What to do with this mouse.

This morning my cat caught a mouse. (The one that's been living in my
bathroom and eating cat food). I see this cat holding the rear of the
mouse in his mouth and mouse looking around. I pry the mouse from the
cat's mouth, catch it in a cloth, and put the poor creature in a 2.5
gallon tank I had lying around.

It is definately a common house mouse. It has probably lived its
entire life in my bathroom. I think this mouse is female; I don't see
any testicles. The mouse is about 1.5in long not counting the tail.

My question now is what do I do with this mouse? I really only see two
choices keep it as a pet or kill it; I don't want it loose in my house
again. I would like to keep it. But I'm not sure this is wise.

I've looked into diseases that mice carry and it seems that most of
the diseases make the mouse sick as well. This mouse seems relatively
healthy from what I can see.


I'm also wondering how hard it would be to tame this mouse. I can put
my hand in the cage and mouse will scurry away but it is amazingly
easy to corner (i.e., it doesn't try hard to get away) and will allow
me to pet its fur and even sniff my finger. I tried to pick the mouse
up and got a small bite. Not hard enough to break the skin. So taming
seems to be a possibility.

If I do decide to keep this mouse. What should I do about a companion?
I've read that mice don't like to be alone and need companions. Should
I buy another mouse from a pet store. Will they get along?

Thanks for any info.

In article <87odxgls0t.fsf.TakeThisOut@hotpop.com>,
Dale Henderson <nilram.TakeThisOut@hotpop.com> wrote:

> My question now is what do I do with this mouse? I really only see two
> choices keep it as a pet or kill it; I don't want it loose in my house
> again. I would like to keep it. But I'm not sure this is wise.

I have kept wild house mice as pets. In fact, the last of a group of
seven that I caught in my house more than two years ago died recently.
They were all great little friends. They seemed to adjust easily to
captivity. It takes a very long time for them to get tame, but they do
get (somewhat) tame eventually. You can't rush it, though. You have to
take them on their own terms. You may never be able to pick her up and
play with her, but you will probably be able to teach her to take treats
from your hand.

> If I do decide to keep this mouse. What should I do about a companion?
> I've read that mice don't like to be alone and need companions. Should
> I buy another mouse from a pet store. Will they get along?

If you're sure she's female (and it's important that you're sure!), you
can get her a female friend from a pet store. My female wild mice lived
with domestic mice and they all got along very well. If "she" turns out
to be male, it is best to keep him alone.

Heather