. So i scooped him up and brought him inside, put him in a box with a towel and headed out to the grocery store in search of formula and a syringe.

A few hours after getting back, I found another one on the floor of my laundry room and this morning another on top of my dryer. So now I have three and I am definitely feeling overwhelmed.

They seem to be eating just fine.. though i'll be looking to find a smaller syringe as the one i'm using now has way too large of a tip for their tiny mouths, and it's making the very difficult task of feeding them that much harder. They like to squish their faces into the crevises of my fingers and I can feel them licking and sucking in there. Do you have any suggestions on what I should look for specifically?

Also, all three little ones seem to be a bit dehydrated, in varying degrees, from barely (if at all) noticable in the first I found to most noticable in the third. Should I feed them more often, or is there something I can pick up for them? Right now, I try to feed them every 2 hours.

The first one I found is doing very good. he's active, the easiest to feed, seems to call to be held...

The second one is also doing very well, though he's started moving around in ways as of recently that seem strange to me.. he'll almost flatten himself out, or he'll move backwards when he's in my hand, but i'm thinking he may just be timid or unsure.

The third one is a bit more on the thin side and his bum area seems to kindof protrude outward a bit. He's also not as active as the other two.

All three have been having runny light colored poops, but I'm not sure if that's from the baby formula just yet. I just recently switched over a few hours ago to a hypoallergenic formula meant for babies who have a hard time with digesting both milk and soy based formulas.. after reading that mice are lactose intolerant?

They have not opened their eyes yet and I'm thinking they are around 3-5 days old.

I know it's unlikely that not all of my little ones are going to make it, but i'm already very attached...

Any advice or opinions you have would be great!

Thanks :)

Answer
Dear Shauna,

Thank you for caring for the little tykes!

First I want to warn you. The way you found them sounds an awful lot like their mom abandoned them. Mother mice abandon their babies when they sense that there is something wrong with them. On the other hand, maybe she just felt unsafe and didn't feel she could raise them; or she was a first time mother and got confused.

Yes, you do need to get something for their dehydration: pedialyte, which is an electrolyte solution for babies. As long as they seem dehydrated, you want to give them formula of about 80% pedialyte. You can reduce the ratio once they seem healthy and their skin springs back easily when lightly pulled.

Every two hours is perfect. Around the clock. Infant soy formula is fine. You can use a small (unused) paintbrush to nurse them.

The poops are just right. Are you stimulating them to eliminate? They are pooping on their own but might still need to pee. Use your finger tip unless you have long nails; gently rub their abdomens and genitals after feeding.

In my profile, there are a couple of URIs (Internet addresses) which are not links; you need to paste them into your browser address window. There is a link to a series of ten videos on orphan mouse raising, which you should watch; and the link for sexing mice will help you to determine their age. Mice open their eyes at about 14 days. They have their fur at about 7 days.

I certainly hope these guys are healthy and happy. Hand raised mice are wonderful, wonderful pets.

Let me know what happens :)

Squeaks,

Natasha