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um. this may sound strainge, but i am trying to raise a baby mouse that i saved from being fed to my freidns lizzard. as soon as i saw it i fell in love. i'm not sure how to raise it though so, if you could give me adivice? thanks so much!
Mice are exceptionally timid but if you will talk to it after you bring it home and place it in a cage of its own, it will gradually become accustomed to the area and will petting, handling and talking you should get the mouse to be very tame.
As an older mouse will not adjust and become tame as easily. When the mouse gets to know you and trusts you it should climb into your hand and upward on your arm. You will have to be very careful and have a method of capture if it crawls from your hand or arm to the floor as it could get into a small area and you might not be able to locate it. A box would be a good thing to have in an emergency to capture the mouse. You would put the box down on the floor and when it goes to explore it you could just pick up the box or whatever container you have for capture and place it back in it's cage. You might want to try rewarding it with food when it comes to you and remember the more you handle it the easier it will be to tame the mouse.
When you go to pick up a mouse you will want to pick it up by its tail, don't grasp the end as you might harm the end by tearing the skin and its tail covering might come off. You will need to move quickly when picking up the mouse by its tail, so as soon as you have hold of its tail you need to lift it. Be careful as it might resist and bite you. You will want to take the mouse to the area where you want it by his tail and let it down, don't take much time in this movement of your mouse. When you want to grab it for some reason you might grasp fold of the lose skin over its neck and shoulders but just enough to keep it from turning its head and biting your hands.
I would suggest getting a cage that measures about six by twelve inches. You need enough room for an area to feed and water, a spot so it can take care of his daily elimination, a box that it can have a little nest, and you'll need room for it's toys. It will need enough room to play and run around without knocking over items in its cage area. Be sure to buy it an exercise wheel.
It is very inexpensive to feed a mouse and don't put out more than perhaps a teaspoonful of food a daily. It will eat mostly at night so you might decide to feed it right before you go to bed. If you put out perishable foods in the earlier part of the day and it doesn't decide that it's hungry until during the night you might have spoiled foods and endanger it's health. You can buy pellets for mice or even cubes of food or feed it some nuts, bird grain, seeds, brown bread or even bits of dog food. You can work out your individual feeding method with your mouse in just a few days.
Mice can get bite wounds if you have more than one mouse in a cage and these wounds can be treated with an ointment. It will groom itself a lot so it will clean the wound itself.
If your mouse seems at all depressed and has a discharge from its nose or has difficulty in breathing I would suggest checking with your veterinarian about medicine.
Sometimes a mouse will have diarrhea due to its diet, so make adjustments in its diet and if you feel it is necessary to consult your veterinarian you might want to bring stool samples.
Mice for the most part if taken care of properly will be very hard and have no disease. Just a little daily food, fresh water, and cleaning its area will make your mouse very happy.
Also, here's a book you can order about raising mice:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394832248/002-8952942-5156022?v=glance&n=283155
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thanks, you gave me ALOT of info. but i may not have asked my question properly. the mouse i have is o young, his eyes arent open yet. and idk how or what to feed him please helpp
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