I hate those mices to pieces!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

A giant mouse has appeared out from under the shed. It looked rather cute as it sunbathed on the lawn this afternoon, but where there is one big mouse (and I know it was a mouse, not a rat), there is likely to be another adult mouse and zillions of baby mice within the next few weeks.


As this is a walled garden, anything that is born here will have to find their food here, right? Which means all my lovely planned plants and seeds and bulbs, right?

I have cats with less of a hunter's instinct than I do. One sat by the corner of the shed and didn't even notice the mouse 3 inches behind her, the other two were looking towards the little wretch and never saw it. So they're out of the question as to providing a final solution to the Mouse Question.

I suppose I have to kill the mice. Which is something I'm uncomfortable with (ex vegetarian), but if I realistically have to do it, then that's all there is to it.

So what is the most ethical, effective, cost efficient and idiot cat friendly method of doing this?

wallbash

Buy some humane traps , catch and let loose other side of wall , might be an on going problem

spadoosh

wallbash wrote: »

Buy some humane traps , catch and let loose other side of wall , might be an on going problem

I thought a mouse could find its way back to his 'home' withing 3 miles?!? other side of the wall probably wouldnt be enough!

Raksha

spadoosh wrote: »

I thought a mouse could find its way back to his 'home' withing 3 miles?!? other side of the wall probably wouldnt be enough!

No probably not - I took a trapped mouse from my ponies feed shed a good mile up the road (after dabbing some tippex on its back) within three days it was back!

How about a human trap and then straight in the freezer?

Rummer

They love peanut butter in the humane traps them drop them off in a nice wooded area after a wee run in the car so they don't come back!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Hmmmm. Not sure if I'd get away with a bag of the little angels on the bus.

They are definitely wood mice, by the way. Ever so cute, but I am not sharing my veggies with them or having my stuff wee'd over.

sirbrainy

Can't see why people are squeamish about killing mice. OK the poison isn't a very nice way to die but the snap traps are very quick to kill.

cootambear

get a semi feral cat, or better a feral cat kitten.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Thanks for the advice so far.

I don't find killing anything a pleasant experience - I have done it before, shooting feral pigeons infesting a building where the alternative was the owner utilising a combination of any old random poison and a flamethrower. I don't kill spiders, bees or wasps and try to avoid causing the death of anything where possible.

But yes, I eat meat and fish. So I am not perfect, I know that to get what I want, some things must inevitably die. I don't think I am squeamish, but I would prefer to not kill anything if there is an alternative approach that is effective.


I already have 3 cats, so getting a grumpy feral and refusing to feed him in the hope that he stays in the tiny back garden to eat mice isn't really an option.


If humane traps work, then I shall give them a go first. The mice that are going to pose a nuisance (and health risk) to my little crops of vegetables then could provide food for foxes or the hawks that frequent the local woods, rather than just going into my dustbin.

However, if they still appear after a few relocations, I will employ the nuclear option - for which I would need to know the quickest and least distressing method of dispatch (so glue traps are categorically out of the question).


So, are the traditional back snappers the least distressing or are there others which do the job better?

Farway

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

So, are the traditional back snappers the least distressing or are there others which do the job better?

I find the back /neck breakers are instant and infallible

But do check them daily, I had one many years ago where it got the tail

sirbrainy

When I was about 13 or 14 we had mice in the attic. My job was to climb up & set the back snappers.

Often I would only find a gnawed tail or foot, the mouse's mates had eaten the rest of the body!

Very effective mouse killers, though.