Hello

Arthur had been in the process of remodeling his living room when he found something strange. Tiny tunnels were dug into the insulation of his walls. Was it mice? He hadn’t seen any other signs of an infestation. Arthur took to following the path of one of the tunnels. Sure hope there isn’t a whole nest… He had to cut away at the insulation with a pocket knife, taking care to avoid actually touching the stuff in case he’d have some kind of reaction.

After several minutes of tearing up his own wall insulation, Arthur finally found a small space that wasn’t a tunnel. It looked like a miniature burrow with the whole floor covered in unraveled cotton balls. The cotton balls were neatly distributed and even packed down at the tunnel entrance. Huh? Aren’t mice nests more messy and full of scraps?

Puzzled, Arthur cautiously poked the point of his knife into the mass of cotton. There was almost immediately a chorus of tiny squeaks. “Ah!” He fell back and dropped his knife in surprise, scooting away from the wall. Taking a breath to regain his composure, Arthur picked his knife up from where he’d dropped it and moved to look at the nest again. My goodness, they’re so tiny! Nestled in the nest were five itty-bitty creatures with hairless, pink skin. They couldn’t have been more than a day or two old.

Arthur marveled at the tiny animals for only a moment before remembering that he doesn't want mice in his walls. He stood and quickly rummaged around in search of rubber gloves. After some searching - and crossing to the opposite side of the house - Arthur finally managed to find a pair of gloves. He also found an old shoe box that he figured would be good for containing the mice. Doubling back to the nest, Arthur put on the gloves and knelt down, shoe box at the ready.

He peered into the nest. Looks like they're all still here… I wonder where the mother went? He'd ponder that later. Being careful not to hurt the baby mice, Arthur curled his fingers under both them and the cotton padding of the nest. He slowly lifted the nest contents out from the wall and quickly cupped his other hand underneath the handful for security. The mice immediately started squeaking over the disturbance. “Sorry! Sorry sorry! You're okay..” Arthur gently set the cotton and babies into the shoe box, moving a little faster for fear the mice would start squirming in his hands. “You're okay now,” he pulled off a glove and carefully closed the shoe box. Maybe being back in the dark will calm them down? He sat and waited for a moment. Thankfully, it wasn't long before the babies settled down again.

Arthur sighed in relief, though now he was stumped on what to do next. He thought for a moment before pulling off the other glove and taking his knife from his pocket. It's probably not airtight, but better safe than sorry. Arthur poked a few airholes into the top of the shoe box. “There we go!” Figuring the little animals would be fine for the moment, Arthur stood and pocketed his knife as he walked to his room. He sat at his desk, opened his laptop, and set to googling. “What to do if you find baby mice in your wall?” Arthur scrolled, opened links to Reddit threads, and scrolled some more. He found a handful of suggestions; many were to kill or dump the mice outside, and others mentioned adopting them. After reading a gruesome explanation on how to quickly kill mice by smashing them into concrete, Arthur felt he didn't have the stomach to kill them. He did a bit more searching. Animal rehab? That seemed peaceful enough. Unfortunately, Arthur couldn't find any rehabilitation centers nearby, but he did come across a piece of advice on checking if the mother was around. “Place them in a box near where they were found and observe from a distance? Well, the box part is already done!” He got up and went back to the living room. Arthur sat away from the shoe box behind a chair. This is probably far enough. He waited.

For a total of two hours, he sat there, only occasionally shifting his position a little so he could feel his legs again. Maybe they're orphans..? Or maybe the box being closed is throwing her off? Arthur got up and stiffly walked over to the box. He carefully lifted the top off and set it aside. The baby mice squeaked and squirmed; one of them raised its tiny head and wailed in what Arthur interpreted as outrage. “I'm sorry! If this works, you can be with your mama again, it'll be okay!” Backing away to sit behind the chair again, Arthur returned to waiting. He felt guilty about stressing out the mice, but fortunately, they calmed down again after a painful 30 minutes. Once again, two hours passed by.

Arthur scrolled on his phone, checking messages he'd already seen and glancing up every now and again. While rereading an email about an incoming delivery, there came a soft squeaking from the box. Arthur's head jerked up to look. Is she here? He stood as slowly and quietly as he could. Not seeing any sign of the mother mouse, Arthur cautiously approached the box. Maybe she's in the box checking on the babies..? She wasn't. He'd been doubtful, but was still disappointed when he saw the baby mice alone. Arthur sighed, “I guess your mama isn't around…” he knelt down. “That's gonna make things hard, I can't put you little things outside without a mother...”