Keeping/releasing/feeding skinny orphan baby mouse

Question
I found a baby mouse and have been nursing it with eye dropper and kitten milk for a week and a day.  She is the cutest thing.  I am not sure if I should release her in the wild eventually.  She hasn't started eathing food yet.  I read somewhere online that handfed babies don't survive in the wild because their mother teaches them things to survive.  I don't want to set her free just so she is eaten right away.  Also, I have a lot of people complain she is dirty and diseased.  I think she is a beautiful miracle and love her.  Can wild mice carry diseases?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOcMo5QGYTo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya3I4w7xa3w
these are links to video of squeak

Answer
Dear Kristy,

Thanks for the videos! Squeak is a cutie... but she is way too skinny. She may be dehydrated, malnourished, or both. Do you feed her every two hours? Even every three isn't enough. Her mom nursed her every 30 minutes!

Can you get some Pedialyte or another electrolyte solution? This is my recommendation: The next feeding give her 90% Pedialyte/10% KMR. Then the next time 20% Pedialyte/80% KMR. Etc until you are at 50-50. Keep her at that level for a day and then after that use a 50-50 KMR/water mix (I am still learning, and didn't know this in many of my old posts). She should start looking fatter soon.

Even better is to make your own formula (still using the above procedure). An experienced orphan animal person I know makes this solution for mice. This is what she wrote to me:

***
6 oz. of goat's milk (not cow's milk) or soy milk
Goats milk is by far the best to use. Wall Mart sells it!

7 oz. sterilized water (baby water or boiled water)

1 raw egg yolk

1 cup of whole yogurt (avoid skim or fat free if at all possible)

1/2 Tsp Karo Syrup or Corn Syrup (NOT HONEY !!!)

Place ingredients in a blender and blend or use a wire whisk. Be careful to not over blend and create a milk shake full of bubbles
Keep cool and discard leftovers after 7 days.
Warm formula to body temperature. Discard any un-used formula

Beware though, this usually makes for VERY greedy baby animals when they know it's feeding time *usually the 2nd feeding* and they tend to get a lil over weight if kept on it for too long."
***

And for this little tyke, greedy and fat is good.

Also when you feed her, make sure she is absolutely full. When she refuses, wait five minutes and try again.

As to your questions : ))

I say keep her as a pet. She loves you, right? Hand-raised wild mice are extremely sweet, loyal, loving, and fun. And they live quite a bit longer than mice raised to be pets. She would have no idea how to survive outdoors. And no, she doesn't carry any diseases. The only disease you really have to worry about with wild mice is Hantavirus, which is only carried by deer mice. Hantavirus is extremely serious-- 1/3 of its victims have died (notably, this statistic includes all victims, ever, which means also before we knew what it was, or how to treat it). But mother mice do not pass it on to their pups. The way people get hantavirus from wild mice is by breathing in old feces and urine, such as cleaning out an old barn, or living in a truly deer-mouse-infested home. The first victims we knew of were people living in an extremely infested trailer home.

Basically, just like any other inside pet, she has no germs that you didn't give her. She doesn't go outside to get them, and germs don't spontaneously occur. This idea of mice and rats as dirty is completely wrong. These creatures are some of the cleanest creatures on this earth. Far cleaner than a dog or a cat. Your friends who say they are dirty should have their mouths washed out with soap-- since they have billions more germs in their mouths than your little mouse could be carrying! <:3  )--~

Keep me informed. I'm the only Natasha Millikan on FB if you want to friend me and meet my rodent kids (including mouse-sized rats). I'm guessing you post your videos of Squeak! Just tell me who you are. Anyways write back here to tell me what happens, even if she doesn't make it. I need to know what happens to these guys so I can learn.

Good luck to Squeak!

squeaks,

Natasha