Posted by Anonymous on May 29, 2005

Q: Hi!

About 8 months ago, my daughter picked up 2 mice the cats were playing with in the house. They were obviously quite young. We put them in a cage. Eventually, they began to run on the wheel, come out of their house when we talked to them, and let me catch them to clean their cage. Then yesterday, I discovered 2 babies. They must be pretty new. They're still blind, but have a soft fuzz on them.

Have you ever heard of anyone keeping field mice? My daughter just didn't want the cats to kill them. We've had domestic mice as pets before so I still had a cage. They actually seem quite content. I can put my hand in the cage and they don't run away. Sometimes they even let me stroke their fur.

Any suggestions about the babies?

One more weird thing - we've had mice in the house over the years. About 2 weeks ago, I went to feed them and there was a 3rd mouse in the cage. It was smaller than the 2 I already had, a little more high strung, and too big to be a new baby (I had just cleaned the cage the week before). This mouse also let me pick it up to clean the cage.

Is this weird and am I nuts to care about these little creatures? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

A: Although I don't advocate catching wild animals for pets, I think what your daughter did was reasonable. Raising a native animal allows you to learn so much more about that species than would otherwise be possible and it gives you a whole new perspective that others, who have not had this experience, will ever have.

No, I haven't heard of people keeping field mice for anything other than scientific study but I see no reason why you can't do so. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to learn a great deal about this animal. You might want to get a field guide to mammals and see if you can determine exactly which mouse species you have. This will provide you with some additional information you can use to learn a bit more about the mouse. Obviously, you had a male and female. Let the mother care for the babies until they're weaned and then you can probably release them. You'll want to release them into appropriate habitat so they can survive. Maybe you already know where your cats caught them and can release them there.

As to your third mouse, I can't imagine that another mouse gained access to your cage - I think it must be a baby you never saw. Mice can have babies about every 6 weeks so think back whether this is a possibility. One thing to keep in mind, the mother will do best with her babies if all is kept quiet without much disturbance. If she accepts you and/or your hand, great but be sure not to upset her. Mice in captivity will sometimes kill their own young in a stressful situation. Don't want to scare you, just a gentle caution.

Sounds like you're doing just fine for your mice and I wish you well. I would like to suggest that you keep your cats in the house though or they'll certainly find other animals to "play with". Thanks for your interesting questions.

John Wiessinger ( May 30, 2005)