Wild mouse and domestic mouse?

[LucidDreamer]

Ok here's the scoop.

I have a semi tamed wild female mouse ( a white footed mouse) and am thinking of getting a domesticated mouse as a companion. Would this work out?.
No more wild mice have come into my appartment all winter and I've decided to keep the wild mouse and see if I can tame her further.

I have a feeling that a domesticated mouse would both make my wild mouse more tame and give my wild mouse some companionship.

If so anyone got any mice around southern vt?,  because if I try this out, I'd rather get a rescued mouse then a petshop/breeder one.

[BlueMoon]

Several things to think about:

1. I don't know about VT laws, but in New York, you would need a permit to legally keep a wild white-footed mouse in captivity, as they are a native species. To be honest, it's unlikely anyone would find out if you were illegally keeping a wild mouse, but I have to suggest you check out your state's laws on the matter. Without knowing the background info on where this mouse came from, I won't comment on whether she should have been released.

2. Let's say you disregard the laws. Has this mouse been to a vet? It's unlikely she has hanta, lepto, or anything else too serious (if she did, at this point, you'd probably be sick). But what about internal or external parasites? They might not be immediately evident.

3. It took me about a year to introduce my wild rat, Beatrice, to a domestic cagemate, Imogene. It was VERY hard on Imogene, and the ability to socialize with another rat seems to make little difference to Beatrice. She can be very rough with Imogene, although they do live together peacefully now, if I could go back and do things differently, I think I'd have left Beatrice by herself. Although I have heard of a case where a wild mouse and domestic mice lived together, it's not something I'm going to recommend trying.

4. In terms of taming, your wild mouse will always be a WILD mouse. Beatrice is "tame" and trusts me, but she is still a VERY different sort of animal than any domestic rat I've had. There are some aspects of their behavior you just can't change. *looks at scarred fingers*

[ShadowDancer60]

Do you have a pic of this wild mouse? I presently have 6 deermice, 3 males, 3 females, living with opposite  sex members of my domestic population. Honey and Mrs T are with my dom Buff, One-eye has 3 girls to keep him company, White-eye has Esme, Emma is with Missy Wildling, and Taggert has 2 domestic girls.

The only problem I have ever had with intros was when I got Harley, my white/black girl... she wanted absolutely nothing to do with White-eye and Esme, and attacked White-eye... and attacked Esme, who is 3x her size. We figured it was due to the wild mouse scent from White-eye, and that was on Esme.

All other deermice we've had were released by a river in a wooded section about 3 miles from our house.

While these six are used to us, they still exhibit their wild instincts. The onlt thing they haven't tried yet is to escape. But we try not offering that particular temptation. (Actually, Honey is with us because, while preparing for our last release trip, she did, in fact, escape... and was caught 24 hrs later, about 3 feet from where she escaped from. Being only 6 weeks old at the time, we didn't feel comfortable releasing her by herself)

I'll put a few deermouse pics in my mouse album, if you'd like to compare yours with mine to verify species.

[scrubjay]

People do need to be aware that deer mice and white-footed mice (Peromyscus species)can carry hantavirus and transmit to humans.  It can be deadly to humans, while the mice may not look sick at all.  It is estimated that 14% of the deer mice in Washington (where I now live) carry hantavirus.  You don't need to be paranoid, but please be careful.  Someone in Washington just died from this disease.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/noframes/FAQ.htm

[LucidDreamer]

Keeping deer mice? *falls off chair*.... I've had deermouse (twice) briefly but once identified I didn't keep them over the hanta virus thing.

I dunno about illegal but then someone should have told the mouse before she entered my apartment (and repeatedly I might add).  I know it was the same mouse because every time she wasn't with me, I heard a mouse come inside again. She'd be in the wild a week or two and then she was back with me.

Sorry I don't have a picture of this particular mouse, but there's plenty of pics of white footed mice on-line.

[BlueMoon]

Keeping deer mice? *falls off chair*.... I've had deermouse (twice) briefly but once identified I didn't keep them over the hanta virus thing.

Both deer mice and white-footed mice can spread hanta (the link that scrubjay posted confirms that).

[ShadowDancer60]

I am aware of the various viruses that wild mice can carry... I researched it as thouroughly as possible when I started trapping them in my basement, since I did NOT wish to become ill due to them even living in the house. I refuse to kill trap anything if it is at all feasible to live trap and release. Five of the six deermice are still with me due to physical impairments which would have drastically reduced their chances of survival. ( One of these actually caught herself, since I had the traps on end, and empty. I went down into the basement to get supper, and heard a noise... and found her staring up out of the plastic trap, making no attempt to bolt. She was put into a tank with Taggert...4 weeks later we found the mouse was a she... with the delivery of 4 pinkies. These, when they were old enough to be weaned, were introduced to the batch of adults that were being released soon, so they'd bond with them) These 5 have been with me for over 2 years, now.