Bohemia Bunny

Itsy-bitsy mousie Part 1

February 12th, 2008 by lynnylchan under Leisure, My Life and Pets

Since Kip died, her cagemate Darcy has been alone. Female mice kept alone tend to get depressed, so acquiring a new companion for Darcy was of utmost importance. After a fruitless search in Serangoon North, I found baby mice in Tampines. They were about 3 weeks old and I couldn’t determine their sex. Male mousies don’t drop their testicles until about 5 weeks.

In the end I took a gamble and picked out one that had the highest chance of being female (details here). It was a tiny white-and-grey creature with red eyes. I tend not to like red eyes, but all of them had that trait so I didn’t have much choice.

Since I can’t tell its sex, I’m holding off on naming it. For now, I shall call it Little Baby Mouse (LBM). When I took it home, Darcy seemed not to even notice it. She sniffed its butt for a bit until the tiny thing squeaked, then she just went about her usual business as though nothing was new. She was eating and running and climbing up and down, so depression didn’t seem to be affecting her.

On Friday, Darcy discovered that LBM had a shoebox to itself, full of exciting possibilities. She started spending more time down there, but she always ran off when she saw me, probably because I told her off for scaring LBM. Apart from eating the baby’s food, she continued with her carefree life. I couldn’t fathom if she just wasn’t interested, if she was the one rare female mouse who enjoyed the solitary life, or if she didn’t realize that there was a new mouse around. The last possibility was highly unlikely since the squeaking should have clued her in.

On Friday night, I finally saw her grooming LBM. Grooming is a social habit among mice, so I was greatly reassured by this development. Furthermore, LBM gathered up the courage and the strength to venture up the tube leading to the main cage. Since the diameter of the tube is very wide in relation to its body, LBM had a hard time climbing up, but the exercise will be good for it. It’s a little amusing to see it struggling up the pipe that Darcy zips up and down easily. When Darcy first came, she had trouble with the pipes too. Don’t worry little baby, you’ll soon grow!

LBM is so insanely tiny that the people who see it have a jaw-drop moment at the sight of such a small, perfectly independent creature. To put its size in perspective, I took some pictures of it with ordinary household objects.

It’s as big as my key-tag!

It’s as big as my key! Which, by the way, is the key to a small padlock - I use it to lock my wardrobe drawer.

And the most jaw-dropping picture:

That, my friends, is a baby mouse inside a Brand’s Chicken Essence bottle. Yes, not only can it fit, it’s sitting in there eating seeds and grooming itself! (i.e. being perfectly happy, I didn’t abuse it or anything)

And now for an “awww” moment: Darcy and LBM.

Reminds me of when Darcy first arrived, and Kipley was twice her size. *sniff*

Sunday, 3rd February 2008:

LBM was in the main cage when I woke up. This means that the little creature climbed out of its shoebox, up the tubes, and then down the tubes again into what may have seemed like paradise. The weather was very cold last night, perhaps it wanted to go somewhere warmer?

Anyway it seems to have discovered the food bowl and the drinking bottle, so I no longer have to put out separate food bowls and give it water by hand. It’s no longer picky about its food, I gave them cornflakes and they both took to it very well. For a little while all you could hear was the crunching of cornflakes and the occasional squeak as Darcy continued her food-snatching habits. LBM even nibbled on the soybean I put in the bowl, so there’s hope yet for converting both of them to a homemade diet instead of premixed food from the pet store.

I’m beginning to suspect that LBM is a male. It climbs readily onto my hand, since it’s so tiny that it can’t explore it otherwise. This gives me a chance to gently check its rear end, and I think I see a bulge that may be the scrotum. For all I know, the breeder already pre-selected the mice and sent nothing but male mice to the pet shop. Just my luck! I may have to seriously consider neutering if I don’t want to see more LBM soon.