Bloat or not?

[Tipofi]

I have seen other mouse posts on here so I hope I'm not breaking any rules by posting this, although I couldn't find anything that said I couldn't. Please let me know though!

I have been caring for an orphaned wild baby mouse for the last two weeks, and in the last few days I've noticed he has gotten a large tummy. I switched him to electrolyte formula for a few feedings but it didn't seem to change anything. He is a little over two and a half weeks old and usually eats around .6 ml of formula, never over 1. I originally was feeding soy baby formula but switched to kitten formula because he didn't seem to like it. He now goes the entire night without feedings, and during the night I put rice baby cereal mixed with formula, slightly watered down baby food, a tiny piece of bread soaked with formula, and some oats and water that stay in the tank all day. I usually take the first three out because he doesn't want to eat any formula when I leave them in, and I prefer to feed him during the day so I can monitor him better. A pet store employee suggested I use my old hamster food for him to nibble on, but I've seen a lot of people strongly recommend against it, so I am just going to pick up some real mouse feed when I go to town. This is my first time caring for a baby mouse, and I'm 17 currently without a vehicle in the middle of nowhere so it is a little complicated to get supplies. I'm worried that because it's my first time I am not sure how to tell symptoms such as a hard tummy or too little poop. He eats pretty well, however I am a bit worried because he tends to stop and gasp/gape his mouth until I put the syringe back into it, it almost seems like he has no control over doing it. When he does this I just put the syringe back into his mouth to get him to stop then take it away and give him a minute to chill. He also poops a good amount in my opinion, usually he poops without me even having to stimulate him (I still do at the end of every feeding). He does not have diarrhea, his poop pretty much just soft little droppings.

During the first few days I figured everything was okay and maybe he was normal if not just a little chunky. I always massage his tummy pretty good after feeding so I get a good look every time, and I've noticed his tummy start to look a little dark, slightly purple and yellow. He doesn't show obvious discomfort when I massage him or stimulate him to use the bathroom, he likes to groom me/lick my finger while I do it though which I suppose could be self soothing? I've attached an image from this mornings feeding. Sorry for so much disorganization in one post, I'm just a bit tired and worried!

[CritterMom]

He is adorable! My second hand raised baby mouse is now an adult who makes it clear that he judges me and finds me wanting. And after all of those through the night feedings! There are lots of other people here that have done the same with baby mice. You are just fine here.

What you are seeing on his tummy is: yellow is what is called the "milk line" because it is literally the line in the stomach that the formula you just fed him has reached. The skin is so thin you can see inside the body. The dark things are his skin, internal organs, etc. He looks perfect to me. As his formula digests, that yellow line gets smaller and smaller until it is gone and he needs to eat again.

I am a little leery about the kitten formula. It is an absolute NO for squirrels, but given that he is just about on all solid foods at this point, I would just watch him closely. It causes diarrhea in squirrels. But it sounds like his poops are fine and I don't like the idea of messing with "fine."

The open mouthed behavior when feeding just blew my mind. We see this all the time with baby squirrels - in fact we call it "guppy mouth" because that is what it looks like. It is a seizure of sorts that is brought on while feeding and no, nobody knows why one does it and the other does not. You are doing the right thing - you want to immediately stop pushing the feeding syringe so you aren't putting formula in him while he temporarily can't/won't swallow. With squirrels, usually something unexpected happening will snap them out of it. I had one that did it every feeding, and I would pull the nipple out of his mouth and tap him on the top of the head with it.

I have NEVER heard of this behavior in a mouse or anything else for that matter! So until your post, I thought this was a squirrel-specific thing. I wonder if other rodents do it?

You want "rat and mouse" food, not any other rodent. They have a completely different diet than guinea pigs, bunnies, hamsters, etc. And you do not want something that consists of a bunch of different seeds and corn. That is stuff they LIKE, NOT stuff that is healthy for them. If you find some things you can get your hands on, post the name, or a link to the site here on your thread and someone will weigh in as to good or bad.

They are ridiculously cute, aren't they?

[Tipofi]

He is adorable! My second hand raised baby mouse is now an adult who makes it clear that he judges me and finds me wanting. And after all of those through the night feedings! There are lots of other people here that have done the same with baby mice. You are just fine here.

What you are seeing on his tummy is: yellow is what is called the "milk line" because it is literally the line in the stomach that the formula you just fed him has reached. The skin is so thin you can see inside the body. The dark things are his skin, internal organs, etc. He looks perfect to me. As his formula digests, that yellow line gets smaller and smaller until it is gone and he needs to eat again.

I am a little leery about the kitten formula. It is an absolute NO for squirrels, but given that he is just about on all solid foods at this point, I would just watch him closely. It causes diarrhea in squirrels. But it sounds like his poops are fine and I don't like the idea of messing with "fine."

The open mouthed behavior when feeding just blew my mind. We see this all the time with baby squirrels - in fact we call it "guppy mouth" because that is what it looks like. It is a seizure of sorts that is brought on while feeding and no, nobody knows why one does it and the other does not. You are doing the right thing - you want to immediately stop pushing the feeding syringe so you aren't putting formula in him while he temporarily can't/won't swallow. With squirrels, usually something unexpected happening will snap them out of it. I had one that did it every feeding, and I would pull the nipple out of his mouth and tap him on the top of the head with it.

I have NEVER heard of this behavior in a mouse or anything else for that matter! So until your post, I thought this was a squirrel-specific thing. I wonder if other rodents do it?

You want "rat and mouse" food, not any other rodent. They have a completely different diet than guinea pigs, bunnies, hamsters, etc. And you do not want something that consists of a bunch of different seeds and corn. That is stuff they LIKE, NOT stuff that is healthy for them. If you find some things you can get your hands on, post the name, or a link to the site here on your thread and someone will weigh in as to good or bad.

They are ridiculously cute, aren't they?

Thank you so much! Admittedly I've been overly anxious after his sister passed, but this has definitely helped me too look at it with a clearer lens. I was also wary about switching him to kitten formula, but surprisingly it actually helped to combat the diarrhea that the baby formula was giving him!

The guppy mouth thing is very interesting to me, and now that you've described it it does sound exactly like what he does. The most similar thing I could find to it was people saying it could be a reaction to formula being too hot or being aspirated, but I've found that neither seemed to be true in his case. Perhaps he was a squirrel in a past life 😆

I'll be sure to find a good food following that criteria. There is a little pet shop relatively close that specializes in rodents and always has really great products, so I'm hoping to be able to find something there tomorrow. I'll go ahead and link what I find!

They really are just so darling. He loves to cuddle up in my palm and just sleep there, I find it so hard to put him back in his tank so I can go get other things done. On another note, I'm not sure whether or not it would be right to get him a friend since I don't plan to release him (there are a lot of birds of prey and cats around where I live, and so far he is extremely people friendly.) It seems like everyone has pretty mixed opinions on whether or not males (especially non-domesticated) need a companion. He's gonna have a nice and spacious setup once he's a little bigger, and I worry about him being lonely, but I also worry about aggression and neutering.

Thanks again for your reply, it helps a ton!