feeding baby mouse

Question
QUESTION: Hi :) I found a baby mouse on my basement floor today and after waiting a couple hours for mom to return with no luck, I decided I would try to take care of him the best I could. Not sure how old he is- he weighs 5 ounces and is covered in fine grey fur, his eyes are still closed.

The problem is I'm having a really hard time getting him to eat. I've been feeding him powdered baby formula (soy)- 4 parts water to 1 part formula- from a small syringe (.5 ml) and I also tried using a small paint brush, but he doesn't seem to want either. I've tried feeding him 3 times so far in the past 7 hours and each time he turns away from it. All he seems to want to do is sleep and i'm afraid I'll stress him out even more if I keep shoving things in his face... but I know he has to eat so I'm kind of torn as to what I should be doing to encourage it. Any tips you have would be great.
Also he's pooped twice so far on his own (it's yellow- is that normal?) do I still have to rub his belly after he eats?
Thanks for your help!

ANSWER: Dear Sarah,

I am guessing you mean it weighs 5 grams, not ounces. If it weighs 5 ounces you have the wrong species (maybe a beaver? lol)! It can take a while for the baby to figure out how to eat and to get used to the formula. You have to keep trying. If you can't get any in it at all, you should keep trying every hour. Once it begins to eat, it must be fed every two hours around the clock. Its mom fed it every 30 minutes.

Perhaps even easier than a paintbrush would be the tiny corner of a clean cloth. It is also easier to create a constant flow that the baby can control itself. And you might want to try the recipe I have described in the following post. A friend of mine who is very experienced in raising all sorts of critters by bottle told me about a recipe that she says her babies love and thrive on. This is what I wrote to someone the other day:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mice-3824/2011/7/keeping-releasing-feeding-skinny.htm

If it has pooped on its own it is probably pretty good, but a little massage with your fingers on its whole body helps its circulation in general, so you should still do a bit of that. As for the color... human baby poop comes in some pretty weird and gross colors, so I'm not surprised.

If you have any questions which I haven't answered, let me know.

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha
<:3  )--~

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

QUESTION: Thanks for the info- all of your answers have helped me so much :) Yes, I meant grams- he's definitely not a beaver lol! He's still hanging in there. After some trial and error I ended up adding a little piece of plastic piping from a spray bottle to the tip of the syringe and it made it the perfect size for him. I wish I could say he's doing great now but after going so long without eating much he's very dehydrated and he's been having diarrhea, I'm assuming from the formula because his poop was normal on the first day. This afternoon I started giving him pedialyte mixed with a tiny bit of formula(90/10)and he's been eating so much better, 1-2 ml every 2 hours. Is there anything else I should be doing to help with the dehydration and diarrhea? Should I just give him straight up pedialyte and completely nix the formula? I thought I read in one of your previous answers that pedialyte alone was ok, but maybe I'm getting things mixed up... I'd hate to make things worse for him. Also how long does it typically take for the effects of dehydration to turn around- he looks so pathetic, I feel terrible. I'm hoping it's not too late for him. Sorry if these are repeat questions, I've been combing through all the q&a's but I haven't come across this yet. Thanks :)

Answer
Dear Sarah,

First please forgive the brevity of this answer and any strange typos. My internet service is out and I am on my Droid.

I'm glad it decided to eat.  It does need some formula in with the pedialyte because it does need calories. But you can stay at a half watered down (wit pedialyte ) solution for a day. Once it refuses to eat more during a meal give it another 5 minutes to relax then try again.

The diarrhea may simply be because of stress and the new diet and go away soon. If it still has it in a couple of days when it is on solid formula try putting a tiny bit of very mashed banana in its formula. You can also soak cooked white rice in formula or pedialyte and see if it will eat it. I don't know how long it will take for it to look better but I highly recommend the home made formula recipe in the link from last time
My friend says it makes them greedy and fat, and that's exactly what you want.

Please don't be upset with yourself if it doesn't make it. I have seen estimates of 25-50% survival, though I would like to think it is better than that; certainly your fellow has a lot better chance than a pinky would. This is why I try so hard to get people to keep me updated no matter what happens because I want to know what works and how many survive.

I hope I have helped. Keep me posted.

Squeaks,
Natasha