[Alty]

Okay, you all have to promise not to judge me.


We have a mouse problem in our home, and despite what I want, Rod has set up snap traps. We also have humane traps, and most of the mice are caught in those and then transported to a new area many miles away. But a few fall victim to the snap traps.


Having said that, Rod reset the snap traps last night and in the wee hours of the morning I heard the snap. Rod took care of the body before he left for work because he knows I can't stomach it.


Later this afternoon Syd went into the kitchen to make herself a snack and came running to me. "Mommy, mommy, there's a baby mouse in the kitchen and I think it's dying". So I came to look. It's a newborn. Pretty sure mom was snapped in the trap last night.

Not a pinky, it has fur, but the eyes aren't yet open. At this point I had three options, a quick painless death via Rascal the border collie mouse killer, a quick but maybe not painless death by flushing down the toilet, or trying my best to raise the baby and keep it alive.


Ya, you, you, I chose the last option! Don't judge!


We named him GusGus, and he's doing pretty well. I've fed him milk and sugar twice now and he gulps it up, and is very active. Then, just 30 minutes ago, I decided to see if he had litter mates. I found one more. So now we have GusGus and Sofie. They've both been fed, and will be fed every 3 hours. I'll be setting my alarm tonight to do the feedings.


Thing is, I have no idea if what I'm doing is right or if they'll survive, or if I'm just making them suffer instead of just making it quick and painless. But I can't kill them. It's just not who I am. They're both active, as much as tiny little fingernail sized mice can be, and they're both strong.


They're in a box with torn up tissue, all snuggled in. Rod won't buy any supplies for them (actually, he agreed to buy evaporated milk for them tomorrow after work if they make it through the night), they're rodents that are invading our house and he's fine with me trying to save them, he won't hurt them, but he also won't spend any money to save them. Don't judge him either, please.


I've gotten great advice from a friend that has mice and has raised mice, but she's never hand raised them. I need all the help I can get. GusGus and Sofie need to live. If they do... nix that... when they do, positive thinking... they'll be kept as pets. I have a brand new aquarium set up for rodents that I bought for the gerbils, and then they passed away before they could use it. So when they live, they'll be cared for all their lives. I just need to make sure they live.


Please don't think I'm crazy. I'm really not. I just can't kill anything, especially adorable tiny baby mice, and really, they're adorable!

Any advice or help to keep them alive, is very much appreciated, because I have no farking idea what I'm doing, but I'm their only option.

[tickle]

I know you have a big heart and an exemplary need to care for animals but keep in mind that mice carry small risk of salmonella, intestinal bacteria that can be very harmful to anyone with a compromised immune system. God forbid if anyone should become ill in your household, then you would have to consider that.

Sorry Alty, I don't have any advice about caring for a critter that small.

[Wondergirl]

Have you searched the Internet for information about hand-raising baby mice? We had domestic mice (53 of them eventually...) before we had kids, but the mommas always were available.

http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-a-Baby-Wild-Mouse

http://www.thefunmouse.com/info/orphanedmice.cfm

Tick's warning is worth considering, btw.

[joypulv]

No advice. Just sympathy.
I get mice in my kitchen (except in extremely wintery years, strangely enough).
2 years ago I found a glue trap that the previous owner had left, and put it out.
A mouse ate a whole pile of potato peels and then, very fat, stepped on the trap.
I took it outside, turned it over, and tried to stomp it to death. It was so fat, my foot kept slipping off the bottom of the trap.
I started screaming and stomping, screaming and stomping.
Eventually it was dead.
I haven't been able to set a trap since. I do my best to lock up all food and clean every crumb.
I do find dead mice in my basement. Some are tiny, but have fur.
I don't think that I will ever kill a mouse again.

[Wondergirl]

My son has a Mason jar. When the cats bring up a live mouse from the basement (usually in autumn when the mice are looking for a warm place to winter), Daniel scoops up the mouse and takes it outside. He catches spiders and other insect critters and sets them loose outside to be wild and free again. He got really mad at me when I killed a little beetle recently, so now I name them, corral them, and call Daniel to remove them.

[tickle]

I hate to say this but in our garden years ago when I was growing up in the 40s; mice were not allowed anywhere. Too much dirt under counters. Too much headache for my mom because house was always open to the summer.

Baby birds she found, before the cat got them on the ground, where destined for the water bucket.

I have a huge garden and am diligent for baby birds out of the nest, but bucket is already before cats in the neighbourhood can find them, and we all know cats play with their food. Enough said. Sorry, that's how I feel.

[Alty]

Thanks everyone. By the end I found three of them, cared for them for 2 days, and they were doing well, or so I thought. Then suddenly, one by one, the died. :(

[tickle]

Alty, I am sad for you because you are so diligent but poor little things were doomed from the start.

[joypulv]

Just now found a half dead baby vole on my porch. Seems to have been bitten. I scooped him off to the grass. I can't kill him but should. So I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.

[tickle]

Just now found a half dead baby vole on my porch. Seems to have been bitten. I scooped him off to the grass. I can't kill him but should. So I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.

Get a bucket of water and hold him under. Brutal, no, humane yes.

[joypulv]

You're right.

[Alty]

I agree with Tickle Joy. It's quick and painless. They slip into unconsciousness very quickly. It takes seconds. It sounds harsh, it's not easy to do, but I've been there and had to do it before. I felt horrible about it, but in the end a quick painless death was a much better option than suffering for God knows how many days and dying anyway. :(

Now for me to learn that lesson. But the baby mice weren't injured, they were just orphaned. Still, I was told by everyone, even a person that raises mice, that my efforts would be in vain. Still, I had to try, and I'm glad I did. They had two days of comfort, warmth, love, and food. At least they didn't die cold and alone, starving to death. I gave them that much.

Sigh. I hate that I care so much about every living thing. It really sucks some times, especially when there's not much you can do to save them.

[joypulv]

I had a much more emotional experience recently (than stomping on the mouse) with a very old sick and starving cat wandering down the road, who I took home with me.
He had 2-3 good weeks with me, but couldn't eat enough and was incontinent. My vet put him down for free.
But on the way to the vet, this cat who couldn't even walk, managed to climb onto my arms on the steering wheel.
Then, this cat who had been a rag doll for weeks, struggled as the needle went in.
That wasn't the worst part - I decided I wanted a funeral pyre. I built a big fire over him in my driveway. It burned for hours, and I expected him to be reduced to ashes. But he was intact on the bottom, so I had to bury a half charred, half furry orange cat, and my soil is solid clay, so I had to bury him in my garden..
It's the visual memories.

I was different before. Now I can't even kill a spider, unless it's under the rim of the toilet.

But I still eat animals raised for food, so I'm just a hypocrite.