So I inadvertently evicted a mouse family today...

Probably only fellow animal lovers will get this, but I found a family of mice living in a bag of Patchmaster (instant grass repair; its fluffy like cotton) when I dumped some of it out on my lawn today. It had been in my mouse-ridden shed and the rather surprised looking adult mother mouse ran away across the lawn.

How'd I know it was a mother mouse? Because I was dismayed moments later to hear tiny squeaking coming from the shredded patchmaster on the lawn; four tiny mouse babies (they couldn't have been more than a week old) and at least a couple more still in the bag. The memory of that is going to stick with me for a while.

I did the only thing I felt I could do: gently gathered them up with some of the patchmaster, put them in a small box in the woods near where the mother ran off, and hoped she would come back and find them. Probably not particularly realistic, especially given they didn't seem to be moving at all by the time I left the box, but I didn't see anything else that could be done. I did some research later and it seems it might be possible to feed them myself but apparently wild mice can harbor disease and with a pregnant wife and two small children in the house I just couldn't take the chance of bringing in anything that might be dangerous.

Yeah, in the overall scheme of things it's a few rodents that might be termed "pests" but I always had mice/gerbils/hamsters as a kid and I hate the idea of having killed off a whole mouse family even by mistake.

I have done that twice. Once the mom came back and nursed the babies but they all died (I could tell when she had been in there and I scared her away because they were all wiggly) and the second time the babies were just a day old, if that, and she came back and got every one of them. And there were NINE of them. The fact that you put the patchmaster in there is good because she will recognize that smell and it will help her find them.

I put the babies where mommy mouse could find them and Tuesday morning there were only 5 and 1/2 babies left. Mommy came back and had a snack. *shudder* I took the 5 survivors to a close by vet's office and they were able to refer me to a pet store that had surrogate mouse mommies. I know they will probably wind up as snake food rather than pets, but at least they won't starve to death or be eaten by their parents.

If yours were a week old then your mommy mouse probably has more of a maternal bond and will come back for them. The ones I found were only 72 hours old max. As for their not moving, they don't much when they're small unless you touch them.

Welcome to the Ol' Softies Club!

/splennig

I keep resisting the temptation to go check the box I put them in to see if the mother returned. I figure if I tramp around in there too much it might scare the mouse away if she's there or in the vicinity. Also, as crazy as it sounds, if don't return to the scene there will always be that possibility in my mind that the mother returned for the babies and it all worked out OK.

I appreciate the comments!

You feel so helpless. You did the best you could, realistically and she may be able to rescue them and get them to a secure location.

I'm a softie too - I once discovered a nest of tiny baby mice in my dishcloth drawer. I quietly closed it back up, taped it shut so no one would disturb it and waited until I was sure they were all moved out before I washed all my dishtowels.

gang aft a-gley.

I'm not the only critter softy!

People think I'm nuts that I catch and release the deer mice living here. Even had one three-legged one spend the winter in a glass tank in my office.