Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
I just have a quick question to help me tell whether this pinky i have is a mouse or a rat. The mother I saw in the bin they got it from was a rat, but these were feeder pinkies, but my boyfriend's snake wouldn't eat it. I don't know how to tell if it is a rat or a mouse though... i was wondering, i know rat mothers will foster if they've had a litter but i wasn't sure if they would foster mice too, or just other rats babies... i called the shop and they said they sell both rats and mice so that didn't help. People say if the pinky is small it's a mouse, and she's kind of little but not real tiny, and she's only about 8 days old, but doing very very well. any help you guys could give me would be great... thank you

A newborn pinky mouse is about an inch long. A newborn rat pinky is closer to 2 inches long. If this pinky you have is 8 days old, it should be showing fur and in the 'fuzzy' stage. A fuzzy mouse is about 3.5" long (including tail). A fuzzy rat would be about 4" long and much more bulkier than the mouse.

Rat moms will adopt baby mice as well as orphaned baby rats. Just make sure you put in with a litter of rat babies about the same size as the 'pinky'. However, if the pinky hasn't been with a mother for over 24 hours it may not even survive. Actually I am surprised it is still alive. Just rub the orphan against the other baby rats to get their scent on the newcomer, this will help the mother to adopt it.

Below is a picture of a fuzzy rat, about 2 weeks old.

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PHLdyPayne

Hello,
thanks for the advice... my little girl has not reached "fuzzy" quite yet. She just barely got some peach fuzz on her back yesturday and her eyes have yet to start to open. Tail and all she reaches about 2.5 inches, probably 3 but part of her tail had an injury and had to be cut off, she's also pretty plump for hand raising. So I'm guessing that she's a mouse right?..... thanx again for your your help...

I would guess a rat, it would be easier if you had a picture to show us.
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PHLdyPayne

This wont answer your question, but I also have a question related to this topic. Will mice also foster other baby mice? Or is this just with rats?

Yes, mice will adopt other baby mice most of the time. What I find works best is take all the adult mice out of the cage, put the orphaned mice in with the other baby mice (go for a group that is close to the same size of orphaned babies) and mix them up so the orphans smell like the other babies. Fix the nest back the way it was and put all the adults back into the cage. They should settle down and nurse the new babies without any problems.
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PHLdyPayne