Since it’s been a while, if you want to catch up on my never-ending mouse sagas:
This past May I posted this on Facebook:
To summarize, the Mouse Dad escaped his cage while I had the door open [leapt right out past my hand], and ran downstairs and under the fridge. That made me realize that after 18 months he might not want to be a caged mouse any longer. After recapturing him, I put his cage out in the yard and he was gone the next morning. I left the cage outside for almost 2 weeks but he never came back sigh. After that, I made the very hard decision [for me] to put the Mouse Baby’s cage outside. He was gone the next morning and never came back either. I still miss him. We had the best [mostly one sided] late night talks:
This is the last picture I have of the Mouse Baby, from April 1st, 2021:
I hope he fathered 1,000 mice and became the Mouse King of Ipswich.
On May 30th I caught a new mouse in the basement. Her tail was broken from when the humane trap slammed shut on it 🙁 I put her in the Mouse Baby’s old [cleaned] hamster cage to let her recuperate:
Two days later she produced 5 little gifts:
June 2nd:
June 7th:
June 8th:
June 9th:
So cute…:
When the babies were 3 weeks old their eyes opened. When they were 4 weeks old they started squishing through the bars of the hamster cage and wreaking havoc in the girl cave. That’s when I made a 90-quart bin cage for them, to keep them ALL IN ONE PLACE. It worked great! 2 weeks later, when the babies were 6 weeks old, I released them with their mom into a field near our house.
On August 9th I trapped another mouse who was very obviously pregnant and about to burst. I put her in a hamster cage in the girl cave.
August 16th [about 1 week old]:
I was planning to move her and her babies into the large bin cage, but before I could, she escaped and took all her babies with her. I haven’t seen them since… it really blows my mind how she got out and where she went… I set humane traps all over the house for the past 3 weeks and caught nothing. I have to assume she took them down the heater pipes into the basement…
Your mouse posts keep me entertained. I am trying to reconnect to my blog, but I am having trouble! Maybe soon…
I hope you can connect and edit and post! I miss your posts and updates.
Wow – maybe the word is spreading that you’re the best deal in town! But as I said on FB, you should consider finding a way to put a (humane, obviously) mark on each one, so when they return, you’ll know you’ve taken care of them before.
It would be hard to mark a mouse… they’re very fast and very skittish. and can leap faster and higher than seems possible.
This is an amazing story! Do baby mice nurse, or do you have to provide food? Good thing you have lots of experience being a rat mama! How long a life span do they have?
Yes, baby mice nurse for about 3 weeks until their eyes open. Then it’s a mix of nursing and eating seeds and fruit and stuff. At 4 weeks the mom separates herself from them and they eat and drink all on their own. Wild mice can live up to 8 years in captivity!!! which is amazing since pet rats only live up to 2.
What a never-ending adventure – one family out; another family-to-be in. Your cats must just shrug their cat shoulders, and say here we go again!
i believe the 5 baby mice i’ve caught since yesterday (in the basement) are the 5 that the mom escaped with 3 weeks ago. the ones i’ve caught are all the same age, about 4 weeks. either a SUPER coincidence, or she brought them straight down the pipes to the basement like i figured. a couple are a little rough looking. in a couple weeks they should all be fat and happy and ready for release. i can’t imagine how much work it was for a momma mouse to carry all 5 babies, one by one, down 2 stories of pipes to the basement and back up. and now they’re back in the girl cave, in the bin cage!