I Found a Baby Mouse What Should I Do
If you find a baby mouse that has been orphaned it will need attention quickly. You will only have a few hours to provide some care and ensure the baby mouse is going to survive. But don’t panic, there is a lot you can do and staying calm is going to make it a lot easier.
Firstly, remember that each situation is going to be a little different. I actually have some experience with caring for young orphaned mice, and I will share everything I did here.
Nourishment and Hydration
The first thing you need to do is safely get the mouse somewhere dry and comfortable. Then you will need to provide some nourishment and hydration as it no longer has a mother to do this.
There are a couple of products you can use. Kitten formula or Pedialyte are two options that work well. You will also need a small syringe to be able to feed the little one. It can be a little nerve-racking first feeding a little defenseless animal, but it’s vital you do it and get it right.
The baby mouse will not always take the fluid at first. It will be new to them and as you can appreciate, feeling and tasting different will come as a shock. But stick with it and the mouse will take to the fluid.
Goat’s milk and soy based human formula is also fine. I have known people to find success with these fluids. If the mice doesn’t seem to be taking one type of nourishment, there are some other options to consider here.
What Not to Feed a Baby Mouse
It’s tempting to try and feed a mouse a little bit of cows milk. You should never feed them cow’s milk however, it’s difficult to digest.
How Often Should I Feed a Baby Mouse
This is an important but tricky part of caring for an orphaned mouse. You need to try and establish how old the mouse it first. Take measurements and see if the eyes are fully open to help you ballpark how old it may be.
If the mouse has its eyes open it’s at least two weeks old. They will require feeding every 3-4 hours. You can monitor how well they are taking the food and how healthy they look to determine if you need to increase or decrease the feeding.
An a rough guideline mice should be eating around .5cc’s per body-weight of milk each feeding session. Again, use some common sense based on how well it’s going to see if you need to increase or decrease the amount.
Mice that are 3 weeks old will start to care for itself if you make the milk or formula available. They will be starting to be mobile and moving around, but will see need a close eye and some special attention.
It’s an amazing site seeing a mouse being healthy and happy after you saved them. Just give them time and attention and you will not only form a bond with the mouse, you will feel satisfied that you have done an extraordinarily good deed.
About The Author
Phil
I have kept pet mice for a number of years and always had a fascination with these interesting, fun little creatures. I'm always looking for new and interesting mice related information and will always help other mice owners where possible.
You say they should eat .5 cc of their body weight, though what measurement are you using. I have weighed ours in grams. So a 4 gram mouse (fuzzy) with its eyes closed should eat 2cc of milk every other hour?
Hello stuckwithmice,
What the blogger did not indicate is to use the SI units of weights (kg). If its 4gs in kg it will be 0.004kg times 0.5cc. That’s how much to give.
My cat killed a field mouse today and left it on my front porch. There were two infant babies amongst the carnage breathing and moving thier mouths and arms. They came
from inside the mother’s body. They are pink with eyes closed and tiny lying next to one another. They look like they are attached to each other but it is hard to tell. It has been about an hour and they are still alive. What should I do ???? what do I put them in??? Any help would be appreciated.