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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Deer Mice
Just after being put in critter keeper. These are weanling deer mice. When I went over to my friend’s cabin to open it up in preparation for his return from his winter stay in Hawaii, I found a mama deer mouse had made a nest in the upper freezer compartment of his refrigerator, which had been turned off for the winter with the door left open. Mama had recently got into some rat bait and gone and died in the freezer, and when I pulled the nest out, these three little orphans popped out. I brought them home and am keeping them in a critter keeper. At first I thought they might not make it, but they have begun eating their oat groats, rodent block and fruit, and now look pretty good.
A few days later. Plumping up and relaxing. Not sure how long they had gone without food, as the mama was decaying and there was no food available in the freezer, and they had not eaten any of the dead mama. Tough little dudes! I will keep them; they are interesting. They are not being kept in my mouse barn, but in the cabin in an out of cat reach spot. |
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| 06/02/09 08:30am |
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EvilTrailMix View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2015079 Deer Mice
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| 06/02/09 01:11pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: EvilTrailMix In reference to Message Id: 2015159 Deer Mice
They really like their strawberries fresh from the garden. This is how I am giving them fluids. Eventually when they go into a regular mouse tub I will see if they will use a water bottle. if not I always have organic fruit available. |
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| 06/02/09 09:15pm |
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Jynxer50 View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2015459 Deer Mice
Jake |
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| 06/02/09 10:39pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: Jynxer50 In reference to Message Id: 2015516 Deer Mice
I have a leaky water bottle which will work great. This morning they are all bunched down in the bedding warm and content. I was going to photograph them but all you would see is a little bit of fur under a lot of bedding. They are nocturnal, so I will try for some more pictures late tonight. They have eaten most of their strawberries and some of the groats and rodent block. |
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| 06/03/09 09:29am |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2015658 Deer Mice
Here they are as of last night. They will need a bigger container soon. I will make another mouse tub today. The red stuff is their strawberries. They bite holes in the berries exactly like the damage I sometimes find in the garden. I think I may have discovered what sort of animal is getting the garden berries! The cats have definitely fallen down on the job! LOL! |
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| 06/04/09 08:14am |
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EvilTrailMix View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2016164 Deer Mice
Those babies are looking good! Do you know what gender they are? It would be cool if they were all the same so they could live together. |
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| 06/04/09 02:52pm |
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Jynxer50 View Profile |
Message To: EvilTrailMix In reference to Message Id: 2016347 Deer Mice
Deer Mice as Pets Jake |
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| 06/04/09 07:29pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: Jynxer50 In reference to Message Id: 2016489 Deer Mice
Learning about the water cup. When I put my hand in the critter keeper they are not too freaked out. I don’t try to catch them or scare them. When they get bigger I’ll see what gender they are. A male and two females would be sweet. |
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| 06/04/09 08:56pm |
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EvilTrailMix View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2016535 Deer Mice
Jynxer, some of the mice from that link reminded me of Greedo from Star Wars, with their bulging eyes and quirky little ears. LOL! |
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| 06/04/09 09:04pm |
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Jynxer50 View Profile |
Message To: EvilTrailMix In reference to Message Id: 2016540 Deer Mice
Jake |
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| 06/04/09 09:12pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: Jynxer50 In reference to Message Id: 2016545 Deer Mice
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| 06/04/09 09:18pm |
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EvilTrailMix View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2016547 Deer Mice
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| 06/04/09 10:03pm |
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Jynxer50 View Profile |
Message To: EvilTrailMix In reference to Message Id: 2016568 Deer Mice
Ahh! Now I’m the hijacker! lol Jake |
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| 06/04/09 10:31pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: Jynxer50 In reference to Message Id: 2016582 Deer Mice
Checking out the water bottle. This is a new water bottle. They learned where the water is by bonking their heads on the metal tube and getting a little shower. The third mouse is in the paper tube.
