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Baby mice
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Baby mice
Oh oh oh. I was down in the wilderness that is supposed to be my vegetable garden, enjoying watching my robin helper. A movement caught my eye. Had to peer closely then realised I was looking at a baby mouse, eyes still shut, blundering about. The more I watched, the more I saw - six in total, all as blind as each other.
So hard. Don't want to encourage mice, but couldn't bring myself to 'deal' with them either. Have left them to take their chance.
So hard. Don't want to encourage mice, but couldn't bring myself to 'deal' with them either. Have left them to take their chance.
freebird- Posts : 2244
Join date : 2011-10-19
Age : 67
Location : Powys
Re: Baby mice
It seems strange that they were visible, you would expect them to be underground. Do you think something had unearthed them?
Ploshkin- Posts : 1779
Join date : 2013-07-18
Location : Mid Wales
Re: Baby mice
I had a slightly similar dilemma - we have mice in the shed from time to time (the family who lived next door when we first came had an aviary, and there was bird seed all over the place, so I think this established the mice. I try to be clean and tidy with chicken feed, and it's kept in a dustbin, but the mice seem to be thriving!) I don't really like using poison, partly because it wouldn't be great for the hens to pick it up, but also because in my experience the mice tend to die somewhere inaccessible, leaving a horrible smell. I have a few of those snap-shut traps, which do the job quickly and hopefully painlessly, but I picked up one of the traps which seemed to have shut by itself the other day. However when I looked closely, there was a bright-eyed little mouse crouching in the middle of the trap with its tail caught by the jaws of the trap. I didn't have the heart to kill it, and let it go as far away from the house as I could (although opening the jaws of the trap, and releasing it without it running up my arm wasn't easy!)
Dandelion- Admin
- Posts : 5416
Join date : 2010-01-17
Age : 67
Location : Ledbury, Herefordshire
Dandelion- Admin
- Posts : 5416
Join date : 2010-01-17
Age : 67
Location : Ledbury, Herefordshire
Re: Baby mice
These are the traps I use - you can see that there's enough room for a mouse to curl up inside it when it's shut (although it's only happened once!) On the whole this style is efficient and also easy to empty (I'm not selling them, honest!!)
Dandelion- Admin
- Posts : 5416
Join date : 2010-01-17
Age : 67
Location : Ledbury, Herefordshire
Re: Baby mice
Are they supposed to catch the mouse alive, or dead ? I was told that catching them alive is a problem because you have to take them a long way if they aren't to return, and some judge that as cruel in itself
Outdoors, I adopt a relaxed approach to mice. The various neightbours' cats will probably get them fairly soon, heaven knows there are enough of them (actually the cats are far more trouble than the mice !). Indoors, garage, shed etc, they are another matter. I have an all-metal version of the classic "little nipper" mouse trap, and it does its job quite effectively. Despite a few recommendations for peanut butter, cheese still seems to work best for me. Because it spikes on the trap fairly firmly, it can't be got without the trap triggering.
Outdoors, I adopt a relaxed approach to mice. The various neightbours' cats will probably get them fairly soon, heaven knows there are enough of them (actually the cats are far more trouble than the mice !). Indoors, garage, shed etc, they are another matter. I have an all-metal version of the classic "little nipper" mouse trap, and it does its job quite effectively. Despite a few recommendations for peanut butter, cheese still seems to work best for me. Because it spikes on the trap fairly firmly, it can't be got without the trap triggering.
Chilli-head- Admin and Boss man
- Posts : 3305
Join date : 2010-02-23
Location : Bedfordshire
Re: Baby mice
These traps usually break their necks - we used to have a 'humane' mouse trap in a previous house, but when we caught a pygmy shrew in it while we were all out of the house, and the shrew died in the trap anyway (and was difficult to remove) I decided that killing something slowly - even if you didn't mean to - was unnecessarily cruel.
Dandelion- Admin
- Posts : 5416
Join date : 2010-01-17
Age : 67
Location : Ledbury, Herefordshire
Re: Baby mice
I can't remember if I mentioned another mouse story before (we don't have lots of mice, honestly...) - a few years ago my youngest daughter discovered that a mouse had somehow got into the log burner and was climbing around the paper and wood which had been left in their for a fire later on. the problem was that oldest daughter is terrified of mice so we had to remove it without her knowing. The two of us managed it eventually using a waste paper basket to catch it as it shot out of the log burner. We put it into a plastic box with a lid and drove to a churchyard over five miles away and let it free. However good the homing instincts of mice are I doubt if it found its way back (unless it was the acrobat mouse who curled itself up inside the trap this week!!!)
Dandelion- Admin
- Posts : 5416
Join date : 2010-01-17
Age : 67
Location : Ledbury, Herefordshire
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