keeping a wild mouse as a pet

Question
I have mouses in my garage and i plan on building a safe no kill trap to catch them before my cat does, now i did find a baby mouse but it got away.If i find one again, i want to keep it. what do they eat, hamster food?How long do they live?Will it bite?What do you mean i can get them sick, like if i get a cold they can get it to?And if so before i hold them or such should i always wash my hands or are some soaps not good for the mouse?I love mouse i just don't want to keep them if i could be hurting them.Wait, do mouse have more than one baby at a time because i thought they did but when i found this mouse i only found one baby.I plan on bleaching the cage as i just recently had a hamster but he died should that be a concern like maybe he died of a sickness i could pass on to the mouse.

Answer
Hi Allison,

If you find a mouse and try to keep it and it really wants to get away, it is cruel to keep it. Mice can have a territory of up to a mile; giving them only a few feet can make them very unhappy. However, some wild mice do seem to like being pets, especially if they are found quite small. They make great pets.

Mice eat mouse food. There are seed mixes sold at pet stores for "mice and rats." They are actually only good for mice.

Mice cannot get your colds, but they can catch anything bacterial. You should always, always wash your hands before and after holding a pet, especially a vulnerable one like a mouse. Mice do not like strong smells, so use something mild that you do not smell on your hands afterward.

Mice almost never have just one baby. Fancy mice have an average of 8-12 per litter; I do not know if this is the same for wild house mice (they are the same species) and even separately, for wild field mice, who are not even the same species. But one is very unusual, unless the others have died for one of many reasons.

Yes you should bleach the cage and boil everything from the old cage (wheel, etc) and throw away anything you can't boil (paper, wood). You really want to be certain, because the killer could be anything from a fungus or mold, parasites, etc, if not a transmissible disease. But be sure to rinse very well and give a chance to dry, because the bleach will be very hard on a mouse nose and could cause respiratory distress.

I wish you luck if you find a mouse who wants to be a pet. But be nice and let it go if it does not want to.

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha