Hand raised deer mouse behavior

Question
QUESTION: My mother in law recently found a baby deer mouse and brought it home.  I raised him, feeding him milk from a syringe until he was no longer interested and preferred solid food.  He loved being held and would hop in my hand while feeding- it was actually kind of difficult to get him off of my hand- he just didn't want to be left alone.
Now to my question- since he is a lot bigger now and active- I don't feel comfortable holding him at all.  He will just jump towards the door when opened and I'm afraid he would get away from me.  Because he is no longer handled he seems to be aggressive when I approach the cage. Also seems to slam his tail down making a noise like hes angry when I am just near him, feeding him, changing his bedding, and cleaning the cage.  Is this a nervous twitch, or is he in a sense warning me that hes not happy?

ANSWER: Dear Kristin,

I am trying to put together what happened. So he was hand raised and loved to be held. When did you stop holding him? Was it right away when he got jumpy after his eyes opened? Or later? How old is he, and how old was he when you stopped holding him? How long have you been not handling him?

The tail rattling is indeed a sign that he is unhappy- he is aggressive, or protecting his territory.

I'd like to know more so I can help. Can you either write back or friend me on Facebook? I'd also like to understand the situation myself for future questioners.

I will give you more advice when you write back, but I want to mention how to handle a shy mouse. To take him out of the cage, give him a toilet paper roll in the cage. Then when you want to hold him after he gets used to it, encourage him to go in it and then  put your hand on the two sides and pick it up. To hold a jumpy mouse, hold the mouse on the palm of one hand, holding gently but firmly to the base of his tail by his rump. Keep your hand closed at first and open it slowly.

Write back!

Squeaks,

Natasha



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------


baby mouse   QUESTION: Hi Natasha.  Ok..my mother in law brought him home on June 23.  He already had his eyes open, but not sure how old he was.  I've attached a picture to show how he loved being handled.  He was so cute- just crawled up my arm and fell asleep.  I always felt so guilty when I had to leave him.  I'd have to get him down to my hand and open my fingers trying to gently get him off.  I had to go out of town overnight the last day of July.  I left my 5 yr old daughter with my husband at home.  (My mother in law fed him)  Now, I'm not sure what happened but I know my husband allowed our daughter to be around the mouse unattended. (Not to take him out and hold him or open the door)  I witnessed her tapping on the cage on a couple of different occassions and quickly corrected her.  So, I'm not sure if she just scared the poor guy so much or what but that is when it all changed. I havent been able to hold him since. I'm just hoping we can have a nice sweet mouse again.  Or will he never trust us?

Answer
Dear Kristin,

Thanks for the explanation. Something happened when you were gone. Something happened to spook the little guy. Poor little thing. Sometimes a mouse changes personality after a trauma and never gets over it. Basically they get PTSD. But my hope is you can retame the little fellow.

I wrote out a very detailed set of instructions in this post:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mice-3824/2011/7/frightened-mouse.htm

My hope is that it will go quickly.  Hand-raised wild mice can make fantastic pets. I have never had one, but people tell me they are extremely loyal. They also live quite a bit longer than mice raised for pets.

I really wish you luck.

squeaks,

Natasha
<:3  )--~