Caught a house mouse and it is winter

What are you trying to feed him?

>>2314163
Peanut butter, cookie, rat food, hamster bars, rabbit food, old scraps from the kitchen which she usually likes when not in a cage.

An aquarium with a mesh top would be a better home for a house mouse than a wire cage, actually. They're more secure.

As far as water goes, you might consider putting a shallow water dish on a saucer instead of giving a water bottle. Some mice don't really get how to use the bottle.

Also make sure to provide a hide of some sort, and a wheel (I like the "flying saucer" style of wheel. Get the medium size. The smallest size is way too small for just about anything.

As far as food goes, try feeding rolled oats and blueberries. Most animals (obviously excluding strict carnivores) will take those foods very readily.

>>2314172

Btw, a 20 gallon long aquarium is the best size (they weigh about 25 pounds give or take, so they're not insanely heavy, and yet they are quite spacious). In a pinch you could do a 10 gallon but it will be very cramped and you will end up wanting to upgrade to the 20 gallon long eventually anyway.

Don't even bother with anything smaller; you'll hardly be able to fit anything in it at all.

A 20 gallon long tank and mesh lid can be had for under $40. Sometimes pet stores have a "dollar per gallon" sale so you can get the tank for $20 and the lid for like $15, coming to just $35 total.

>>2314172
>>2314176

Oh, also, do provide some rat food or hamster food (or even dog food) along with the oats and berries, because fortified pet foods contain vitamin D. A lack of vitamin D can cause rickets in mice, but this takes a while time to develop. The case with squirrels is totally different--they need lots of vitamin D and calcium every day or else they will get metabolic bone disease.

With mice this is much less of a concern. But they should still have something with vitamin D in it. Rodent or dog food is a safe way of providing this.

>>2314172
>>2314176
>>2314179
What is wrong with a wire cage specifically? I do have a shallow dish of water for it. I can do the wheel.
I appreciate the advice in terms of caring for it, though I am really most interested in it living in the wild rather than my home as I cannot readily take care of it. I will take care of it as long as I can but I do need advice on what I can do when I can no longer take care of it.

>>2314183
There's nothing wrong with a wire cage short-term. Anon doesn't seem to have gotten the memo that this is a wild mouse and you're aren't keeping it.

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>>2314183

>What is wrong with a wire cage specifically?

The mouse could escape through the bars, or somehow injure itself while trying to escape. In addition, it might not feel as secure as it would in a wire cage. Wild mice are very skittish and generally like to feel secure--a larger aquarium is kind of like a "room", moreso than a cage.

>I do have a shallow dish of water for it. I can do the wheel.

Good. Put the water dish on a saucer or platform or something, otherwise it will get spilled. The wheel will almost certainly help the mouse use up extra energy.

>I appreciate the advice in terms of caring for it, though I am really most interested in it living in the wild rather than my home as I cannot readily take care of it. I will take care of it as long as I can but I do need advice on what I can do when I can no longer take care of it.

If you plan on releasing the mouse instead of keeping it as a pet, you don't want to tame it. So I would recommend not trying to play with it, get friendly with it, nothing. Just feed and water it (and change the substrate when it gets stinky). Then scout out locations where it could be released, when the weather is warmer.

Ideal locations would be old abandoned barns, shacks, places like that. Do not release it in an open field or forest that doesn't have a suitable shelter of some sort--it will probably just get eaten immediately. Also, do not release it when the temperature is still freezing. You should wait until it is above freezing to increase its odds of survival.

Mice are great pets, even though wild mice are tough to tame. I understand you not wanting to keep it as a pet though--so just remember, don't try to tame it, keep it comfy, and release in a remote area with a shelter when it will be consistently above freezing.) I hope you will find my advice helpful.

>>2314184

I understood that but a glass cage is a useful thing to have in general (it will come in handy again someday) and will help the mouse feel more secure and reduces the risk of escape. There are a lot of benefits to it.

If it's ice cold outside, releasing the mouse would just be killing it. If the mouse is to survive it will have to be kept a while until the temperature gets milder. That might be several weeks from now so it just makes sense to keep him as comfy as possible till then.

>>2314188
Anon has already gone far above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to household pests. Dropping 20 or more bucks on a bulky glass tank is getting into ridiculous territory. It's just a mouse.

