Ok, this isn't the first time I'ver ever used maya. I dabbled with it a few years ago and only ever made models by following a video tutorial or something. So I know a little of the basics regarding modelling, but I've never tried rigging/animating before. I am attempting to model and animate a mouse at the moment. This is the first time I've ever modelled anything without following a tutorial, so its a little daunting to say the least - especially considering the only references I'm using are googled images of mice (mainly this one) . Here are two perspective views of my model:





I'm sure most people here would consider this model a little rough around the edges, but I'm considering it finished as far as the polygon modelling goes. Now I wish to learn how to rig and animate it. I'm only aiming for a very simple animation; I'm not bothered about animating each toe individually! But so far I've had great difficulty finding any simple resources that would explain where to begin animating a mouse, so I've just looked at a few tutorials for rigging a human to try and understand the fundamentals. This is why I'm posting here....I'd really appreciate any advice regarding what I need to do to achieve a simple animation. All I have done so far is create a bit of the skeleton (working from this reference image of a mouse skeleton):



I'm not even certain that what I've done so far is correct, so I'd appreciate it if somebody could point me in the right direction. I'm not sure what would be the best way about animating the tail so any tips on how to do this would be great. Also, if anyone knows of any good tutorials that would help me on this subject, or maybe any books that you'd recommend, then that would be very helpful! Thanks!