There's a moose loose aboot this hoose.....

[S.C.M.]

hum. We have tree rats here, although they are more like big mice, and quite cute (I know this because they drown themselves in the water troughs for our alpacas in the summer) I'm not allowed to do any damage to them anymore, because we have(or had, it may have committed suicide) a rat in the palm tree, which seems to be keeping the palm weevils at bay. I can provide piccies of the nest it's made if you want

also, we have not (I think) had any invaders in our house, apart from insects (and geckos, but they are awesome), but the rats are capable of doing a number on the carobs

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

Took out a rat with a well thrown axe in a hovel i lived in in Coventry once, the mess was not fun to clean up. Also got a few mice in snap traps. The landlord was a complete muppet, never fixed the hole in the floor, or the door, the water heater etc, so when i left, i accidently lobbed a 2lb bag of mixed bird seed through the hole in the kitchen floor. I hope they had a feast and invited there mates round !!

 

[Wook]

Mr. Mouse or one of his kin came back. We could hear them scuttling about the attic last night. Today I popped down to the local hardware store and bought some traps. Sadly they only had kill traps, but I bought the best ones he had in the hope of minimising any suffering.

However when I explained what I planned to my 7 year old daughter she burst into tears and cried for 20 minutes.

"I feel sorry for the mice", she explained through the sobs.

Being a complete pushover when it comes to seeing my daughter upset, we took an evening drive to the nearest B&Q and bought some live traps instead. My daughter was much happier about this.

On the drive home she elaborated on her thinking. "If you kill an animal you should use the whole thing" she said. "And we don't have any use for a mouse.....". She's a smart girl. "The Romans used to dip mice in honey and sesame seeds", she added rather unexpectedly.

"I didn't know that", I replied.

In retrospect I think she was right (about not killing needlessly, no idea if she was right about the Romans! ). We should try a non-lethal method first. If the live traps really do not work, we can always use the kill traps as a last resort.

I've read a few reviews though and it sounds like they do actually work. They are Rentokill See-Saw type traps.

 

[British Red]

Each to their own - nothing cute about leptospirosis in children or adults. I kill rats and mice in or around the homestead by the most rapid means possible. Just not a chance I'm willing to take with my health or that of my family.

 

[Wook]

I'm not convinced the live traps are any less effective. We'll see. I haven't ruled out killing them, I just don't see the need to do so as a first course of action.

I'd like to find a way of co-existing peacefully with mice if I at all can.

 

[Wook]

Well that was quick. Got one already....

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

On the drive home she elaborated on her thinking. "If you kill an animal you should use the whole thing" she said. "And we don't have any use for a mouse.....". She's a smart girl. "The Romans used to dip mice in honey and sesame seeds", she added rather unexpectedly.

"I didn't know that", I replied.

In retrospect I think she was right (about not killing needlessly, no idea if she was right about the Romans! ).

She is right on both counts, if you kill a animal every effort should be made to use as much of it as possible when I was in colladge I used to skin the local fox population and get the hide tanned same with rabbits, deer etc. Surprising how much you'll get for a mink too, then again they smell vial and are vicious little gits one got stuck in a live trap once and was loaded into a landrover full of student keepers, when it escaped I have never seen a landrover empty so fast .

And the Romans did do that, it wasn't all Larks toungs and Wolf nipple chips. The ate a lot of mice, they used to get a door mouse skin and gut it and stuff a olive inside wrap it in a leaf roast it then ate it quite the dish I am lead to believe and was considered a posh dish fit for only people about a certain social standing. The legionary used to used to have a much simpler dish available to him, basically just pan fried with mushrooms and chunks of bred.

 

[Biker]

As I had feared the mouse living in my car had a life-partner or concubine. It was out on Tuesday night chewing on a sweet wrapper I had left on the passenger seat. Set two traps and found one had nailed the little blighter on Thursday morning. I set the traps again last night in case it had children.

I quite sympathise about the needless killing aspect, but to me humane traps means passing the problem onto someone else if you live in a town, they breed worse than rabbits. Over a 3 month period I got 58 mice in our woodshed, they were after the horse feed we stored in there. After the first couple I soon got thcik skinned about this needless kiling. Figured I was providing a night snack to other animals up the food chain because the bodies of those mice were always gone the next day.

I wonder if I got another mouse in the car overnight? Hmmmm I'll keep you posted.

 

[Wook]

In my case Biker I live in a small village. This morning I took the again full trap for a wee drive a mile outside the village and released the mouse into a hedgerow. Hopefully he'll get the message

 

[Biker]

In my case Biker I live in a small village. This morning I took the again full trap for a wee drive a mile outside the village and released the mouse into a hedgerow. Hopefully he'll get the message

Good for you mate. Did your daughter witness the release?

I soooo know what you mean about a distressed daughter influencing you to go out to buy more humane and expensive traps. I'm a soft touch too. Wouldn't be human if I wasn't.

Top tip I got from someone was to release the rodent the other side of a fast flowing river. Do it away from any bridges and down stream to you if poss. It's a natural barrier between him and his former residence. Might work. Good luck on the hunting.

 

[Wook]

No I didn't think to bring my daughter along, although that is a good idea. She was still getting up at the time. When my wife told me the trap was full my first thought was I didn't know how long the mouse had been cooped up in there, so I was keen to release them ASAP.

