Can I keep a wild field mouse? disease/etc

Question

TINY field mouse   Hi! We found a wild (adult?) field mouse today while mowing the lawn (I'm not sure what kind, any tips on breed ID?). He's fine, just briefly got stuck in a pot. Since they are nuisance animals and I do not want them reproducing and creating unwanted offspring running around in my cupboards and walls, its either keep him or kill him. OBVIOUSLY I DO NOT WANT TO KILL HIM, or I wouldn't be emailing you. I hate killing anything even spiders! I am concerned with the human safety of keeping a wild field mouse as a pet. I have only handled him with gloves. Will it be safe to hold/pet him after a "quarantine" observation period? I am concerned about pests and disease, but the internet seems to be an unreliable source as to wether or not wild rodents are safe. However if I can touch him I would like to coax him into being social if it's possible.

Also, as this was a spur of the moment decision to get/keep a mouse, he is living in a make-shift home made of two large plastic salad containers with air holes and a door cut in the top. I don't know what I should be feeding him, I put a little bit of bread in with him and a lid with some water in it. I hope this is okay? I figured mice don't drink from the beaded bottles in the wild so do they drink out of little puddles and such. There's also a bunch of shredded newspaper and a little nook for him to crawl into (aka tiny 4x4 plant container on its side). Thats all I could really think of but I want to keep him happy so just wondering if there's anything else. I do, however, plan on getting him a real home ASAP!

Thanks for your help :)

P.S. No clue as to whether or not its a boy, just been calling it that. Anyway to tell?

Answer
Dear Abby,

First, disease. This answer varies as to where you live. The only thing a person has to worry about is a disease called Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS). This comes from the hantavirus, which field mice can carry-- and you generally get it from breathing in dried urine or feces from an infected mouse. It is quite rare-- even in the state with the most number of cases (New Mexico), there have only been 90 cases in the last 19 years. Still, if I lived in NM and caught a wild mouse I would certainly bring it to the vet to be tested. But not in New York, where I live.

Let me make this clear, however: hantavirus can kill you.

Here is a breakdown state by state of cases of HPS in the last 19 years. You can check your state:

http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/surveillance/reporting-state.html

Here is info about hantavirus:

http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/hps/transmission.html

Note these web sites have to err on the conservative, i.e., scary side. When they say "researchers believe/suspect" it means it has never happened.  The people who get HPS are usually those cleaning out an old barn or house which is infested by field mice; or living in a dwelling infested by field mice. Because web sites differ about whether you can get it from a bite, I have been trying to find data to suggest that this has ever happened to anyone.

So, as I said, if you want to get it tested, you can bring it to a vet. Otherwise, I would handle it if it let me, and not breathe from its dirty cage when I cleaned it.

Now that I have scared you..........



Second question, whether and how to keep it as a pet. I recommend keeping only happy wild mice as pets. That means, it does not spend its time trying to escape. It doesn't run and hide every time you approach the cage. It isn't depressed and doesn't stop eating.

Now it needs as large a cage as you can do. I would not give it less than a 30 gallon tank. These little mice have a natural territory of up to a mile. Give it everything you would give a normal mouse-- a standard mouse and rat seed mix, a WHEEL, a house, bedding, toys etc. Get a water bottle and try to coax it to use it by putting a tiny bit of butter on the tip of the ball. Once you see it drink from it, you can remove the bowl.

What do you do if it doesn't seem happy? Don't kill it!!! Bring it to a nice meadow or forest over a mile away from you, give it a little pile of seed and let it go.

last, how do you tell its sex? Well, grown up boy mice have testicles that stick out. This link will help you out:

http://www.thefunmouse.com/info/sexing.cfm