cotton balls-bad idea, they can leave fuzzies that can tourniquet the little paws right off, use something else (we used wads of warm wet tp or just a finger to stimulate potty-ing and clean milky faces)
feeding schedule-you could probably feed them every 4 hours until they are beginning to nibble and actually eat solid food, offer a water bottle at 3wks so they can become familiar with it, after they begin eating solid food feed every 6 hours or so until 5wks, after that they should be fine, you may want to feed until 6wks if they are still interested in it
your are right that not all of them will make it, but they will have a good chance with you rather than being dumped into the water dish, you could try to leave a few pups with the remaining mom if she will still accept them (not more than 4 pups), but she may not want anything to do with them
as for the water bottle problem... that's not a problem, there are water bottle guards that only expose the metal tube at the end, they are kind of expensive but worth it in the end instead of throwing away bottle after bottle all chewed up (if you can't find one, we can find one for you and ship at cost + shipping to you), until then you can offer fresh veggies and fruits and applesauce soaked bread etc. instead of water, they are desert creatures after all and can subsist off of the water from their foodsources if given enough
if you need any more help just ask, we raised a field mouse and it worked out great--
ron & traci
things-that-squeak
