4 replies to this topic

[lil BIG dwarf]

Hi. So I think I’m looking for general advice, opinions, or criticism on what happened. WARNING ahead, this story mentions mouse traps, and I know some people are sensitive about these things.

I was chilling with my parents when we heard a noise. We assumed it was the ice maker, but on further inspection it was a mouse. Stuck in a trap. By the head. It was still moving. My mom wanted to let our dog go at him. My brother said one of us should take it into the woods and let something eat it (I’ll add its fluctuating between 10 and 20F, sometimes lower, and we’ve heard coyotes and owls a lot recently). I put on some gloves and took it outside, fully expecting it to be Injured.

I wanted to keep it (either as a pet or to nurse it back to health) and take it to the vet, but my parents said no over and over. So I took it outside and let it out into my hand. And-it was fine. I mean, it groomed itself in my (gloved) hand, but I let it lightly. It seemed super young, and based on photos on google it was 3 or 3 weeks. But it seemed relatively healthy from what I could see. For maybe 5 minutes it climbed around my hands and groomed itself. I put it down on the ground just to see, and it limped a little but seems alright. It jumped super high, so maybe it was a hopper? I planned on picking it back up and asking my parents again now that it seemed not super injuried (I still would have seen a vet though), but it jumped out of my hand everytime, back into a hole going into our garage :/ (which my parents are NOT happy about)

This means it can be trapped again, and my parents have been dragging their heels about trading to an electronic, pain free, more efficient (and dog safe) mouse trap for 3 years. What could I have done differently? What if it happens again? Is it my fault? Should I have put it in the woods so it didn’t come back?

Edited by lil BIG dwarf, 09 January 2022 - 12:44 AM.

[Kikya]

Hi. So I think I’m looking for general advice, opinions, or criticism on what happened. WARNING ahead, this story mentions mouse traps, and I know some people are sensitive about these things.

I was chilling with my parents when we heard a noise. We assumed it was the ice maker, but on further inspection it was a mouse. Stuck in a trap. By the head. It was still moving. My mom wanted to let our dog go at him. My brother said one of us should take it into the woods and let something eat it (I’ll add its fluctuating between 10 and 20F, sometimes lower, and we’ve heard coyotes and owls a lot recently). I put on some gloves and took it outside, fully expecting it to be Injured.

I wanted to keep it (either as a pet or to nurse it back to health) and take it to the vet, but my parents said no over and over. So I took it outside and let it out into my hand. And-it was fine. I mean, it groomed itself in my (gloved) hand, but I let it lightly. It seemed super young, and based on photos on google it was 3 or 3 weeks. But it seemed relatively healthy from what I could see. For maybe 5 minutes it climbed around my hands and groomed itself. I put it down on the ground just to see, and it limped a little but seems alright. It jumped super high, so maybe it was a hopper? I planned on picking it back up and asking my parents again now that it seemed not super injuried (I still would have seen a vet though), but it jumped out of my hand everytime, back into a hole going into our garage :/ (which my parents are NOT happy about)

This means it can be trapped again, and my parents have been dragging their heels about trading to an electronic, pain free, more efficient (and dog safe) mouse trap for 3 years. What could I have done differently? What if it happens again? Is it my fault? Should I have put it in the woods so it didn’t come back?

I wouldn't have matter if you put it in the woods, it will still come back because the house is warm. It's natural for mice to move indoors during the winter. Let's hope it learned it's lesson about traps and will avoid them in the future. I'm sorry your family wouldn't let you keep it but you did the best you could.

 

If it happens again, you could try to tell you parents it's better to let you keep it then for it to run around the house pooping all over the place. =) HUGS

[Sparrow]

I think it would be best to let a wild mouse be a wild mouse. Wild mice are generally smaller than fancy mice, and so can appear to be younger than they really are. If they have already used to life where they are not restrained, it would be quite traumatic to then confine it to a cage. It all depends on the age of the mouse but in general releasing it out away from home would be the best thing to do.

I absolutely understand the sentiment to try and keep it as a pet but a wild mouse is just not that. I appreciate you saying it would be brought to a vet, and that is absolutely necessary if you were deciding to keep it. They can carry diseases, fleas and mites and will need to thoroughly examined to make sure touching the mouse will not pose a risk for you or your other pets. Bringing a wild mouse to a vet would be extremely stressful too - it is not used to being handled and it's not in any way tamed so the examination itself poses its own challenges...

Another thing that you need to keep in mind is that mice are not solitary. In the wild male mice stay with a group of females and form very strong bonds - you see this with fancy mice colonies as well, except, males are kept on their own unless neutered. To keep this mouse away from others from it's species would be cruel. You can't just stick a wild mouse into a group of fancy mice and hope that all goes well, even with proper introduction, because between the size difference and being a different species it could be comparable to putting two dwarf hamsters from different litters and different ages together and hoping for the best outcome.

You want what is best for the little mouse but sometimes letting a wild animal remain a wild animal is what is best for them, even if that means that their life is going to be short-lived.

[Taffy the Hammy]

I wouldn't have matter if you put it in the woods, it will still come back because the house is warm. It's natural for mice to move indoors during the winter. Let's hope it learned it's lesson about traps and will avoid them in the future. I'm sorry your family wouldn't let you keep it but you did the best you could.

 

If it happens again, you could try to tell you parents it's better to let you keep it then for it to run around the house pooping all over the place. =) HUGS

I agree with you, if it does happen again, depending on how the mouse got caught in the trap, I would nurse it back to health, and maybe after that, your parents would be more open to taking hurt animals in!

[Silktail]

This is a bit of a difficult situation because although the mouse does have a higher chance of dying in this scenario, wild caught animals do not generally do well in captivity because they often won't eat. You would have to simulate a natural diet and foraging behavior as much as you can to encourage it to eat. It likely would be hesitant to eat pellets.

I would recommend taking it to a vet even if it wasn't injured at all just because most wild animals are guaranteed to be carrying parasites also.