Five Blind Mice

The other day I was sweeping up the chicken house and knocking spider webs down from the rafters when suddenly a couple of baby mice fell at my feet. They were smaller than peanuts and peeping up a storm. They still had their eyes closed and (as I later learned via the googles) were almost two weeks old. I looked up to the rafter I had been sweeping and noticed that a mouse had built a big, fluffy nest up there and my broom had ripped it in half. Along with the mice next to my feet was a small mess of old chicken feathers, grass seed and the fluff from milkweed and dandelions. More of the nest was falling to the floor as I stooped to examine the little fellas on the floor.

As I squatted there looking at them, another baby fell onto the floor next to them. For a creature smaller than a peanut, that eight foot drop must have seemed like a mile. I looked up and saw the nest falling apart and it was right at that moment that my four year old ran in and chirped up from behind me; "Dad! Don't step on the hamsters!"

meep.

I tried to explain to him that mice and hamsters are slightly different creatures. Mice are pests and ham...

"Dad! Can I keep em?"

meep.

Now I understand why my Mother let me keep so many abandoned animals. There was no way I could scoop up those little peeping critters and toss them into the bin with my son looking at them with sparkling eyes and then looking up at me as if it was my duty to save them so he could hug them and squeeze them and love them.

"Please Daddy? I'll be good for the rest of the day, please?"

meep.

"Vance, these aren't pets. They're barn mi..."

"I know, I like them! I'll take care of them, Daddy. Please, I'll be good all day. Look how nice they are!"

meep meep meep.

I walked into the garage with him tagging along and grabbed a step ladder and a bucket. All the way back to the chicken house he was hopping and skipping and making up a new mousey song. I climbed up and grabbed the rest of the nest and brought it down; there were two more baby mice inside. Awesome.

Five blind mice and one starry eyed four year old went back into the garage with me. I cleaned out all of the nest matter from the bucket and tossed it into the trash, my son watched every move I made as if he needed to make sure I wasn't hurting those little mice. They had dark gray hair and white feet and their tails were as long as they were. They were peeping for their Mother and, yeah, they were almost as cute as my son as he dutifully watched me pick one up and examine it.

"Dad, I like them. Can I sleep with them tonight?"

"Van, if we're going to keep these mice, Daddy needs to take care of them until they get bigger."

"OK!"

"Van, you don't touch them until they get bigger."

"OK! but can I watch?

meep.

I had no idea what to do with them so I left them peeping in the bucket and took my son back into the chicken house to finish sweeping up. He was carrying litter to the fire pit and singing his new mousey song. In fact he was still singing it tonight when he went to bed, three days later.

Googles told me that the mice were about two weeks old and that they would open their eyes soon: based upon their size and the amount of hair they had. Once they opened their eyes they would normally be about a week away from being abandoned by their Mother and old enough to fend for themselves.

Googles said I needed to feed them warm, watered down kitten milk for a week and then ween them. I didn't even know you could milk a kitten. Vance talked his Mom into going to the pet store for some kitten milk in a can. Well, ok, I helped a little.

Googles said that these little guys were called White Footed Mice and that they lived for a max of 18 months in the wild. 24 in captivity. They are owl, fox, cat, hawk and even chicken food. They have inhabited this planet for at least 40,000 years and they haven't changes at all in that time. They are, in fact, the most prolific creature in north America as well as other parts of the world.

Fun fact, they play the drums. Nobody really knows why but they actually drum their front paws on reeds and dry leaves and such to make a tiny machine gun sound. I meep you not. I found video proof via yootoob:

http://www.youtube.com/v/w7zOjCulu9A&hl=en&fs=1&

So, now they're living in a clean diaper, in a box, over a heating pad, on my mantle. They eat from an eye dropper about every 4 hours and, yeah, they are cute as meep. They opened their eyes this morning and they seem happy and healthy. I have to feed each one and clean it with a warm, wet cotton ball (like Mama would) every 4 to 6 hours for the rest of the week. According to the googles, they should be weened from milk and eating seeds and crackers and hamster food and such within the next few days.

Jen is going to pick up a hamster cage this week. That is the end of this story for now.

Also, cute pics: