A Mouse in the House! EEEk!

[Kbana]

We have never had mice before. And, I've only seen the one tonight (though I am sure where there is one, more might follow) I heard it ruffling through the "junk" food the pet store sold me for my bunny when I got him.  I had forgotten to throw it away when I found out it was not the right food for my bun.  I will make sure to do a thourough cleaning and set a humane trap soon but my problem is that I can't relocate my bun in the meantime.  We have a very aggressive dog so my bun stays in the basement (where I spend many hours with him daily). There are no walls so it is one big room.  Most of our basement is dedicated to storage with a section with carpeting, couches and TV.  I have a cage and xpen set up for my bun.  Can this mouse hurt my bun? It can easily get in the xpen if it wanted as it is a TINY little guy.  What do I do until I can get rid of it?? I know there are other threads on here about mice but most of them involved relocating the bun to another room while fixng the mice problem. Thoughts??

[LBJ10]

I wouldn’t be terribly worried. Just keep an eye on things and put a trap out. It is that time of year. Well at least where I am, anyway. I’m not sure where you are. Mice are looking for some place warm to fix up as their winter home. There are mice everywhere at my work. Popping out everywhere in the shed, running out from under things when you move them, etc. I felt really bad a couple weeks ago because I accidentally disturbed a nest when I moved some pots out of the shed. I was pulling them apart and a terrified mama mouse ran out with a baby in her mouth. =(

[CheriB603]

Several years ago I came downstairs on one bitterly cold New Hampshire winter morning and started my pot of coffee. I then opened my silverware drawer to get a spoon and there, looking at me pitifully, was a wee little field mouse who had made a nest in my spoons and cushioned it with shreds of paper towel stolen from my counter. He looked at me as if to say “Sorry, Lady, but it’s really cold outside.” I said “Hey, I don’t blame you.” And closed the drawer. Hubby later collected him in a shoe box, gave him a towel and some apple chips and set him outside under an old log. Poor widdle guy.

[Stickerbunny]

Just make sure you put their food and hay in a container that a mouse can’t get into and you should be fine. Unless a mouse has a disease it can’t really hurt your buns and the actual chance of the disease they carry being in a mouse is pretty low in most areas. We had FOURTEEN mice last year in our house because the board covering the crawl space warped and came away enough to let them inside.

Now, from experience, I bought every humane trap on the market and they all suck. The little green house trap works the best at catching them, but they can take their paws and pull the door open. I caught three before one figured it out, he took his two front paws and dug furiously at the door until he caught the edge enough it pulled open and he ran right out. While my boyfriend was holding it! After that, all the mice knew the trick and not a one would stay in the house and it became a food station for them.

What I did was I made my own. I took a plastic lid like to tupperware, or one of those spring mixes they have in the store (long enough to hang over the edge of something) and counter balanced it with a DVD. I put a lafebers seed ball (they LOVED those things, would go anywhere for them) onto some peanut butter (just a small dab to hold the ball in place, not too much as the mice can get it stuck in their throats) on the end hanging over the counter and made sure it was over far enough that the weight of the mouse would tip it but not too far that it would fall before the mouse got to the end. Underneath that, I put my 13 gallon trash can. Mouse went for seed ball, lid fell down into can, mouse couldn’t get out. Make sure it’s at LEAST 13 gallons and tall though, if it’s ANY smaller the mouse can just jump right out. The 13 gallon one was just barely tall enough, the mice could jump nearly to the top as it was.

I caught 14 mice that way in about a week, after over a month of trying every humane trap on the market. I could’ve saved myself a lot of money.

[LBJ10]

Sticker – Haha! Reminds me of when we used spring traps at school to catch field mice. We had habitual trapees. They knew that they would be set free, so they just went in there to get the food and then they waited until someone came to check the trap. Day after day, the same mice would be in the traps. We knew because we ear tagged them.

[CheriB603]

Are you sure it wasn’t one mouse 14 times?

[justwildbeat]

Cheri- hahaha!

I doubt a mouse would pick a fight with a rabbit lol. I know those sticker traps are effective, but aren’t very humane.

[Kbana]

Oh you guys are cracking me up!! Thanks for the advice and piece of mind!

[Stickerbunny]

Posted By CheriB603 on 10/06/2013 02:53 PM
Are you sure it wasn't one mouse 14 times?

 

lol yes, some were small, some were big, one looked pregnant, one had a white stripe, one was grey, one was nearly black, one was the cutest little brown/light brown. It was winter, so we waited until it wasn't going into the teens / negatives to trap them. Then we drove them about 5 miles away and set them free in wooded areas, with some food stores and nesting materials to give them a chance. Odds aren't in their favor of making it once you remove them, but either they made it or they fed the birds that didn't have much food because of the cold.

 

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