# Need help weaning!



## ArabianStar (Jun 3, 2011)

I rescued a baby field mouse and she opened her eyes this past Sat..so she is perhaps 2 weeks old, or a tad older. I need to wean her and start her on solid food. I have baby fruit puree, apple flavored, and baby cereal/oatmeal. I have started to add just a small amount of the oatmeal to the formula..and she seems to eat it, but how do I get her to start on more solid food? Just stick it in the cage?


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

When we were raising deer mice (a common field mouse in the US), we added more oats to the formula each day until it was just damp oats, then added in other seeds. After that they were fine on the regular seed mix. We also fed them a ton of crickets, for extra protein while they're young and growing. Once they've got open eyes and are running around on their own, field mice are quite agile. Do you know what kind of field mouse she is?


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## ArabianStar (Jun 3, 2011)

She looks like this. http://images.sciencedaily.com/2008/01/ ... -large.jpg I believe thats a deer mouse. 
Im using a pipette to feed her...so I should keep adding the oatmeal stuff to it? It will get thicker and thicker the more i add...when it gets too thick for the pipette what then? And should I think about putting real solid food in her cage yet? She doesn't explore much...she doesn't seem scared...just likes to be curled up and nap..sometimes she will wander a bit..but I have her in a small bin. I was actually going to transfer her today to a 10gal fish tank.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

We went from feeding them with the pipette to letting them drink on their own after a bit, around when you can't get it through the pipette. And by all means offer her solid food as early as you can. She'll get used to the idea of it being around, and start to nibble on it once she gets teeth. We didn't have any luck with taming our babies and had to let them go, but it sounds like you've had yours since a little earlier than we did ours. We ended up with a whole four-mouse litter of the dears, and a ten-gallon was just fine for them. Give her plenty of non-stringy bedding, and plenty of places to hide, like tiny boxes or coconut shells. We found that once they were ready, they weaned themselves.


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## ArabianStar (Jun 3, 2011)

I have added a bit of the baby oatmeal cereal to the formula...but she doesnt seems to like it as much...seems but she did try to nibble on some solid mouse food...tried. lol.


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## Mouse Queen 96 (Jul 11, 2011)

How is your baby mouse doing??

I got mine at 2 weeks old from a guy who was feeding them to reptiles, and i couldn't let her get ate. I don't know what it was about her, but i had to have her. :lol: And i didn't think she'd make it but i fed her peices of bread dipped in kitten formula. After a while she got bigger and just started eating the seeds i had in a dish on the side, so i quit giving the formula and bread. She is now a healthy 1 year old mouse!


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