Remy is a mouse that fell from our apple tree a couple of months ago as a pinkie. I bottle fed him around the clock for 3 weeks and he grew into a fat, happy, little mouse.
Marinepits wrote:OMG! He's adorable! *girly squeal*
How's he doing? Adjusting to life outside?
Um, no. He is back in the house. We brought him outside Saturday morning with a flying squirrel box we made the day before. We put his food out there, his blanket inside the nest box, and his wheel. He loved his wheel! We put his food in the wheel like he did in the tank. This is what the rehabbers call a "soft release". You give them food everyday in a different spot and have something that they can hide in that feel familiar with.
We went inside. We pretended that we werent upset. The kids and I knew this is what was best for him so it made it easier. I left the back light on for him that night and kept looking out the back door. I saw him when I went out back to turn the chickens lights off. He was sitting at the bottom step of my deck stairs. I walked right past him and it killed me to do it. I checked one last time before going to bed and I saw him digging in my cat grass pot on the deck!
The next morning I let the goats out and he was sitting on top of that squirrel box just watching me. We left for the afternoon and when we returned he was sitting in the bird feeder eating seeds
He wasnt very nervous about the birds feeding at the other feeders right next to him, the little bonehead. That night I put the goats in their beds and guess who was in the hay bales? As soon as he saw me in there he ran on top of my foot. Of course I scooped him.
This little guy is never going to make it in the wild. We really wondered if we should let him go where we found him as a baby or at the rehabbers place. She told us that mice almost always will go back to the spots they were born to have babies, so she tries to release hers where they were found. That is why we wanted to let him go near the apple tree he fell from. Now I dont know what to do with him. If we walk by his tank he bounces at the glass. He isnt a wild mouse. Not like he should be anyway. I did my damnedest to only handle him when he needed to eat so that he COULD be wild. I have been told that this sometimes happens. Some rehabbers will put them to sleep if they cant be released. And I have been told that several times already. I couldnt do that to Remy mouse
I wouldnt mind releasing him somewhere else but I honestly dont think he has the reflexes to stay alive out there. He isnt afraid of anything.