Rescued abandoned mice!

by Missy97 Sun 13 Dec 2020, 6:47 pm

Hi everyone

I am a new member but regularly come to this forum for pet advice and you guys are so friendly and helpful so I need your help!

A strange thing happened this evening. I went for a Sunday evening walk when I saw someone get out their car and put a cardboard box on the ground near some woodland near me. I thought it was weird but carried on walking. When I got to the box, it was a slightly shoved under a bush and then it moved! I nearly jumped out my skin! I used a stick to open it and I saw two sets of eyes looking up at me. I thought it was two gerbils at first so closed the box. I waited just in case the person who left it came back but they didn’t and took it safely home (I’m not sure if this is right or not, but if I left them they probably would have died) I then opened the box up when I got home and realised it was two mice! One is black and white, the other brown and white. They are cold and very hungery/thirsty. I have given them some food and they are currently in an old rat cage I have in the garage.

I don’t know what to do! I am going to keep them warm/fed/watered and call the vet in the morning. I am not sure what to expect the vet to say. is there anything else I should do?

i didn’t get the number plate of the car btw, I am annoyed that I didn’t.
Please help! Thanks!

by chiroptera Sun 13 Dec 2020, 8:40 pm

@Missy97 If they are black/white and brown/white, then these are definitely domestic mice that were abandoned, not wild mice. Wild mice will always be all grey/black/brown. (Granted there are probably extremely rare instances of albinism or mutations, but two at once? Not a chance.)

It's absolutely sickening that someone would abandon them like that, especially in the winter (assuming it's cold wherever you are - but even in Texas right now it's pretty cold!). You definitely did the right thing taking them home. That person was never going to come back for them.

Honestly I don't know that the vet will be able to say much over the phone. Your options are most likely to find a new home for them, or care for them yourself. There may be shelters or rescues near you that take in rodents, though not always. (Worth a look though, if you don't want to add some new animals to your home.)

I would check the bar spacing in the rat cage, as often times cages made for larger rodents have bar spacing that is easy for mice to slip right through. Usually about 1/4" or 3/8" is recommended for mice, bigger than that tends to be escapable. Of course, for now, it's better than nothing, but if the spacing of the bars is too big I'd just keep a close eye on them.

You're definitely on the right track! Make sure they have access to food and water at all times, they may be hungry and thirsty, who knows what their previous home was like before they were abandoned. I'd also offer them some bedding of some sort - even just paper towels/tp/tissues for them to nest with - and hides - again, simple things like cardboard boxes and toilet paper rolls are perfect.

A wheel would be great if you happen to keep them for an extended period of time, but if you can't provide one that just giving them lots of things to do in the cage will be just fine. If they're friendly, maybe even give them time to explore in a bath tub or table top (with supervision).

Good luck with the little ones, and hopefully they're happy and healthy. Smile

by SarahAdams Mon 14 Dec 2020, 8:39 am

What disgusting behavior from supposed human beings. They could have taken them to a shelter but chose to leave them to slowly die of cold, starvation, or being eaten by a cat. Pure evil. Mad

When I was doing cat rescue, some hero did the same thing to two adult cats - in a box, left in a park.

Are you able to tell their sexes? If they are both female and you want to keep them you can make a bin cage quite inexpensively, in case the spacing of the bars on your rat cage is large enough to let them escape.

So glad you rescued these poor little things.

by chiroptera Mon 14 Dec 2020, 7:15 pm

Oh, duh, I didn't even think to mention sexing them. (My brain said "two together, must be female!" but of course someone who'd be cruel and stupid enough to dump them could very well be cruel or stupid enough to keep two males together or leave a breeding pair together.) As Sarah said, definitely check the sexes if you can - if both are male, they'll likely fight and should be separated. And if they're a male and a female, well... they should be separated to avoid baby-making (although honestly, the female is likely pregnant already if that's the case).

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