My boyfriend was working out in the garden one day and
just wiggling in the dirt that he put all over the garden.
And he was like, “Oh my God.”
And he picked them up straight away and kept them warm.
When I raced home,
whether we put them back out in the compost and hope that the mom comes back and finds them,
or I take them inside and keep them warm and feed them.
The problem was that it was getting quite dark outside and it was coming into winter.
We didn't want to leave them out there.
We brought them in and I got a hot water bottle set up
and kept them warm and made the formula up.
They were probably like the size of the tip of my thumb.
You could barely see their toes because they were so small.
It was really hard because they’re so fragile.
It's really hard to hold a tiny mouse with this tiny paintbrush
and like get it in their mouth.
The really rocky parts were the first two, two and a half weeks.
Unfortunately, they both got sick one night and
we lost one of them, which was Scarlette.
After that, like, I was reluctant to leave it for two hours between each feed
because they got really dehydrated when they got sick and I didn't want to face that again.
for the rest of his bottle-feeding life.
I was out of it. The mouse was doing really well.
He had a real character when he was a baby, too.
Like he'd sleep on his back.
And he was a little bit like you'd expect a puppy to be like.
He grew up really, really quickly.
As he was growing up, he was getting more and more used to the routine.
From then on, he got used to it and made it a lot easier for me.
In the beginning, he didn’t go very far.
And then as he got a bit more adventurous and grew up a little bit,
I got a massive box that was a bit deeper and did the same sort of setup.
The day after his eyes opened, that’s when I bought this tank
and set this up with a hot water bottle and blankets as well.
that he'd usually have.
He loved it ‘cause his whole life he had just blankets and a hot water bottle,
so he didn't have much to play with.
When I first set it up, you could tell he was really excited
'cause there was plenty of places to explore,
like there's things to climb and things to dig through.
At the top we've got his little house that he sleeps in
and he's got a bit of a nest at the back corner over here.
He likes to organize all his tunnels and put things in his bed and move stuff around.
His favorite part, I reckon, would be all of his tunnels and little caves.
Sometimes you can see him running through and burrowing through the side of the tank.
like the layout, because it's quite fun to design.
I think he also does get a bit excited because,
I think after a while it's the same thing every day.
Once I've changed it to a new layout,
he likes to explore it and see what's new and what else is in there.
Because I always add new objects and houses and things.
He’ll be sitting on my shoulder while I do it because that's usually what he does.
He sits and supervises and watches me like, fix up the cage and tidy it up.
I thought, you know, if I’m making me a pizza, why not make a tiny one for him?
It's good because instead of giving him, you know, just his plain mouse food every day,
like he gets a salad with fresh vegetables and fruits and nuts every day as well.
It was really hard to think like, that's a life,
like he just looked like a little jelly bean with a few features.
It was really hard to comprehend that this tiny little life could turn into a mouse.
I wouldn't change anything.
It was extremely difficult, but also seeing Gustav now,
like such an achievement to be able to accomplish something like that.