wild baby mouse wont wean

Question
QUESTION: Hello Natasha,

My boyfriend and I have been nursing a baby field mouse per your
instructions for the past week and a half. He started opening his eyes on
Sunday and they are still only partially open today, Thursday. He is drinking
milk on his own (from the crevices of our hands and from a bottle cap) and
starting to eat applesauce and yogurt from a tiny spoon. He is doing the
nibbling you described in many of your other posts when he's eating from
our hands, and you can actually see that he is indeed a male. He's making his
way around his little cage, quite clumsily, but he prefers to stay on his
heating pad in an empty toilet paper tube.

He's a pretty messy eater (and pooper!) and gets his entire face caked with
whatever he's eating, so we have to pretty much bathe him after every time he
eats. We do this with a warm, wet paper towel, or- if he's super icky, we
bathe him in a container filled with a centimeter of warm water. He tolerates
all this quite well. I mention this because sometimes he gets food around his
eyes, which we promptly wipe off...

He doesn't seem frightened by us like you described in the "flea stage," even
though his eyes are partially open.

Anyway, my concern is that his eyes are taking this long to open. I've looked
and looked, and I cannot find any information as to how long the PROCESS of
the eyes opening takes for a field mouse like him.

Thank you in advance for your time and council,
Kristi

ANSWER: Dear Kristi,

It's ok if he doesn't hop yet.  He will probably do so once his legs get really strong in a week or so.  Many hand-fed mice also just get tame enough through handling not to ever be jumpy.  

Sometimes it takes a couple of days for their eyes to fully open.  You can be pretty sure it's going to happen sooner or later.  Because you are bathing him (which I never recommend, but you are obviously having success with it), you  know they are not stuck together.  There's nothing more you can do, but he's obviously doing fine, so no worries.

squeaks n giggles,

Natasha

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

QUESTION: Thank you Natasha. You have been very helpful...

His eyes are finally fully open. It took a week and a half!

I guess we have a new problem... How the heck do I wean this little guy? The
baths have to continue because the formula makes his stool loose and it
cakes up all over his bottom. I have tried some animal crackers, cheetos and
now I have peanut butter in there along with his little bottle cap of kitten
formula and he only goes for the formula!

Am I offering him the wrong things? Why is he completely uninterested in
other foods?

Thank you again for your help!
Kristi

Answer
Dear Kristi,

Mice can nurse up to 4 weeks of age.  Assuming he started opening his eyes too early (rather than finished 1 1/2 weeks late), maybe he is not even yet 3 weeks old?  

Please don't give him Cheetos!  No junk food for mice.   Their bodies just aren't made for it.  Animal crackers are too sweet, too.  Regular crackers are good, crispbreads, various seeds, a little bit of nuts, untreated popcorn, dry bread (again, a healthy kind), etc.  You'll want to get mouse food from the pet store soon anyway, so you might as well put that in as soon as possible.  A week from now just take the formula out.  If you want to carefully monitor to make sure he is eating, just put a limited number (count!) of seeds from the mouse mix on a little plate.  

Let me know what happens!

Squeaks n giggles,

Natasha