# Bit of an emergency - baby mouse exposed to wild rat poo



## dwellsinshells (Feb 23, 2011)

Hi
I was handling one of my two week old babies, who just opened their eyes, when the little hopper bolted. Unfortunately she bolted straight into a big pile of boxes in my parents' garage (where I keep my breeding mice). I knew the garage hadn't been cleaned in a long time, and that we had had a few rats come through recently, (caught and removed) but I did not know quite how bad it was near my mice. The mouse ran across a whole pile of rat poo behind some bookshelves and I had to dig through boxes that probably haven't been touched in six or seven years to get her back. The whole thing was extremely disturbing but I couldn't just leave her loose to die of starvation. I feel so stupid for not keeping a better hold on her, and will be pressuring my parents to clean out the whole damn place because of the health hazard.

In the meantime, though, I have a mouse who I no longer trust to be healthy. As soon as I caught her I ran upstairs and hopped in the shower, mouse and all. We are both clean and she's pretty mad, but what do I do with her now? Do I pop her back in with mum and dad and siblings and keep an eye on them all, or do I hand raise her and hope she didn't get anything bad in the ten minutes she was loose?


----------



## dwellsinshells (Feb 23, 2011)

At the moment she is wrapped in a towel nest and I have a space heater nearby keeping the keep the temperature up.


----------



## ian (Oct 3, 2008)

If youre worried you could just quarantine her for a few weeks and see how she doesnt take very long to see the ffect of any diseases. I would imagine she will be fine though. The little buggers do jump, Ive had loads either jump or escape (usually with the help of my rabbit knocking cages over). Ive caught some weeks later and they have always been fine.


----------



## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

I would NOT qt a two week old alone, at that point you would have to handfeed. Perhaps you can put her back with mum and QT the whole nursery tank/bin (whatever ur using.) Also I am not an expert of poo, but I think once it is dried alot of the germs and nasties are gone.


----------



## dwellsinshells (Feb 23, 2011)

Ok, I am going to put her back in with her family, then. I will quarantine the whole cage. Thank you.


----------



## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

I'm totally with you in regards to QTing the whole tank, since handrearing is so difficult. That said, dried poo is still pretty likely to contain all kinds of bad things like bacteria, virii, and parasite eggs. Since she's still nursing, though, she wouldn't've been chewing on it. Since they're already in the same room as all this poo, they've already been exposed to whatever's airborne in it (some bacteria, virii, and parasite eggs do travel through the air). More than likely, if they could've caught something, they would've already.


----------



## CherryTree (Jun 7, 2011)

How scary for you! I hope everything ends well and no one gets sick.


----------



## dwellsinshells (Feb 23, 2011)

Everybody came out of this fine. Thanks for your help


----------

