House mice advice

Bob-P-

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  1. Vegan
Hello everyone,

Basically I am presently sharing my house with house mice. I am a vegan and love all animals and often rescue injured birds so using in humane / kill traps and poison is not an option.

My house is 3 stories and one mouse has been spotted on each level and droppings found on all three levels.

I have never spotted more than one mouse at a time and don't find many droppings so I am pretty sure I don't have an infestation, probably (hopefully ) a small family of house mice.

I don't have a cat but I do have a clean house with no food available as it is stored in mouse proof cupboards and containers. I have blocked up holes with wire wool, but my house is very old and big so finding and blocking up all holes is a huge undertaking for me. Plus I know these little guys can squeeze through the tiniest of holes and cracks !!

Even though there is limited food available for them my house does obviously provide warmth and shelter for them as it is approaching winter time.

I read on the internet that mice don't like the smell of peppermint oil and it is even sold as a mouse repellent product. So I bought 500ml of peppermint oil and placed it liberally on cotton wool balls then placed them around all the areas I found droppings.

My house smelt like a Polo Mint factory (lol)!!

I also found their nest in my boiler cupboard and put a lot of peppermint oil in there too for good measure. Unfortunately it hasn't really worked and I did find some new droppings on the cotton wool balls so they are probably having a good old laugh at my expense (lol)!!!

As I said further up using in humane / kill traps and poison is not an option.

I saw a very kind man on YouTube use humane "Trip Traps" to catch the mice in his garage and then added each one to a mouse cage until he had about 4 mice than he released them all together in a near by wooded area.

I like this idea as if they are a family you are not separating them all up and not releasing just one by itself at a time all their own. Worse case you do split the family but they are not all on their lonesome out there.

However due to the size of my house I could have more than one family living in my house? I therefore might put two dominant males together by accident who might fight? Not Good.

My other concern is from looking online I understand that wild mice (non house mouse) may out compete them and the house mice could die in their new less than perfect environment.

Could you please share your thoughts on the below:

Is catching and releasing in the wild cruel as they will starve to death?

If it is o.k to catch and release am I best to catch a few and release together as mentioned above or is catching and releasing one at a time o.k do you think? Is it cruel?

Should I catch and keep them as pets? But I have no previous experience keeping mice and I would have to get them sexed and sterilized? This way they would all die of old age and not reproduce. Plus they would be well fed and live a confined but happy comfortable lives.

I really am lost and not sure what I should do here, please do help me if you can.

Thank you so much for reading my post and for any help you may be able to pass my way.

Take care.

Bob.
 
Mice carry diseases and there is certainly no mice on the endangered spices list. I draw the line at my doorstep when it comes to compassion for vermin. I avoid hitting squirrels when they run across the street, I release insects I find in my house rather than kill them, and I avoid senseless destruction of habitats found in my yard. I do not allow outside critters to live in my environment. Call a professional and get rid of the mice. Call it cruel or call it common sense. Good luck.
 
Get the traps and release them far away from your house even if they are split up. If you release them close by they will just come back in. This is no guarantee that more won't come in.
 
I love the idea of catching them all together. Depending on how long things takes yes you may need to create an enclosed area for them to live in and yes release them very far from your own house and far from others houses also. Perhaps in the middle of a wood or something.
 
Thank you very much everyone for your feedback and help it is so much appreciated.
All the best to you all.
Bob.
 
BTW It would literally be impossible to catch even a good percentage of mice in live traps.
 
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Thanks for the advice Plant Muncher
Much appreciated.
Bob
 
Hello everyone,

Basically I am presently sharing my house with house mice. I am a vegan and love all animals and often rescue injured birds so using in humane / kill traps and poison is not an option.

My house is 3 stories and one mouse has been spotted on each level and droppings found on all three levels.

I have never spotted more than one mouse at a time and don't find many droppings so I am pretty sure I don't have an infestation, probably (hopefully ) a small family of house mice.

I don't have a cat but I do have a clean house with no food available as it is stored in mouse proof cupboards and containers. I have blocked up holes with wire wool, but my house is very old and big so finding and blocking up all holes is a huge undertaking for me. Plus I know these little guys can squeeze through the tiniest of holes and cracks !!

Even though there is limited food available for them my house does obviously provide warmth and shelter for them as it is approaching winter time.

I read on the internet that mice don't like the smell of peppermint oil and it is even sold as a mouse repellent product. So I bought 500ml of peppermint oil and placed it liberally on cotton wool balls then placed them around all the areas I found droppings.

