Slight emergency concerning baby mouse care...

[Nixit]

Ah, but I suspect you never disected owl dung did you?

[nitefyre]

Ah, but I suspect you never disected owl dung did you?

You mean those balls of furs and bones and the sort? From what I can relate to owls, via city pigeons, it'd be pretty nasty to be going through that wet bird dung.

[Nixit]

Yeah, only it was dry dung... so not quite as bad.

[Lumin]

I take it that you're a vegetarian then? It is sort of gross (throwing it out into the parking lot at least), but it is not particularly cruel. I realize that there is a purpose to it, and I am not a person to try to defend one type of animal over another just because it is cute.

Actually, yes, I am a vegetarian, but I don't see anything wrong with killing animals if it's done humanely and there's a reason for it. Still, it always disturbs me when people do things like that for entertainment. Trapping mice that are causing damage or getting to be a health hazard? That's fine. But killing animals in "creative" ways just for kicks often makes me wonder about a person's mental health...

[Pie]

mice are cute, with there little pawes and beady eyes and their little fer there just soo cuty wooty oooooooooty. i can't help it. ime blond. and when it comes to animalls their all cute.

ime an animal lover. their soo cute. my grandma hase this little dogy, a yorkypoo(mix between a yorky and a poodle) it is sooo cute, with its toung licking ways.

________________________

PIE! its wats fore dinner.

[Talapus]

I never dissected owl dung (although they actually cough it up from what I understand). My grandparents however own a barn with a pair of owls living up there, so I have had to shovel it out, if that is close enough.

[Psycho Pixie]

nope, not a myth, most rodents will abandon their babies if they are touched by humans. yes, a female rat or mouse will try to defend its babies for a bit... if you corner it with the babies. BUT generally, she is gonna hide til you go away and then "rescue" any babies left.


Ya work in the pet industry long enough, talk to enough vets, see enough people with wild babies they found, hear enough horror stories about the 6 year olds hamster having babies that got eaten... you realize some stuff is just true. yucky. but true.

so, did the baby mice make it?

pixie and the curious gremlins

[wichita]

Yeah that liquid Nitrogen thing is just wrong man. Not the freezing part as much as the throwing it out in the lot part. If you're going to kill something, even if it is an animal, at least show some sign of respect.

A bunch of guys in high school mamanged to capture a bee once. (I hate bees -- allergies ) They ran it to the physics classroom and through it into the vacuum chamber to watch it puff up when the pressure was reduced. Stupid bug blew up like a baloon. Then they let the pressure off and it deflated quickly and fell down. After a while it started buzzing around mad as hell. I ran away before they tried to get it out of there.

Glue traps are incredibly evil. My friend used them in his house. He tortured the poor rats trying to release it from the trap and put in in the field behind the house. He would also find them all over the house with little bloody mice feet stuck to them, from where the mice had chewed their feet off trying to escape.

[Pie]

Now thats just mean, and sick. and rong.

[Remnant]

Many thanks to all of you for the help. The babies survived, all but one. Yes, the babies were touched by human hands, but the mother of the mice came and took them anyways. The one that did not survive was too injured to be cared for when the parentless mice were found. The least painful way to end the mouse's suffering was, at first thought, to place the mouse in the freezer. I'll probably get a few mocking posts for this, but this is what was done. The freezer would slow the blood flow of the mouse as well as shut down it's mind, allowing it a nearly painless end to it's suffering. At any rate, the mother came and took care of her young. As to what will happen to them now, I'd rather let nature take it's course.

Thanks especially to the psycho for the information. Very accurate. Very efficient.

Those of higher powers, if you'd like to lock this topic, by all means do so. Lock. Delete. Whatever. Again, thanks to all of you.

[mortaine]

Skysilver, I don't want to rain on your parade, but freezing isn't a very humane way to kill an animal. It *seems* like it would be-- just peacefully going to sleep-- but freezing to death is actually a huge energy burn and can be very painful.

Still, you did the best you could, given the information you had, and that's all any of us can hope to do. I probably would have just let the injured one go in a field. Still an uncomfortable death, but it'll have a purpose (feeding something else), at least.

BTW (for others reading this thread): Bubonic plague does exist, full well-- there are signs warning you not to touch dead animals in the Sierra Nevada mountains because it's so prevalent there.

The disease that ordinary mice carry that scares the bejeebus out of me is the flesh-eating virus. Now there's a "thank you" you don't want to get from trying to help some abandoned field mouse! Eeee!