Well THIS was unexpected!

[Nikkiburr]

Well now. An interesting predicament I've found myself in here! Here I was lying on my bed, minding my own business, when in strolls a friend of mine with a "Hey look what I have for you!" and plops a small white mouse on my shoulder! A mouse!

My friend found her strolling around the shelves of the electronic section at Wal-Mart, decided that she probably wasn't going to last long there, and stuffed her in his shirt for the duration of the trip. She's quite friendly, not scared of people (or anything) at ALL and is currently in my rat carrier until I can find more suitable accommodations. I've got no real reason not to keep her, so I guess she's here to stay unless I find someone else who'd rather have her. As it stands I'm the one around here who probably will know the most what to do with her considering this next interesting fact: I've got a hunch she might be preggers. She more likely than not came from a feeder tank, and I don't know too many mouse feeder tanks that separate males and females. And she's bulging a little in a very specific area that looks to me like a preggo bulge. But on the other hand, I've never had to deal with a pregnant anything so I really dunno. I've got pictures though, so hopefully someone can help me out here. I am fully prepared to deal with babies if that's what this is leading to.

She's still young, so I'm hoping that if she is pregnant she'll get away with having a small litter. If she IS pregnant, she's not that far along cause she's not huge or anything. I've got nice high quality rat food I'm going to start feeding her and I'll look into some more nutrient enriched stuff too if I need to. I let my friend name her and he chose Ngaio, so that's what we're calling her.

pics:










At least she's cute! And I am FULLY aware of the fact that she can probably squeeze her way out of that cage if she tried hard enough, but it's all I've got for now and I'm watching her like a hawk. She's been trying since I put her in there an hour ago with no success, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed... it only needs to hold on a couple weeks until I can get her back to my house where I've got a tank.

[Topaz]

Wow!  That's quite a story!!  Wonder what she was doing in Walmart?  Surely not shopping to upgrade her plasma TV 

You'll have to keep us updated on her! She's very pretty.  I love PEWs.

[reesesgma]

Wonder what she was doing in Walmart?  Surely not shopping to upgrade her plasma TV 

Well congrats on your new friend!

[NightmareWolfie1]

Hello there!
I'm willing to bet that your hunch is right.
She is bulging more than usual.
What a lucky little girl!
As they get older, and hit maturity, they bulge a bit for a while, but she looks a bit... over bulgey? Lol.
I can't tell the bar spacing well on that cage, but in proportion to her, it doesn't look lke she's going anywhere.
Especially with her belly being larger.
Also, sorry to say, since mice are notorious for huge litters, and most I've seen have between 12-18.
On occassion you get the rare 6-8.
If you plan on keping them all, you can just separate males and females and keep them together.
Some people say you can't have male mice together, but raising siblings together I've never had a problem.
I have a colony of females here, too.
Definitley keep her with at least two of her daughters, more if you can.
They're even more social than rats and the same "The more, the better" rule applies.
^.^

[Nikkiburr]

Here are some updated pictures.  Looks to me like that tummy's getting a bit larger...

From a couple days ago:






Most recent:




And her pretty face:

[fluffy pluffy]

She's pretty! You say your friend found her in Walmart?

[Punkygirl0101]

Shes cute! She doesn't look pregnant to me though! All my females I have gotten (From mixed sex feeder bins) have always looked a bit pudgy like your girl, but never ended up pregnant.

[Mousie452]

*Pokes for an update*

Your friend found her on my birthday, she must have been looking for me at the walmart. I miss having tons of mice, but I have no time. Feeders have bigger litters sometimes, but get a good show type line going and 10 would be a large litter. My smallest litter: 2. Normally: 8. She's very good lookin' for a stray *steals*.

[fluffy pluffy]

*Pokes for an update*

Your friend found her on my birthday, she must have been looking for me at the walmart.

 

[Nikkiburr]

Ah yes, an update!  She's doing very well and, thankfully, is not pregnant!  I think I'm just going to keep her and I'll probably end up getting her a friend or two so she's not lonely.  I did stop by the shelter today to see if there were any mice there, but no such luck.  I guess I can go to a pet store. Just got her moved into a larger cage and she went ecstatic when she discovered the wheel!  So she's been using it almost nonstop and eating the rest of the time.  Probably going to have to limit her food intake because wow does she eat a lot!  She is making herself unnecessarily fat with all that food.  Goofy little girl!  I will try to get some updated pictures.

[fluffy pluffy]

So I guess Walmart DOES carry everything? 

[whtnyte]

Most recent:

That is SOOOOO not right!!! You have 3 of THE most beautiful girlie rats EVER...and then you just "fall" into one of the prettiest, friendliest girlie meeses I've seen. You MUSt buy me a lottery ticket ROFL!!!!