About Jess Expertise I can answer questions about most species of rodents. I will answer any questions about health, husbandry and welfare. I can also give advise about behaviour problems, how to overcome these and ways of enriching the life of your pet. I can help with those wanting advice about house rabbits.
Experience I have experience with rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, gerbils, hamsters and chincillas.
Education/Credentials I am qualified in animal management, I work as a veterinary nurse.
Question We recently found a nest of baby mice on a construction site.They are smaller than a pinkie, pink, and there eyes arent open yet.We dont want them to die, but we dont know how to take care of them. We put them in a box with some hay/grass and we set them in there. We need to know what to feed them and how they get water and stuff like that. Any information would be helpful. Thank You
Answer Since the mice are only days old, they need milk. They can't be fed normal cows milk as they can't tolerate it and will probably get a stomach upset and die, you will need to get a substitute milk from a vet and feed it to them using a dropper or syringe. This is very complicated as the milk can easily go into their lungs and kill them. If the milk isn't made up properly (it will be a powder that you have to add water too) then it may be too thick and this can also kill them. If you could find a wildlife rehabilitation centre with experience of rearing orphaned wildlife then that would be their best chance. The problem is that rearing something so tiny when you have no experience probably won't be successful as there's so many things that can go wrong. If you do end up keeping them, then maybe a vet could demonstrate how to feed them. Feeding with a syringe isn't a good option as its would be hard to get one small enough, it could damage their mouths, air usually gets into their stomach and too much milk goes in too fast and it ends up in the lungs. I don't know if they make droppers small enough to feed them but you could try. They would need feeding at least every hour and stimulated to go to the toilet by rubbing their bottoms. They need to be gently massaged incase they have wind. They are very demanding. Its important to keep them warm but that's hard to do as most heat sources like mats or hot water bottles will burn them if they have no fur. To be honest without their mother's milk they don't really have a high chance of survival. Perhaps a wildlife centre would be able to find them a foster mother. Try to find a wildlife centre that will take them if possible. Good luck
