He chose Life!!

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vluvski

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“He” is a mouse who had been evading our traps for over a week. We set up lethal traps and non-lethal traps; we’ll let him choose, I told my husband, whether he wants to live or die. Well, last night he dropped himself into our non-lethal trap.
Except HE is apparently a SHE, and SHE chose life in a big way. Not only did we find our target mouse, but a brand spanking new litter of blind, pink babies.

Now I know there are a few on here who are mice and rat pet owners. What in the world are we to do with a trash can full of a mama mouse with a fresh litter??
 
Oh, no! The last baby mouse/rat we found ended up at a PetCo where they said they would take care of it but it was a single baby - everyone in the family wanted to know what to do with it, I said give the momma a chance to find it, momma didn’t so 22 yo dd took it in and was feeding it with a syringe (she looked up on-line what to feed it) and asked how often she should fee it - well, at the very minimum every three hours - her reaction :bigyikes: so she did it and took it to work with her (she works at a Spencer’s) and one of her co-workers called her brother who worked at the local PetCo so that is how it ended up there.

So I guess my suggestion is call and see if they would be willing to take it in (our PetCo has an isolation area so the animals don’t share fleas or anything).

Brenda V.
 
Wow. You’re a lot nicer than me. I am not at all Franciscan when it comes to mice or rats. I don’t have any advice for you, but if it were me, Mama and babies would be taken to a field in the middle of the country and dropped off. I might give them a few meals worth of food. But NO WAY would I be contemplating providing a home! :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
Got a local school? Call the science teacher and see if they want them. My friend is having a bunch of quail eggs hatch and they are learning about babies and such. She also has had snakes, a hedgehog, rats etc… She teaches elementary and middle school kids.
 
Be careful if giving them as pets. Mice are a little unreliable on life issues and sometimes eat their young under stress. They may not make good class pets. :imsorry:
A pet store might buy them as food for other species. I know owners of reptiles and amphibians who go to the store to get live creatures to feed their own animals.
It’s sweet to see the babies but mice just break your heart.😦
 
Chronister4673 said:
Wow. You’re a lot nicer than me. I am not at all Franciscan when it comes to mice or rats. I don’t have any advice for you, but if it were me, Mama and babies would be taken to a field in the middle of the country and dropped off. I might give them a few meals worth of food. But NO WAY would I be contemplating providing a home! :eek: :eek: :eek:
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If it was summertime, no worries setting them loose, but those poor little babies in this cold?? I’m too nice, I know. We’ll just keep them until they have fur…
 
vluvski said:
If it was summertime, no worries setting them loose, but those poor little babies in this cold?? I’m too nice, I know. We’ll just keep them until they have fur…
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And then they’ll be so cute that you won’t want to let them go. :o

If it helps, I breed lab mice. We wean them at 3 weeks of age and they’re fine on their own at that point. Small, but fine.
 
SeekerJen said:
And then they’ll be so cute that you won’t want to let them go. :o

If it helps, I breed lab mice. We wean them at 3 weeks of age and they’re fine on their own at that point. Small, but fine.
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Thanks Jen.
Good news, sort of. Petco will take them off my hands at 4 weeks. I guess they’re mine for the time being. But you’re right. I’ll probably get attached in a month and end up with pets.
 
strngrnrth said:
Be careful if giving them as pets. Mice are a little unreliable on life issues and sometimes eat their young under stress.
(
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After careful behavioral observation, we have named mama mouse Cannibelle.:eek: Down to one pinky…
 
vluvski said:
After careful behavioral observation, we have named mama mouse Cannibelle.:eek: Down to one pinky…
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Oh, honey. Well, this is a lesson in the life of wild creatures. Cannibelle’s behavior is more like she is worried about survival so better to, well, ummm…

I see PetCo does this normally, I just thought it was weird when our little dessert rat ended up there 🤷
 
DH is a lot more upset about the situation than I am. He won’t let me talk about it. I’m just sort of laughing at the irony of the whole thing. I’m a “circle of life” type person- not in the new-agey sense- so it really doesn’t bother me even though I’m sad about those poor little babies.

I think being trapped in a trash can despite adequate food and water qualifies as “under duress.” She’ll go to petco as soon as she eats or raises the other baby.
 
Well, I’m somewhat relieved for you that Cannibelle was trapped before giving birth. Mice aren’t too picky about who they mate with and you might have ended up with a worse situation.

I HATE MICE!!! Yucky, yucky yucky!!!.:dts:
 
What about donating it to science? The National Institute of Health has many uses for mice. Just think, you could help an institution in need!
 
dakotagirl said:
What about donating it to science? The National Institute of Health has many uses for mice. Just think, you could help an institution in need!
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A good thought, but the mice used in research are a bred specifically for that purpose. They have to be as identical in nature as we can produce, so the results are repeatable and reliable. Plus, having seen what happens to those critters in labs, I’d say it would be kinder to drown them.

Personally, I’d let them go in a park and give the other animals something to feast on.

Paul
 
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