Help: Newborn mice, probably orphans.

Irish Stones

We've just found a nest of of mice, the mus musculus kind, in the garage. The mother of the four little mice was away, the four newborns were in a nest made out from toilet tissue that we had on a shelf in our garage.
From what we saw, they are about 2 days old, they are blind, hairless and don't move too much.
As a first thing we brought them four inside home where it's warmer. In the garage we set a trap to get the mother alive so that we could unite her with her little ones. The trap was set with part of the material of the nest to attract her with the smell.
After one hour we found nothing in the trap so we thought to put the little ones in the trap with all the nest. Maybe the mother could be more easily attracted by the presence of the little ones.
My fear is that the mother could not show up and the little mice could die from cold and starving.
I need to know what I should do to help them and save them.
Most people would have got rid of them in the waste bin, I try to give a chance to every living being.
How can I feed them?
Thanks!

Irish Stones

Cancel it...
Gone to the garage and checked the situation.
The mother managed to get inside the trap and take them out without any problem at all.
Those traps are useless.
On the other hand the little mice will have a better chance to survive.
Thanks

Rancid

Until someone comes along with specific advice for you, maybe the info in this thread, especially in the second post, will help.
http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/mammal-forums/115767-baby-orphaned-mouse.html
And well done for trying to save them.

Rancid

Well, they're better off with mother mouse, alright!

Irish Stones

Well, it seems that we have news about the situation.
Chances are that we have more than a little family of mice in the garage, it's very likely that the mice could be many.
A few hours later we found another mouse, an adult one that I think is a female, trapped in a metal mesh I had in the garage. The poor little one was half on one side and half on the other side of this mesh, so I gently pulled her by her tail to set her free. I put her into a box and brought inside home where I transferred her into a cage for mice.
I used to have two Mus with me some years ago, I still have the cage.
What i found out is that these mice we have in the garage aren't of the Mus kind, but they are of the Apodemus kind, they are wood mice. Their attitude is much different from the Mus's so any attempt of interaction with this mouse is impossible. She's shy and frightened, I can't open the cage to give her food because she'd try to run away.
Now I don't know what to do with her. If I set her free in the fields around my house she'd be an easy prey, or she could die for the cold. But if I keep her with me she'd be sad and I couldn't do anything to give her comfort. At the moment I drop the food through the bars of the cage and the water is fed into a small container with a syringe. I won't be able to clean the litter.
What would you do? What could I do? Which is the right thing?

Besides, we have the problem of the other many mice in the garage. We think there are more of them and bigger than this one, because we found faeces of mouse that are a little bigger than those I found inside the cage.
Attached there is a photo of this mouse.

Silverfish

I think you should release her, mice live in little groups so she's probably missing her family. Also since she's wild she doesn't know you're helping her, she just thinks she's trapped somewhere unfamiliar and she's going to be eaten. Id say she's most likely going to die of fright, mice can't take stress for any prolonged length of time.

She's adorable though, look at her little face!

anniehoo

I'm a tad confused with this thread. Are you ok with the mice living in your garage or are you wanting to get rid of them i.e considering them a pest?

If you're ok with them in your garage you should just leave them be to be honest. As Silverfish mentioned keeping a wild rodent for any length of time in captivity can't be good for it.

Joeseph Balls

If you don't mind the mice in the garage, leave them be. They don't need you to play god. They are well able to look after themselves. Its only causing unnessessary stress moving nests, taking them inside etc...

Pretzill

That's a field mouse - the clue is in the name - she prefers to be outside but using the garage for shelter this time of the year isn't uncommon. Set her free.

Irish Stones

Actually our garage isn't the best place where we'd want mice living in. We store some food there as well and the mice already did some little damage. Though I don't want to harm them at all, I'd like them to be safe somewhere else.
So, alright, I will release this little mouse away in the fields far from home, but then I will have to cope with the rest of her family. I don't even know how many of them are hidden in the garage.