 

[British Red]

Sadly, at least according to Peta, there is a large risk that the mouse will now die anyway

Captured mice and rats can be kept calm by placing a towel over the trap. Release them within 100 yards of where they were trapped. (Rodents can also be humanely euthanized by a veterinarian or at a local animal shelter.) Releasing a mouse or rat into a strange area will almost surely result in the animal's death because relocated animals don't know where to find adequate food, water, or shelter and often become weak and succumb to predation or foreign parasites or disease against which they lack a natural immunity.

http://www.peta.org/issues/wildlife/house-mice.aspx

I know the to be true when some nerk started trap and release with urban foxes. They died a slow horrible death from starvation and infection when released in the countryside.

Unfortunate, but there we have it

 

[Toddy]

Sorry Wook, I know children's sensibilities are to be gentled along, but mice are vermin. We need to step beyond the Hollywood big eyed = cute and lovable and focus on those damned teeth and the constant urination and the truly stupendous breeding ability.

See if I live trapped a mouse, and then dropped it into a big jar with grass and a few grains of something in it. If I put the lid on tight, shift the jar to someplace dark and cool, the wee beastie will just snuggle down and die peacefully, just white out, wouldn't it ?
Later on I can just empty the whole thing into one of the compost heaps and let the worms and nature take care of things.
No pain, no poison, no mis set traps, and as calm as I can make it.

Yes/no ?

M

 

[Wook]

I agree that mice are a health hazard. I also agree that live trapping may ultimately result in their death. I acknowledge that my initial lack of concern on finding mice in my family's living area was rather naive. I did not know about the sorts of diseases they could transmit.

However, I'd rather at least try to come up with a way of getting the mice out of the house that doesn't involve killing them.

My wife has got a case of the heebie jeebies about the mice in the house - she is worried about the kids. So we've upped the amount of traps we are putting down.

We heard them in the attic but have not seen them up there and the live traps were not catching anything. It is difficult regularly checking attic traps as well which of course runs the risk of the "humane" traps being anything but. So we have switched the attic traps over to kill traps (but not told our daughter) and moved all the live traps downstairs to where the live traps appear to be working.

We've also contacted our landlord about seeing if the exterior of the house cannot be more effectively mouse-proofed.

The village in which we have has a reputation as being a bit mousey whenever planting or harvesting is going on. Lot's of cat owners here....

 

[Biker]

This morning I found another customer for my trap I set in the car last night. That's three in total I've nailed that got in inside my car to nest. I've been working a lot this past couple of weeks and the back seats have been down to trasnport all my tools and such about. The mice settled in a carrier bag with some scrap paper in it in the footwell behind the dirver's seat. I was sooo worried they'd be under the dashboard chewing on wiring.

Anyway another donation to the midnight snacking animals. But I left the traps set just in case there are anymore volunteers to test their reflexes.

 

[Wook]

Well the landlord sent round an exterminator to have a look today. I discussed the live traps with him. He agreed that they are a clever and surprisingly effective design. However he said it is actually illegal to use them in the way described in the instructions.

The instructions on the back of the box say to release trapped mice away from other dwellings, so I'd been releasing them in a hedgerow outside the village. Apparently it is illegal to release vermin on other people's property without permission. Since all land in the UK belongs to someone, that makes the live traps illegal to use. According to the exterminator the only legal way to use a live trap would be to "humanely" drown the mice after trapping. Seems like a quick neck snap is a lot more humane.

So it's over to kill traps I'm sorry to say. The exterminator wanted to put down poison, but I draw the line at that. It seems too cruel, plus there are children and babies in this house. He only had 2 "jaw" type traps with him, so I asked him to put those in the attic and I'll put the kill traps I bought in the kitchen.

So for all my ethical upset, it seems there is no legal way to get mice out of your house without killing them. I'm not happy about this. I hate killing things.

The only plus is we've not caught any mice in a few days, so I think the live traps may have dealt with the problem. It was of course illegal for me to release the mice, but I seriously doubt a mouse in a hedgerow out in a field is going to do any harm.

But now that its illegality has been drawn to my attention, it would be wrong for me to keep using the live traps.

 

[Toddy]

So, supposing I caught one in the house (shed, whatever) in a live trap, and released it outside the garden along the nature walk ? (presumably where the blasted beasts came from in the first place) would that be illegal too ? It's technically council owned land, but since we all technically 'own' the council........

Big jar, filled with dried grass and some grain, pour in meece, tight lid and the compost heap seems more and more appealing tbh.
I want a good mousing cat Will ferrets root out mice and rats in a house too ?

M

 

[British Red]

You want a Jack Russel Mary - lovely wee dogs - you will never see another rodent!

Yes, releasing any living creature onto other people land is an offense. Releasing non-native creatures (e.g. grey squirrels) is illegal, period. If caught in a live catch trap they have to be destroyed. Pest controllers do use live catch traps - they just take them away and shoot them (to me that is less humane than a straight kill trap but it placates the squeamish).

Oh Wook, the poison they put down is (should be) in solid bars, staked to the inside of a correctly sized tunnel case. They poison has to be eaten in situ and is inaccesible to "non target" species. There can be a risk to a somestic pet if it repeatedly eats the bodies, but it takes more than one dose.

The great advantage of poison is that it can deal with more than one mouse at a time. However if you choose not to use it, its your house.

 

[Wook]

I don't know what type of poison the exterminator wanted to use, but I know some of them take up to 5 days to kill the mice and produce a great deal of prolonged death anxiety. Just doesn't seem right to cause any animal that kind of suffering.

The thought of them rotting away inside the cavity wall is also not particularly appealing.

The wife wants to get a Border Terrier. I know they are good ratters, but I've never heard anything about their "micing" ability.