Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was attempting to rid my house of mice and I caught two baby house mice in some home-made no-kill traps. They were so cute I decided to keep them. Unfortunately, they died within several hours of catching them.

I'm trying to figure out why they died. I'm a first time mouse owner. I'm thinking its either the bedding or the food. What am I doing wrong here?

So, here's what I gave it. I gave it shredded office paper from my paper shredder for bedding. I fed it uncooked white rice and some corn. I gave it clean nyc tap water. I kept it in a plastic shoebox and drilled 40 holes in the top for ventilation.

I'm thinking its the rice. I caught it at night so the pet store wasn't open in time for me to get it real food.

too many variables.

They may have been half dead in the trap, stressed out and starving/dehydrated/overheated in the live traps (they can get hot in those things fast..poor air flow).

The shoebox, depending where it was in your home, could have overheated and cooked them, Chemicals from the paper you used may have did them in too..especially if most of the paper was photo copies and/or colored copies.

Plain white rice isn't very good for mice..very little nutrition, so its possible they starved to death but over night is too short a time, even for mice to starve.

Being wild mice, they may have been exposed to rat poison before getting trapped in your life traps, and it was only a matter of time.

All in all, if you really want to keep mice, best to buy domesticated mice that have been properly socialized. More likely to be healthy and not exposed to poisons, or carrying fleas/diseases as wild mice can.
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PHLdyPayne