Other Turtle Discussion :: Take it or leave it?

[jenaero]

this doesn't really fit on this board, but we have no "non-turtle related" general board here so I'm putting this here anyway.

There's a baby mouse in my office. I can't imagine where he'd get food or anything like that. I just noticed him this morning. He's maybe an inch long and I feel kind of bad for him. I'm definetly not one to take animals out of their environment for no particular reason so here's my question. I've got an empty tank here at home...do I catch him so I know he's fed and happy or do I let him roam and end up wherever he may? Bit of a moral quandry here.

[TexasJagsFan]

That's a tough decision, does it look healthy?

If it looks healthy I would leave it, if it doesn't I would keep it.

[jenaero]

I haven't been able to get too close of a look. He's really small, and super fast.

[bradhart]

are you in a city? would it be able to survive outside?

[jenaero]

there's a few places I could let it go, but he's so cute, I'd rather keep him.lol

[STRAYKINGFISHER]

If he's still tiny, odds are, there is a momma somewhere nearby, especially if it looks healthy, besides, people usually drop pieces of food on the floor without realizing it, and they don't eat that much to begin with.

I would leave it alone myself, but that's just me.

[TexasJagsFan]

You could leave some food out every night.

[flutterby]

Not to be rude or nitpicky...

We tell people not to cage turtles from the "wild" so why should a mouse be any different?

My daughter found a cute little baby frog last night outside and she wanted to keep it. I told her how would she feel if someone saw her in Walmart thought she was cute and decided to take her home?

[steve]

i think there is a quite a difference between a wild res and an office mouse. i do see both sides of the discussion but not it's not exactly comparable, IMHO.

[cam722]

Well.. I'm all for helping animals in distress.. but well mice aren't one of them. My home is often invaded with the little buggers because I live near a farm. My oldest son who works for a very prominent disease R&D company.
He has pointed out to me time and again about making sure I'm careful when cleaning up after my "visitors" .. You may want to take a look at the info on these pages before taking a wild mouse/rodent into your house. I'm sure captive bred mice are a different story all together.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/index.htm

http://www.responsiblewildlifemanagement.org/hanta_virus.htm

[Hammy]

hello... I'm still new here... hehe!

Just wanted to add - if you leave the mouse roaming the office you have the possibility of it chewing things... and the last thing you would want it chewing would be electrical cables.

I would try to catch it, then let it go outside - or at least in someone else's office