Orphan mouse week 2

Question
Hello,

I am impressed by your wealth of knowledge about mice so I'm writing because I have come into the care of an orphan baby white-footed deer mouse. The mother was a field mouse our cat trapped when she was a baby (not an infant, but small) -- we kept her in a Habitrail until she finally escaped during a cage cleaning. Apparently she lived in our storage closet, IN the dismantled Habitrail which i'd put in a box, eating spare Halloween candy (we found 30 Hershey's kiss wrappers in her next) until she seemingly surrendered one morning by climbing to the top of a curtain rod and allowing herself to be coaxed into a container. We installed her in the reassembled Habitrail and 3 weeks later she was startled out of her fluff and I noticed there was a single tiny pink baby clinging to her body. I believe she was actually in the process of giving birth to it at the time. At one point she dropped the baby in one of the tubes of the Habitrail and I had to disattach that section and deposit the baby gently into the fluff, where the mother rushed back to groom it. We had about a week of mother and baby bonding, wherein Pipsqueak (the mom) seemed very protective and nurturing. Then after about 7 days, I noticed that one of the caps was off of the Habitrail (I'm assuming our toddler removed it to put in pumpkin seeds and forgot to put it back on). I poked the fluff and found that Pipsqueak was nowhere to be found. But there was the tiny baby, brown at this point, eyes closed, and very active and distraught. Of course I rushed with the kids and the baby (in its nest) to the pet store and they refused to nurse a wild mouse on one of their "fancy" mice. So I bought the kitten formula and an eye dropper and a paintbrush and I've been following the two-hourly feeding schedule religiously and keeping Otter (she looks like a baby otter) in my hand or on my chest whenever possible. The strange thing about today was that when she woke it seemed that some wetness or poop (it was mustardy) had fused the cotton from her nest onto her foot. I tried to remove it as gently as possible with a wet Q-tip but that leg is now red and inflamed and the foot is limp and points backwards. Will this heal in time if I continue to nurture the mouse and she manages to thrive? Also I was wondering if there would be a benefit or a detriment to supplementing her kitten formula diet with occasional coconut milk for the electrolytes, since it is more natural than Pedialyte. I read what you wrote about guiding a mouse through a rough patch by just holding them and warming them: should I try to keep the mouse cozy in this way when it sleeps rather than installing her in her nest, where she seemingly lost vigor and wounded her foot?  Sorry for all the questions, and thanks in advance for your consideration!  Best, Julia

Answer
Dear Julia,

Wow, you have been good to that baby! She is going to be an incredibly loyal and loving pet, and field mice live longer than bred mice, which is great.

The mustardy poop is pretty much normal-- remember your daughter's first diaper full?  But it isn't good that the leg seems injured. I'm not sure how that happened-- maybe her leg was stuck and she moved wrong. All you can do is keep giving the mouse the best care possible and keeping her very clean.


Yes I think it makes a huge difference if you can hold her as much as possible. After all, she should be with a whole nest of siblings 24/7. You must work at home like I do.... I found an infant kitten and I don't think I put him down for about 3 solid weeks!

I truly don't know about the coconut milk. I am afraid that any kind of fruit could upset her digestive system. I see your reasoning, but I can't guarantee it wouldn't cause a problem. On the other hand, from what I understand, electrolytes aren't made of anything that could be synthesized--  it is carbohydrates and minerals dissolved in a water base. So I would stick to the pedialyte. However, if you had written to me and said "I have been using coconut milk and she is fine" I would not have had a problem with that. But I can't recommend it.


She's still small enough that you should be able to be sure whether she is a girl, by the way. Only females have nipples.


Best, best of luck, and let me know what happens (in minute detail) : ))

squeaks,

Natasha