>>2314187
I appreciate the advice.

As for keeping it as a pet, it's more that I cannot afford to take care of it. I already have two rabbits and a rat that go on long car rides. I cannot fit the mouse in the car as well now.

Do you have any tips for what to do if I have to leave it for a week?

>>2314190

>It's just a mouse

That's a very cold and callous attitude to have. A mouse is a thinking, feeling creature, a morally relevant being. It's not "just a mouse" any more than you are "just a human".

>>2314193

It's understandable. There is a limit to how many animals a person can care for at a given time, and wild animals are generally tougher to care for than domesticated animals.

I wouldn't really recommend leaving any animals alone for a week but if you absolutely had to, I would leave it with a water bottle and a dish of water, both.

The main risk is dehydration--you can easily fill the cage with enough oats to ensure that the mouse won't starve, but water is the harder thing. So do the dish and bottle together...if you want to be really sure, you could double up on the bottles too. I dunno where you are, but here in the US, water bottles for rodents are very cheap, like $5 for a bottle and holder. It's good insurance to put two.

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>>2314194
>morally relevant

Half of you freaks would be happy if a billion humans died tomorrow to provide habitat for your rhinos, why should I listen to any of you about what's """"morally relevant""""? You're just placing intelligence as the end goal to evolution like every other anthropomoprhizing faggot who thinks the power of their own thoughts is something special and mystical in itself.

Why is a mouse more relevant than cyanobacteria? Cyanobacteria are not "thinking, feeling creatures" and I genocide them every single day on my countertop without any of bitches crying about it.

Yet the cyanobacteria provides oxygen which is used by all complex life on the planet. The mouse eats your trash and shits everywhere.

>>2314195
Yeah I have a bunch of water bottles since I transitioned to a dish with my rabbits. So that won't be a problem. Thanks again for advice.

>>2314198

>Why is a mouse more relevant than cyanobacteria?

There is no evidence that cyanobacteria are capable of experiencing suffering, but much evidence that mice can. Mice are subjects, not just objects.

>>2314199

You're welcome. Thanks for being kind to animals. It's heartening.

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>>2314201
Why is suffering the be all and end all for what makes a species """"""a subject""""""?

Why are you defining how one should treat creatures on entirely subjective grounds despite arguing from an evidence based model? Your own argument is inconsistent with itself.

I'm surprised it didn't go into shock. If you ever release him anywhere near your house, he will come back. Best course of action, assuming you're a complete humanitarian, is to drive him 'innawoods' and let him go.

>>2314224

To be a subject is to be capable of experiencing. That's what "subject" is.

>Why are you defining how one should treat creatures on entirely subjective grounds despite arguing from an evidence based model?

You're special pleading by holding morality to a higher standard than anything else. Look into the Munchausen trilemma. Your "evidence based" ideas of how things work still ultimately rest on unproven axioms.

This discussion is veering far off topic so this will be my last post on the matter here.

>>2314201
>much evidence that mice can
The argument for suffering requires 2 distinct proofs.

the first is proof of nociception. The mouse must be able to sense injury and react to it by screaming and writhing and avoiding.

the second requires self-awareness. It doesn't matter how much nociception a mouse undergoes if it isn't aware that it's hurt.

sensing is not the same as awareness. Both conditions must be met for suffering to exist.

there is no evidence at all that mice are self-aware. Certainly not "much evidence" as you pretend.

>>2314234

>the second requires self-awareness. It doesn't matter how much nociception a mouse undergoes if it isn't aware that it's hurt.

This is just an unproven belief based on European cultural ideas of the primacy of the "self".

In reality, the idea of a "self" doesn't even make logical or neurological sense. There is no evidence that "selves" exist.

>>2314238
>There is no evidence that "selves" exist.
they don't exist, they're a social construct. Perhaps also a cognitive construct.

that doesn't mean they can't be tested for. Indeed, you'd have to wonder if they CAN'T be tested for, what are the tests for such awareness actually measuring?

and why do the animals that pass those tests all share a certain thing in common?

>>2314240
making an animal stare at a mirror isn't a test, it's charlatanism. psychometrics is the biggest meme degree on the planet, you're fooling nobody.

>>2314155
Just kill it you fucking idiot.