My partner called me outside on Saturday afternoon. He had pulled out a plate that’s part of the barbecue and discovered a nest of mice. All of the 6 tiny furless baby mice had fallen on the ground and the mother had darted off, terrified. I knew that the most important thing was to keep the babies warm and in a dark place. I put them in an old woollen shawl (!) and put them back on the barbecue plate in the hopes that the mother would come back overnight.
She didn’t.
I called Wildlife Rescue the next day for some advice. Until then I did not know that mice are not native to Australia. They came on the ships many years ago. When nests are disturbed the way this one had been, mothers will often abandon their litter and have another one later in the season. I also learned that if the mother had come back and found her babies wrapped in their woollen shawl, the unnaturalness and unfamiliarity of the environment would only mean danger to her and she would most definitely not stay. With this combination in mind, as well as the fact that the furless babies were so tiny their eyes and ears weren’t yet open, WIRES suggested humanely killing them as their chances of survival were so slim.
I have killed an animal before. I found a badly injured skink on the road near Tenterfield last Christmas. It had been hit by a car when it went to check out an already dead wallaby on the road. There was no chance of survival and the animal looked in pain. So I did the needful, the details of which I will spare you.
To do the same to tiny little vulnerable little babies however…
Too soft
I removed the shawl, placed the babies on the bed of leaves that the mother had originally created and left them overnight.
The next morning there were 3 babies left. The other 3 had disappeared. I took them into care, put them in a warm blanket and went to the Vet clinic to buy feed and bottles. In my first attempt at feeding them one died. Feeding little babies like these at only a few days old is extremely difficult as they are only capable of feeding on their mothers teat. I continued my attempts to feed the other 2 as the day went on. I even took them to a birthday party to keep up the feeding routine!
On the last feed of the day before bed last night a second baby died. That was difficult. It’s amazing how quickly we can bond with creatures and I had definitely become attached.
There is now 1 baby left. Because she has no siblings left to cuddle up to I’ve taken to keeping her on my body so she can stay warm and safe. This morning she latched on to the bottle teat and fed briefly. I couldn’t believe my eyes. We haven’t been as successful since, although we’re making progress. She can at least lick milk off my finger.
There is no way of knowing whether this little one will survive. If she doesn’t at least she’s been loved and cared for during her brief life. If she does survive I will have found my first pet.
—
Do you have a similar story? Please share it with us below.