My friend John bought this new critter keeper for me, as his son had accidentally broke one of my old ones that I deliver my mice in. This one is a nice upgrade, and is still small enough to sit on the heating pad in the cardboard box. My new ginger mouse and his mates got the big sterilite tub I had planned to give to the deer mice. When I transferred them I looked at their bottoms and I think I have two females and one male. Hard to tell; will look again in a couple of weeks. |
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| 06/05/09 08:26pm |
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EvilTrailMix View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2016970 Deer Mice
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| 06/05/09 11:45pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: EvilTrailMix In reference to Message Id: 2017057 Deer Mice
Their most active time is at dusk. I try to do the cage chores during the day when they are sleeping, as at night they are popping around like popcorn and I don’t want them escaping into my cabin with 6 cats! |
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| 06/06/09 08:27am |
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EvilTrailMix View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2017138 Deer Mice
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| 06/13/09 02:44pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: EvilTrailMix In reference to Message Id: 2021597 Deer Mice
I upended their toilet paper roll hide to get the pictures. They did not appreciate that at all! But they are doing very well. The third photo is of the littlest one. Tomorrow they will go into a larger critter keeper. I don’t really trust my regular mouse tubs to confine these intelligent and wily little characters. One thing very nice about these deer mice is they don’t stink like domestic mice!
When I get them into their new habitat I will do a little youtube video (Go to youtube and look at greatballzofire’s videos.) This will be easier than trying to capture still images of them! Other mouse news: Tommy Tutone is a daddy! Nice batch of pinks. Can hardly wait to see if I have any more tutones! Got a new mouse Silvio who is a pretty silver color; in with a pair of white sisters. Ginger is doing fine, too soon to tell if his ladies are pregnant yet but they have accepted him nicely. Red sired a big batch of red babies. Photos will be provided in the next few days. |
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| 06/13/09 08:06pm |
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EvilTrailMix View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2021784 Deer Mice
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| 06/14/09 04:07pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: EvilTrailMix In reference to Message Id: 2022175 Deer Mice
Their new digs, on the right.
After the video shoot...we are tired! I am glad I put the two critter keepers in a big sterilite tub, as they hopped around so much during the transfer that one of them actually jumped onto the lip of the critter keeper, then onto the lip of the big tub and onto my easy chair! I scooped it up quickly! This happened twice! Whew! Tonight they got crickets as a treat. They do eat insects, and I always have gobs of crickets. I don’t know why they don’t smell. The litter in their old keeper was over a week old and it smells like the strawberries I feed them more than anything else. Three domestic mice the same age in that size keeper would definitely smell more, although domestic mouse babies don’t smell very much, either, its mainly the adult male urine that is the big stinky. Maybe when they become adults they will have more of a smell. I have one female and two males, as near as I can tell. The big female has nipples and her genitalia look female. |
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| 06/14/09 07:59pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2022323 Deer Mice
No more critter keepers for these peppy little guys! They got one of my old mouse cages which is 2ftx2ftx2ft and covered with hardware cloth. It passed the mouse test with no escapees, so I think the deer mice will do fine in it. Will maybe try to get better photos tonight when they are out and about. |
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| 06/16/09 07:09pm |
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Cherrykins View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2023517 Deer Mice
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| 07/05/09 01:56pm |
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EvilTrailMix View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2023517 Deer Mice
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| 07/05/09 04:10pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: EvilTrailMix In reference to Message Id: 2034393 Deer Mice
I just took these photos. What a buch of zippy zoomers! Trying to get a photo with the cage door open and not have anyone escape! Whew! Had to disturb them a bit for a daytime shot. You can see their adult colors are coming in; the brown on their sides. They are doing great! No smell, either. They are in my outdoor sleeping room. At night when I am on the computer they come out and watch me. Their cage sits on my table. I have not been able to discern gender, but it appears I have three females, as I have seen nothing that so far looks like testicles. LOL! I feed them oat groats, a cockatiel seed mix, and fruit. They have a water bowl, as they never did seem to get the hang of the water bottle. Unlike domestic mice, they don’t mess up their water bowl, although I change it daily. They also have a little pumice stone to gnaw on, as well as the cuttlefish bone. They don’t seem too fond of the rodent block, but it is there just in case. |
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| 07/05/09 06:57pm |
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Zookid239 View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2034485 Deer Mice
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| 07/05/09 07:01pm |
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EvilTrailMix View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2034485 Deer Mice
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| 07/05/09 10:35pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: EvilTrailMix In reference to Message Id: 2034630 Deer Mice
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| 07/06/09 08:30am |
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