do mice have death rituals?

Question
My rotten cat caught a wild mouse the other day, I got the mouse off him but it died.  I saw where the cat had got the mouse so I placed the body back in that area.  I did this on the off chance that any friends/family of the mouse that came past could see that he was gone and say goodbye. 24 hrs later I came back to bury the mouse but the body was gone - completely. The area where I had left him was in thick bush and given that he was not moving I think it unlikely another cat or a bird got him. I guess a rat could have grabbed him for dinner but I am left wondering whether his loved ones collected him. Do you know anything about how wild mice react to death?

Answer
Hello,

Actually when a mouse dies, the very last thing its family would want is contact with it.  They rightfully fear either whatever disease killed another mouse or what its corpse might attract.  

Mice will actually remove the corpse from any location near the nest so it does not contaminate the nest.  So if the mouse was right by its nest, that would be why it was removed.

It also still smelled good to another animal, and so certainly could have become someone's dinner.  

It's a sweet idea, though!

squeaks,

Natasha

PS I removed your name so I could make the answer public.