2 Day old abandoned Pinkys

Question
My mouse recently had babies and she has since eaten 2 of them. My little sister saved another she was carrying in her mouth. i dont know what to do now. I have them in a folded sock so its like a little burrow sort of and a heated blanket (they are in a container of bedding and news paper) i have a seringe but its late at night and dont have any substitute food.

Answer
Mice eat their babies due to illness of the mother or babies, inadequate milk supply, or stress. You may want to limit her stress as much as possible. Cover her cage with a towel if need be, and keep her in a dimly lit quiet room. Avoid handling her and the babies until she has settled down. If this is her first litter she may be stressed from her new adventures in parenthood. The babies really need their mother, so it would be best to try and keep them with her. If she is running around with babies in her mouth she is most likely trying to move her nest. They pick their babies up in their mouth to move them. If she is running around the cage with them in her mouth though she is probably frantic and thinks her babies are in danger. Try to leave her be for a bit.

You can try locating another nursing mother. If you do find a mouse to nurse this baby you want to be extremely careful when introducing the babies to her. She should have her own litter, close to the age of the orphaned mice. When acclimating a new baby to a surrogate mom I remove the mother's babies and apply a drop of vanilla extract to their head. I also place a drop on the mothers head, and one on the new baby. Replace the babies when the mom is out of the cage. Wait about ten minutes than place the mom back in the tank. This way all mice smell the same. Again, you need to be extremely careful. You will need to be there to watch how the new mom and baby get along. A full grown mouse can kill a baby in seconds. You will need to be ready to remove the babies if there are any signs of aggression.

If you would like to give it a shot at rearing the little ones yourself you will have a lot of work cut out for you. Young babies need to be fed about every 2-4 hours until their eyes open. Once their eyes are open you can space feeding out to every 4 hours. I feed my babies a combination of soy baby formula and possum milk replacer/Wombaroo milk replacer. This is a specially made formula used by zoos to feed possums, squirrels, rats, wombats etc. It is absolutely great! You can check with your local pet store to see if they carry it, or you can purchase it online. It also makes for a great supplement when sprinkled on food once the babies start to eat on their own. I feed all my orphans with a q-tip dipped in the formula. You can pull a little piece of cotton away from the q-tip to form a "nipple" for the babies to suck on. Make sure they don't take in more than they can handle. They can get sick if they aspirate formula into their lungs. You will need to make sure the babies stays warm, with either a hot water bottle of under tank heater. You can find under tank heaters in the reptile section at any pet supply store, or a human heating pad works just as well. Just make sure the babies have enough room to move away from the heat source should he get too hot. If you are going to use a hot water bottle, make sure the temperature isn't too hot. Babies can overheat easily and if the water bottle is too hot it can also cause burns.

You will need to make sure the babies are eliminating. You can use a cotton ball soaked in warm water to rub the babies genital area. This should cause him to poop and pee. =] Watch out though, because sometimes they don't need encouragement, lol.

Once the babies open their eyes they usually begin to sample food. Scrambled eggs, cheerios, rice infant cereal, and oats make first good foods to nibble on. You will also want to check for dehydration. You can pull up on the scruff of their neck. If the skin takes awhile to go back down he may be dehydrated and may require subcutaneous fluids from a vet. You can buy some nutrical to use if the baby isn't eating well. Just place a small amount on his lips so he can lick it up. It is a vitamin and mineral supplement.

Good luck!