mouse in glue trap

Question
I found a baby mouse (about the length of my pinky) stuck in a glue trap behind the radiator of my apartment.  I was horrified.  His legs and half his body were stuck to it, as was part of his face.  After about 30 minutes of using warm, soapy water I was able to free him. I let him go in a pizza box, where he ran around, but I soon realized everything was going to stick to him. I tried to wash him off, but at one point he kind of keeled over.  I thought I was making things worse, so I put him back in the pizza box with some paper towel and cotton balls and cheese.  He laid there on his side with his legs in the air all night. I didn't think he was going to make it, but in the morning he was up and about. He disappeared for the day, so I figured he must be doing better. I took the pizza box out from behind the radiator, as I didn't want to encourage him to build a nest there.  He returned in the evening, scurrying out from behind the radiator, and into the middle of the room, where he curled up sat next to the leg of a rocking chair and closed his eyes. His back was moving as if he was breathing heavily. I gave him some water and cheese, but he had no interest in it.  I was worried that maybe he couldn't open his mouth because of the glue, so I tried to gently dissolve it using warm water.  He wasn't afraid of me, but eventually he just wanted to hide in the paper towel and close his eyes, which I now feel guilty for not letting him do. When I put him back in the pizza box, he tried to run out and as he did he started convulsing, like he didn't have control of his body and then he died. I'm so afraid I killed him, and I want to know what happened.

Answer
Dear j,

What a horrible, sad story!  The odds were against the mouse from the beginning.  First, if he was only the size of your pinky, he should not have been out alone.  He was probably  not weaned yet and still needed his mom's milk.  Even if he had found his way back to his mom, she probably would have rejected him as smelling terrible and perhaps infecting the rest of the nest.  So he might have died of malnutrition.  Second, the glue in the glue trap is poisonous, and mice are very susceptible to poison.  His death sounds compatible with poisoning.  Third, any catastrophe like this has an awful effect on the mouse's immune system; mice can be killed by stress and shock.  

Thus I applaud your efforts and wish to reassure you that you did the best you could.  All I can say is next time find and dispose of the glue traps before the mice get stuck on them.

squeaks,

Natasha