Why did my mouse die? Overheating? Crusty eyes?

Question
Hi Natasha,

I don't know if you remember Snuffles, but she was the one who had the 8 little babies last December. The babies, now grown, have been living with Poptart, Sugarplum and our new baby Sparkles since their mama Snuffles died on June 2nd.

I, out of nowhere, just found Snuffles slumped over next to the giant wheel with crusty eyes and she was weak and kind of cold feeling. The thing is the room we keep them in is right next to our air conditioned one, and we think the aquarium got a little too warm. We have to keep them in that room though--it's a long story, we have only have one AC--but we checked the temp. and it was just around 74.

They ran out of water for a couple hours, but they had lots of food (I was sick with a cold and didn't know), so we immediately moved everyone into a wire cage to cool them down. Snuffles, on the other hand, got a small blanket which we put a chunk of strawberry on with a cracker to try and get food and hydration into her. We even got a damp paper towel for her to breath into, and it seemed to help, but it didn't. I finally put her into a smaller container with a small bed and the food. I let her say a last hello to her friends and babies because I knew she was beyond help. I set her right by the other girls after she saw Gingerbread and her sons, and I had to go to bed.

I went into school late the other day, but when I woke up she was still alive. That was around 11am... I got home at around 3pm and I knew what I'd find, so I didn't check on her... my mom grabbed her when I was watching tv (but I saw) and that was the last I had seen of the cage she was in.

We're seriously clueless. She was only 9 months old. Drop of temperature and not much movement--I see that in my mice when they're 1 and a 1/2 plus, but she was so young. The crusty eyes I had never seen...

Is there any way to figure out what happened to her? She showed no signs of slowing down.. was it the pregnancy that shortened her life?

Thanks,

Lydia

Answer
Dear Lydia,

I'm so sorry to hear about Snuffles.

If the temperature in the room was 75 degrees, it may have been warmer in the aquarium, due to lack of circulation and to body heat. My mice start to lie around on the top of the litter like melted butter at about 73 degrees. And mice do suffer terribly when they get too hot. However, that would not have affected a healthy mouse that much. Lack of water is also bad, but if it was less than a day, again, a healthy mouse should survive.

Mice get as varied illnesses as humans do. The problem is, they can't bring their complaints to the doctor and be diagnosed and treated. In fact, mice hide their illnesses until they are very sick. This is necessary for a prey animal. I'm not a vet, but I can imagine getting very sick with something that gave her crusty eyes-- a flu. Running out of water with the flu could be quite dangerous, because water washes toxins out of our systems.

As for getting cold, mice usually become cold before they die. Mice, being so small, have a huge amount of surface area-- which is where you lose your heat-- compared to their tiny amount of volume-- which is where they make the heat. That means it's really hard to maintain their body heat. You can see that they eat constantly; they need a lot of energy just to stay warm. When their system starts to shut down, it becomes less efficient and they cool down. When they are very sick, often it helps for us to keep them warm, so that they can use their energy to fight off the illness. In this case, temperature may not have been an issue, if it was actually too warm. She just wasn't going to survive. But just so you know, in the future, keep a sick mouse warm. I've saved a mouse's life several times simply by holding her in my hand all night long. The affection helps too.

The pregnancy had no effect. Mice are made to be baby machines!

Again, I'm so sorry about Snuffles. It's sad when they die young. RIP little Snuffles.

squeaks,

Natasha
<:3  )--~