Baby Mouse Found

Question
Hi Natasha,
About 5 days ago, I found a baby mouse in our compost bin at school.  It had it's eyes barely open and was about an inch and a half long with brown fur.  It was sitting and not moving, obviously very scared, so I put him in a fish tank with bedding and took him home.  Since then I have been giving him cow milk, water and crackers/hamster food in little dishes.  He seems to be ok so far and mostly eats the crackers. He sleeps almost all day in his toilet roll and I only get brief glimpses of him. I have not been handling him as my plan was to return him to the outdoors once he was strong enough, however I am wondering what his chances of surviving are now that he has been "hand" fed.  I don't mind keeping him as a pet if he has little chance, however I would want to begin domesticating him if that's the case and am not sure how exactly to do that.  Any insight you have would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Sarah

Answer
Dear Sarah,

It's hard for me to know how old your little baby is. If he is only eating the crackers it may be that he wasn't quite old enough to be weaned yet. Try giving him some soft cheese or yogurt, and some vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, or cucumber.  

If he is old enough to have been running around by himself, he may not like being in a cage. Mice are nocturnal, so they are normally only or mostly active at night. You should observe to see if he tries to get out of the cage. If he spends all his time trying to get out of the cage, he should be set free in a week or so. He must have a wheel now in any case, because mice have a real need to stay active.

His chances of survival will be somewhat less than another mouse simply because he was sick and might be weak from that, besides that he may not have been old enough to be out on his own and didn't have his mom as an example growing up.  It's up to you if you want to keep him as a pet. Some mouse people swear that wildlife should be kept in the wild; others specialize in deer mice or other wild mice as pets.  As I said, my rule is how happy the mouse is.

If you want to keep him, you should try to socialize him right away. Depending on his age and level of trust due to being rescued, this could be easy or it could take a lot of patience.  If it's difficult, that may be reason enough to decide he will be happier on his own.

Start by putting your hand in the cage.  Don't try to grab him, just let it rest there. Eventually he will come and sniff it. Don't make any sudden movements. Once you have done that a few times, put something yummy on it such as a piece of buttered popcorn, buttered toast crumbs, bit of a Triscuit, or other good-smelling food. As he gets braver, put the food from the fingertips eventually to the palm, where he has to climb onto your hand. Make sure your fingertips don't smell good when the food is on your palm, or you might get a little nip. After a while, pick him your hand very gently when he is on it just for a moment and put it gently back down.  This will get him used to the motion of being picked up.

Another way to pick him up is to pick up his toilet paper roll and let him walk out of it onto your hand. You might want to do this the first few times in the (dry) bathtub so in case he jumps you will be able to catch him. To catch him if you need to, lure him into his toilet paper roll by having that be the only thing in the tub. He will want to go in it.

Once he is in your hand you can see if he prefers being in a cave made by your hands or if he likes to walk on your hand. You will get to know what he likes.

Best of luck and have fun!

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha