four abandoned newborn wild rats

Question
My husband,kids and I were camping over fathers day weekend and we found four newborn rats under the hood & back by the gas tank of our 1-ton dodge pick-up. My husband rescued the rats. we think they might be around two weeks old because, they have their hair but don't have their eyes open yet. My son has had pet rats before, that were given to us from a breeder. they were a mother & daughter pair, he loved them, but they died from a tumor.Can I try to keep these for my kids? they don't seem to mind being held. I know they are wild, what is the chance that they could be tamed at such a young age?  What chance do they have to carry diseases?Do you think I could get them shots like pet stores do? I have been feeding them can milk with vitamin D, Is there anything else you could recommend? My family & I live in a small town called Eureka Montana, so, sometimes we are limited on supplies here. Thanks,  Jennifer

Answer
Hi

For starters, stop the cows milk. This can kill them. THey cannot digest it. Uze soy milk or infants soy formula.

Diseases, no, it most case wild mice or rats from the field do not carry anything that is pathogenic to humans. As for shots, rats dont get any type of vaccine or shot from the vet nor a pet store. They do not get a vaccine for rabies like ferrets do, so dont worry about getting shots they do not need anyhow. As for taming them this early, the earlier you handle them, the better it will be socially for them. In fact, with our domesticated babies, we hold them from the day they are born in order to get them used to human touch. The more handling the better they will be socially. Bad news is, its super hard to keep pups this age alive. It takes extreme dedication to do it, from constantly checking their temps keeping them warm since there is no mother rat to sit on them, feeding every 2 to 3 hours the proper nourishment, getting them to go to the bathroom after meals if they arent on their own..lots and lots of things to remember to do for them.

Here is the perfect site to use to follow on how to care for tiny  rat pups that have not opened their eyes yet:

http://www.ratfanclub.org/orphans.html