Found a young mouse

Question
Hi Mari, my boyfriend just found a young mouse in his home .. it's eyes are open and it's VERY active .. he bought a little terrarium type thing for her and wants to keep her as a pet .. My question is, should we take her to the vet maybe to make sure she is ok and disease-free? Is it ok to keep her as a pet? She seems very happy in her new habitat. Thanks Mari :)

-Jenn

Answer
Hi Jenn!

Unfortunately I have to say that wild mice should never be kept as pets - the reason why fancy mice from petstores are kept as such is because they've been handled and cared for by us for generations after generations. Wild mice are to fancy mice what wolves are to dogs. :-) Keeping a wild mouse in a terrarium will only result in high stress levels for the mouse. Hence there are also laws against keeping wild animals in most countries!

I would highly suggest you two to go by a local petstore and bring home a pack of three female mice instead. Fancy mice do make most excellent pets, and I'm sure they'd find a loving home from you! :-)