Today I worked hard.
I moved our woodpile that was scattered around our shed into one long row under our hedge. Keeps all our wood together and it's nicely piled hopefully into piles that won't fall over. (really really hope they won't fall over).
Anyways, I'm not a professional woodstacker. :)
Well, in my removing and stacking of wood, I discovered a nest of wee field mice. Knowing mice as I do, I know that a wild field mouse WON'T come back to a rather badly disturbed nest so I removed the babies to discover that they are about the same age as my wee ones upstairs.
Thus began a quick on-line search. How does one care for wee babies about two weeks old. I learned hey...put them with a nursing momma...and 8 times out of ten she'll care for them alongside her own (as long as she's not too badly outnumbered). And since Aunty mouse appears to be nursing the babies as well.....
Being a somewhat kind-hearted individual I am hoping that my two girlies will foster these babies. We'll have to wait and see. I really hope they'll be fine.. they just have to survive one week and then eyes will be open, they'll be co-ordinated and they'll be eating grains and apples and such like. AND then.......
Then I can raise them to be big enough to be well um, be eaten by the dogs! (yes, I'm nasty) :) What can I say.. they are WILD mice. They are indeed as my hubbie would say.. VERMIN! And well... one does not encourage vermin to stick around does one?
Anyways, that's my story of the day. :)
11 comments:
They may be vermin, but they are really cute vermin :)
Wow! I wouldn't have known what to do with them! That is so neat that they were "adopted." (Um -er - for a short time at least!) :)
My son would have seen them as "free" food for his snake.
Oh, Bax, he has a snake? I'm so sorry for you...
:)
Annette, we have 5 gerbils and I love to watch them. I always had a thing for little rodents, I guess.
Actually, he has had 3. The first one I let him twist my arm on was a ball python. They are slow and not too active so, ok, I was fine with that. Then he came home with a "free with all the fixins" garter snake. AcK! They are FAST and slithery. And was almost OUT of its cage when my husband walked by and "happened" to notice. Can you imagine waking up in the middle of the night and.....*shudder* Then he got a third ball python. Currently we haven't any cause he has his own apartment now. We kept his bearded dragon though, HE'S a sweetie and we love him. :)
Ah Baxter...I'm considered by some to be one of those 'nasty' mouse people. I don't care if people buy my mice to feed their snakes. I figure snakes have to live too!
And considering that these wee field mice (i have two left surviving) will become dog food eventually... I can't complain either! :)
Though I do think about raising/breeding them.. a field mouse grown up averages twice as heavy as a fancy mouse so more mouse for the same price... but the inbreeding wouldn't be so good.
Gerbils look fun Jen.. but up here they cost twice what mice do. They eat more and have less babies. I"m also told they bite! I like rodents as pets and otherwise, particularly as pets, but a biting rodent I don't have a lot of use for.
Do yours bite?
I've never been bit by a gerbil. I've had hamsters and been bit, and I've had mice too (but never bit by one). The only thing I haven't done is a rat. They creep me out.
I was kidding about snakes. The truth is that I used to work in a pet store when I was fresh out of high school, and in the slow periods of the day I would take a 3-4 foot burmese python and hang him on my neck and go stand out in the hallway of the mall. You should have seen the faces when the people walking down the hall got close enough to see my 'necklace'...
he he! But we've never owned one.
I just can't do that. I used to be a teacher's assistant at a Montessori school, we went to visit a serpentarium for a field trip. The "Dr." took out a about a 5 or 6 foot long black indigo. We had 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. I watched to see if the children would "wear" the snake. All but this 2nd grader would let them put the snake around their necks. I really wanted to, but just couldn't. Finally the fearful 2nd grader decided to go for it. I was tempted all the way up till they put it back in the crate. Just couldn't do it. A finger tip is about all I can do.
not sure if I could do it either. something about big snakes just alarms me. Now a garter snake? Hey..i grew up with brothers on a farm... I can't be scared of a garter snake! :)
I can just imagine THAT! :)
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