How to Care for Baby Mice

Whether your pet mouse has just given birth or you’ve discovered a group of orphaned baby mice, caring for these tiny, delicate creatures can be quite a challenge. Baby mice need proper care within a few hours of birth in order to survive, so it's essential to act quickly if you come across a litter of abandoned baby mice.

Send the Abandoned Baby Mice to Another Mother Mouse for Care. If you can find another mother mouse who is already caring for her own babies, she may be willing to adopt the abandoned mice as her own. This is the best option both psychologically and physically for the baby mice, but it may not always be possible, especially if the babies are older than 1.5 weeks.

• Quickly find a surrogate mother at a pet store or from a mouse breeder.
• Place bedding from the new mother’s cage onto the baby mice to help them get used to her scent.
• Put the baby mice into the new mother's cage.
• Monitor for signs of aggression, excessive squeaking, or if the mother rejects the babies.

Monitor the Baby Mice for Signs of Diarrhea and Dehydration. Whether raised by their biological or surrogate mother, baby mice can still face issues like diarrhea and dehydration. If left untreated, dehydration caused by diarrhea can be fatal for the baby mice.

• A bloated belly, lethargy, and yellow discharge around the anus are signs of diarrhea.
• Replace the mother’s milk or formula with electrolyte solution for infants.
• Take the baby mice to a vet for a checkup to ensure they are healthy.

Prepare Formula Milk for the Baby Mice. Pet stores offer a variety of animal milk replacements, such as Kitten Milk Replacer for kittens or Esbilac for puppies. You can also use iron-free Enfamil formula or Soyalac for infants. Additionally, you can feed the mice pure goat’s milk.

• Warm the formula milk or milk before feeding it to the mice, but do not use formula that is too hot or cold.
• The powdered formula should be mixed with water in the appropriate ratio as directed on the packaging.
• Before feeding, ensure the baby mice are warmed up, as they won’t digest the formula properly if they are cold. If this happens, the formula will ferment in their stomach, causing diarrhea. You can warm the mice by placing a low-heat heating pad beneath their cage.

Use a Small Syringe, Bottle, or Straw to Feed the Baby Mice. You can also use an eyedropper. If using a syringe or bottle, draw the formula into the syringe or bottle and prepare to feed the baby mice. If using a straw, simply dip the straw into the formula until it begins to drip.

Gently Administer Milk into the Mouse’s Mouth. Be careful not to force the syringe or squeeze the bottle too hard. If you see milk coming out of the mouse’s nose, stop feeding immediately. The feeding session ends when the mouse’s belly is full and round.

Feed the Baby Mice Frequently. Baby mice between 0-1 week old need to be fed 6-8 times a day; 1-2 week old mice require 5-6 feedings per day; 2-3 week old mice should be fed 4 times a day, and by 4 weeks old, they only need to eat 3 times a day. Space each feeding a few hours apart, including nighttime feedings.

Encourage the Mice to Eliminate After Feeding. Use a cotton ball or your finger to gently rub their genital area. The mouse will urinate a small amount of liquid, but if they are dehydrated, they will not urinate. Keep rubbing until the mouse urinates.

Wean the Mice After 3-4 Weeks. In the early days of weaning, provide the mice with a small amount of moist pellets. Spray some water on the pellets to soften them and place them where the mice can easily access them.

• The baby mice will quickly start nibbling on the pellets.
• As the mice grow stronger, you can begin giving them regular pellets.

Feed the Mice Appropriate Pellets and Provide Water After Weaning. You can purchase pellets for mice at pet stores, either in block or pellet form. Choose pellets with 16% protein, 18% fiber, and less than 4% fat to ensure their health.

• No need to moisten the pellets once the mice are fully weaned.
• You can offer the mice foods like dates, bananas, broccoli, and other treats, but remember that their stomachs are small, and they shouldn’t eat too much.
• Baby mice typically drink 3-7ml of water a day. Install a small animal water bottle in the cage and refill it regularly.
• Before weaning, the mice get enough water from their milk. After they begin eating dry food, they will need to drink water from the bottle.

The Cage Should Provide at Least 0.3 m² of Space for Each Mouse. This space is crucial even if the mouse is not fully grown. Pet stores offer a variety of cages in different sizes, so be sure to select one that provides ample room for the mouse.

Choose the Right Type of Cage. The cage for the mouse should have no gaps where the mouse could escape, and it should ideally have a solid floor (no bars or wires). Plastic cages are prone to damage when cleaned, so it's best to opt for a metal cage, a glass cage, or an aquarium-style tank that can be cleaned repeatedly and is durable.

• Mice are excellent chewers, so make sure the cage doesn’t have any protruding parts or wires they can gnaw on.
• Create a hiding space for the mice, such as small boxes or cardboard tubes.
• Using a cardboard box as a cage for newborn mice is only a temporary solution, as mice will quickly learn to chew through the box and escape.

Provide Clean Bedding in the Mouse Cage. You can use sawdust, wood shavings, or old paper for bedding. Avoid using cedar and pine shavings. Clean the bedding as soon as it becomes soiled, usually around twice a day, and disinfect the entire cage every 3-4 weeks.

Maintain the Cage Temperature Between 24°C and 32°C. Mice will stay warm and comfortable within this temperature range. You can use a heater or air conditioner to regulate the temperature inside the cage.