My house smelt like a Polo Mint factory (lol)!!

I also found their nest in my boiler cupboard and put a lot of peppermint oil in there too for good measure. Unfortunately it hasn't really worked and I did find some new droppings on the cotton wool balls so they are probably having a good old laugh at my expense (lol)!!!

As I said further up using in humane / kill traps and poison is not an option.

I saw a very kind man on YouTube use humane "Trip Traps" to catch the mice in his garage and then added each one to a mouse cage until he had about 4 mice than he released them all together in a near by wooded area.

I like this idea as if they are a family you are not separating them all up and not releasing just one by itself at a time all their own. Worse case you do split the family but they are not all on their lonesome out there.

However due to the size of my house I could have more than one family living in my house? I therefore might put two dominant males together by accident who might fight? Not Good.

My other concern is from looking online I understand that wild mice (non house mouse) may out compete them and the house mice could die in their new less than perfect environment.

Could you please share your thoughts on the below:

Is catching and releasing in the wild cruel as they will starve to death?

If it is o.k to catch and release am I best to catch a few and release together as mentioned above or is catching and releasing one at a time o.k do you think? Is it cruel?

Should I catch and keep them as pets? But I have no previous experience keeping mice and I would have to get them sexed and sterilized? This way they would all die of old age and not reproduce. Plus they would be well fed and live a confined but happy comfortable lives.

I really am lost and not sure what I should do here, please do help me if you can.

Thank you so much for reading my post and for any help you may be able to pass my way.

Take care.

Bob.
Hi!
I would like to point out that the use of "humane" live traps, though often well-intentioned, may not necessarily be the best way to deal with mice and rats. If caught using a live trap, the mouse/rat could then be released onto the territory of another mouse/rat and then get into a fight and get injured. They could then die slowly or, if they are luckier, they may recover after some time, but they would still suffer.
A mouse repellent, or an electronic repeller, may be better. Although the mice would still (hopefully) be driven away, they would be able to make their own way once outside and, perhaps, avoid entering the territories of other mice using scent.
You could try this repeller: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everteco-U...ml&slotNum=0&imprToken=nmtd-75ASJpMv4NnD1Wd6Q
Have a great day!
Rory.
 
Even if you consider mice and rats to be vermin, killing them is not always necessary. There are many products out there that are designed to repel mice, rats, ants and other creatures. Just because some of us call rats and mice "vermin" doesn't mean that they don't have a right to not be killed unnecessarily.
Try to see things from their point of view. Imagine that you are a rat. You have not eaten in days, perhaps even a week or more. You smell food that has been left out. You go in and eat it, unaware that you are not welcome there. The next morning, you are seen by a human. The human purchases and sets out an electronic trap, but you don't know that it is a trap. You just smell food inside out, go in to eat and then you are electrocuted.
If you are even more unfortunate, you may, instead, find some food that, unbeknownst to you is poison. You eat it and then suffer in agony for days before dying due to internal blood thinning. Why should a rat, mouse or any other animal have to suffer and/or die unnecessarily just for finding and eating food, and taking up residence, when they were starving?
Thank you.
Have a great day.
 
I'm in Australia, "house mice " are feral and compete with native animals for food, and much as I can't dispose of them my self if my indoor cats ever caught one I would not be to upset. If I didn't have the cats and had a mice problem I would enlist a carpet python to help me out.
 
Thanks Rory,

I agree with what you write and thanks very much for the link to the repeller.

We are all made from the same stuff aren't we. Rats and mice have central nervous systems they breathe, eat, excrete and procreate. They feel pain and pleasure.

Take care.

Bob
 
Sorry for the late reply @Bob-P-.
Recently, my new neighbor was also dealing with similar issues.
As, they had looked for the gaps in the walls, checked out the pipes in their areas that will allow them to enter the house.
Then, they had used some Eco-friendly products which do not cause any kind of pollution. But still, it does not work.
Then, they had decided to contact a professional rodent pest control Walnut Creek CA company who had performed the proper rodent control methods to exterminate them.
 
Just recently read something that sounded interesting. a bowl with some peanut oil. the mice go into the bowl but then can't get out. In the morning you take the bowl and the mice over to your mother-in-law's house and tip them out. Just kidding. you take the bowl to the park. Or maybe your friendly neighbourhood elementary school teacher who might like some classroom pets.


From the video, I learned that house mice are non-native. So don't take them to the park.
 
I have near constant rodent issues. In my experience, the live traps work much better than the kill traps anyways. The things that emit sound don't seem to have done anything for me.