orphaned wild rat or mouse

Question
Please help a desperate person!  Wanting to rehabitate and release in wild.  

Our beagle brought me a new friend Thursday night.  She has very strong prey instincts but does not intentionally kill them.  Only drops small animals at my feet.  So far it has only been birds but Thursday Aug 28 she brought me a baby rat or mouse.  

First how do I tell if it is a rat or mouse?  I could email a picture to you if it would help.

I didn't know what to do with it at first and put it in a box with a foam bottom and covered it with grass.  I really wasn't sure if it had been hurt internally and left it outside for a while.  We had storms coming in so I brought it inside.  Fortunately our dogs do not seem to know that it is in the house.

I got on the internet Friday to try to find out what to do and got a quick general idea.  I bought some kitten formula and baby bottle.

It took a while but I was finally able to get it to eat.  Although the first night its stomach looked distended and I could not get it to eliminate. I was holding with paper towels.

I finally came up with some soft felt type fabric (like baby blankets) to put it on.  That way it is easier to pick up and put down without touching it.  I also purchase the smallest (cat) stuffed animal I could find to put in there with it.  And I loosely wrap the ends of the blanket.  I use qtips and cotton squares to assist with elimination and stroke the fur, clean it, etc.  I tried to feed it every two hours but it was not interested.  It will eat about every 5 hours.

I have no idea how old it is.  It does have fur and I would say two to three inches.  Lil tail. ears are small, a lil smushed to the head, eyes are closed.  I noticed this evening (Aug 30) that it has one or two teeth coming in on top and bottom.  I have gotten it to suckle the nipple and it tries to clean itself after I wash it with a qtip.  

Is there urine thick or dk yellow.  I can not tell if it has diareah from the switch to formula or if it is urine.  The first night he had two lil pellet bm but none since.  How can I tell if it is urinating?

What is the best way to feed and clean the lil guy so it can be released into wild life?  I do not directly touch it with my hands but holding it in the blanket will that get it use to humans?  When his eyes open and I start weening him to food, how or do I need to teach it to search for food?

One last question, as mentioned above it is eating about every five hours but I will be at work next week and generally work 8-10 (sometimes more) hours a day.  Will this endanger its life in any way not to eat at a regular interval?  What if I would not wake up to feed it in the middle of the night?

I have gotten a little neurotic and fretted over the mouse/rat.  I do not want anything that I do to harm it or cause it any discomfort.  I did search the yard for a nest where the dogs appear to have found it but could not locate any remants of a nest.

I would like to give it the best chance of survival that I can when I release it.  I plan to take it down the river, away from rural areas.

Any help you can give me would be so greatly appreciated.  It has survived for 48 hours now.  It would be impossible for us to keep it with three dogs with strong prey instints.  If the other two had found it...It would be a constant life endangerment to keep it in this house.

I'm sorry this is so long but I wanted to give you as much background information as possible.  I am also not familiar with this website and am not for sure if I need to go to a certain location to look for a response or if you will email me.  I very fortuantely found this site while searching for orphaned mice/rat care.

Best regards,
Melania

Answer
It would help if you could send a picture of it.  It does sound like a baby rat.  It should open its eyes by next week if it is furred and you will beable to go to work.  You should feed it as much as you can before you go and put some hamster mix in with it as rats tend to eat as soon as their eyes open but it will need milk still.
When you get back from work feed it warm milk again.

I suggest you buy it a small platic tank and put blankets in it as the rat(?) will chew through cardboard and it will enter a stage known as the "Flea Stage".  It does not mean it has fleas!!!!!!!!! The rat at this stage is like a flea because it jumps really high and will be fast so you will need a lid on the tank.

I have hand reared rats, mice, rabbits, birds etc... I have released the birds but kept the others.  You could keep the rat.  My hand reared rat is very intelligent and every time I pick him up he licks me and goes to sleep on me.

REHABILITATION- if you want to release him/her

When your rat is eating fully you should go and put him in a big tank with a lid.  Fill the bottom with tree bark and add in wood, plantpots, plants and places to hide.  This will resemble places in the wild.

Make a hole in the wood big enough for a small water dish and put the dish into the wood and fill it with water.

Hide pieces of fruit around the cage along with some grain/hamster mix.  Avoid picking the rat up for about a month.  After a month put your hand in and try and pick up the rat.  If it struggles/squeals/tries to bite the it is rady to be released.

You could take it to a wildlife centre!

RELEASING SITES

Release the rat away from the city/town and into the country.  Woods or grassy areas near ponds/lakes/rivers are great.

You should put the rat into a box and open it and make sure the animal goes into covered areas.






If you want to keep your rat keep it like a normal pet.



PLEASE SEND A PICTURE TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS

animal_park2002@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks Lindsay