We kept them for a few weeks. We gave them food and water and a cardboard tube to hide in. There was an exercise wheel in the cage, which one of the three made good use of. As I recall, another climbed the walls a lot and the third mostly cowered in the tube.
Based on the theory that mice need to be able to sleep in the daytime, plus the fact that one of them seemed to be terrified of us, we draped a kitchen towel over the cage to give some privacy. They appreciated this gesture very much, but not in the way that it was intended. They were able to grab the towel through the bars and rip off little bits of it, and they kept this up until they had plenteous masses of red and white nesting material in the cardboard tube and elsewhere. So much for covering the cage, though -- in effect, the curtain rose steadily as the days passed.
Eventually a thaw came and we judged that they would be happier outdoors; my daughter and I took them to the usual place and said good-bye.
In Short
9 hours ago
