Kangaroo Mouse

Sad to report that a kangaroo mouse died in my house last night. I saw it in the evening when XieXie (cat) brought it in. Saw it huddling under a chair. Got a bowl to try to catch it to put it outside. I was amazed to see it hop a foot in the air and forward. It then scuttled under a defunct woofer, with the cat after it. Put XieXie and Jenny Lind (dog) outside and tried again to catch the mouse. It ran behind a piece of furniture and I gave up my rescue attempts. Went to bed, and hoped it would be able to be peacefully in the night, and hoped that XieXie would not bring it to me in bed. This morning, it was crouched on the rug, and looked alive, but too still. I swept it up and sent it off over the back fence. 


I just went to Google to see if I could find out more about kangaroo mice, and find that they are an endangered species found only in the southwest desert. Either this was not a kangaroo mouse or it had been imported, perhaps as a pet. It did have very small arms, and larger, more powerful legs, and a very long tail.