Baby orphan mouse bites me

Question
I had a mouse I raised as a fuzzy by hand, I have been feeding him kitten formula through a dropper and have bonded very close to me. I believe he is 3 to 4 weeks old now. He used to run to my hand every time I put it in his cage until yesterday when he seemed a avoid my hand. For the last week I let him live with other mice and he seems to be getting along fine, but he is not as close to be as before. Today I had him on my shoulders and when I tired to fetch him from my hoodie he bit me. Every time I but my hand in his cage now he tries to bite or run away. I am not sure way we were so close before.

Answer
Dear Fyre,

Although he is a little older than I would expect, these little hand-fed guys do go through a jumpy, scared phase and can be hard to handle. It lasts just a couple of days. So we can hope that is it.

If that is not the case, it is possible that he has suffered some kind of trauma. In that case he may just take a little time to get back to normal.

It is not all that surprising that he is less attached to you because he has mouse friends. I am a little confused though. Is he living with males or females?  If he is four weeks old, it is possible that he will become sexually mature this week, though six weeks of age is most common.

I don't know who he is. If he is a field mouse, though, there are no worries. Field mice don't mate with house mice, which is what fancy mice actually are!

Last-- if he is a hybrid between a wild house mouse and a pet mouse, he may just stay crazy. Those guys tend to be nuts; you would think they would be sweet hand fed, but I do not know if they are.

I certainly hope he calms down quickly and is sweet again. A hand fed mouse is an awesome pet.

Let me know what happens, and who he is. Thank you.

squeaks,

Natasha