Why Is He Thrashing Around?

Question

I found a little baby mouse outside with his mother, dead, in my backyard. He was about one week old then. We took him in and are now feeding him power puppy formula that we mix and feed to him through an eyedropper, though lately we've tried syringes and bowls. We've been doing this for a couple days. My mother used an eyedropper to feed him before we went to bed, but when she placed him back in his 'nest' (a large box with a heating pad on low, a blanket on top of that, a small blanket, and a teddy bear) and he started thrashing his legs around. Usually when we take him out, feed him, and put him back, he'll stumble around, falling on his back often. But now he's stumbling a lot, falling on his back, and thrashing his legs. We've never seen him do this before. Also, when I went to check on him, he was twitching -- more often then usual. His legs were especially twitching. What's wrong with him? How can I stop this from happening? Please, only serious answers from those who've tried a method that works -- not just guessing. Thanks!

Answer 1

I can only say never use puppy formula, use kitten. Puppy has to much protein in it for rodents and to much protein can mess up the kidneys. He may have also been sick before you got him. I recently released a mouse into the wild that i almost ran over. that massive link is my video of the one i let go. I hope the little thing gets better.

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Answer 2

I don't really know what to tell you... I've raised a couple of mouse litters, and there are two "levels" of them being twitchy like this.

One might be that he was dying until recently, and when he was calm, he was actually lethargic. His current thrashing is actually normal for a baby mouse. How old is he, by the way?

And the other condition might be that he is acting up more because he is uncomfortable and trying to fend for himself. I once left a mouse under a heat lamp (regretably) and he began thrashing after wards. I thought it was because it was too hot, and he was trying to move somewhere else. Another time, I found a drenched wet baby thrashing until I dried him up, and then he calmed down. So maybe he is not comfy enough, maybe too hot? Try leaving your hand beside him for a few minutes to see if your hand feels too hot because sometimes heat pads act up randomly. Or maybe he needs to eliminate and his stomach bothering him?