HELP FOUND BABY DEER MICE WHAT DO I FEED THEM?

Question

i found a mother deer mouse and her 4 babies. i had them in a tank for 2 days then i just went to look at them and the mother was gone. i dont want the babies to die so what do i give them? like idk if i should use regular milk or what? please help i cant find anything online

Answer 1

This is not going to be a popular answer, but your realize that deer mice carry hantavirus, right?  If you contract hantavirus, the death rate is huge.  You have a one in three change of dying.

Get rid of the babies, and set a trap to kill and dispose of the mother, now that she is loose in your house.

Deer mice are adorable....hantavirus is NOTHING to mess around with.  You wouldn't bring a rabid animal into your home.  Don't bring an animal that carries hantavirus into your home.

Here's a link to information about hantavirus:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta...

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

P.S. If you get sick with any cold/flu symptoms while you have those deer mice, or in the near future if you get rid of them, you MUST go to a doctor, and you MUST tell him you have been keeping deer mice.  The doctors will only have a very short window of time to save your life.  If they don't know about the deer mice, they might treat it like a normal cold/flu.  Hantavirus kills fast....less than 24 hours for some people.

Answer 2

No regular milk!  Depends how old they are.  At about 20 days they can eat oats, cheerios, and almonds. Have a little bowl of water.  I heard people give it puppy formula.  You can find out at a pet store, maybe they have a better suggestion.  I know you can't give regular (cow) milk to bunnies, so do not try it on the mice.   I'm sure the pet store can help you, they probably carry formula for hampster and pet mice.  Maybe if the mom left it's because they are old enough to eat solids and don't need her milk any longer.  Try some oats and plain cheerios.  Then you can try almonds, cucumber slice.

I also found a link for you.  It does talk about possible illness that they carry and affects humans.  I know they are so cute it's hard to let them go but you may want to be aware of some things.  The link is below.  Good luck.