Awful Awful Pests

[Liz]

PMSL.. wow.. I release ONE mouse into the bush and I now have little value for the environment and have succumbed to the ever pervasive attitude that the bush is a dumping ground.

[Epacris]

But Liz, you dump a mouse, someone else dumps one too, then someone dumps their lawn clippings, then some gardening prunings with weed propagules, then some sediment escapes off a building site, then someone uses too much detergent washing their car, and on and on and on. It's a death by a thousand cuts that I deal with EVERY DAY and it's MY life's passion, please just let me be passionate about it.

[murraysmum]

i get narky because mice and jump fences ever tried to rug a horse when its jumping about trying to kill a rodent its not fun

that and well Epacris is right we are supposed to be looking out for our enviroment and mice well they like to eat things and destroy things

same as wild dogs foxes and rabbits

[Liz]

The saying "you catch more bees with honey" comes to mind...

[Epacris]

yeah, yeah, I'm having a bad day

[Liz]

I'm actually taking on board what you've said.. but still don't want to kill them

Where CAN mice live? Are they not welcome anywhere?? Surely they have a place somewhere on this earth like anything else?

[Epacris]

Liz, thanks

The house mouse is native to Asia, so as a species, their natural home is there. But thats cold comfort to you and the gazillions of individual pest house mice here though. I wish, wish, wish I could give you the answer you want but I can't. The answer is no, they are not welcome. You can't release them on your own properly, obviously because they'll just come inside again and the problem will continue. You can't release them in natural areas because they cause problems there too. The only other option I can think of is keeping it for a pet.

How do you feel about feeding a captured pest mouse to a pet snake? The snake has to eat, the mouse has to die, is that a better solution?

And just out of interest, how do you feel about invertebrate (no backbone) pests like insects and spiders? Does the life of an invertebrate have less value than the life of a vertebrate? I have often pondered this myself. The answer in terms of animal ethics is absolutely YES. The requirements for getting an experiment using vertebrates approved by an animal ethics committee is vastly different to an experiment using invertebrates because they recognise that vertebrate animals are of greater value.

[Floweryfields]

I'm actually taking on board what you've said.. but still don't want to kill them

Where CAN mice live? Are they not welcome anywhere?? Surely they have a place somewhere on this earth like anything else?

Ever been on a farm with a mouse plague?

[mako]

C'mon girls I really need some more tips on how to catch this damn mouse.
Its doing my head in and I'm about to loose the plot...Seriously!!!!!

Now we've tried the "humane" trap with chocolate and and sultanas also baits to no avail. We've had the "snap" trap baited with peanut butter also to no avail. Now I've just thrown out 6 snap traps and all the bait stuff and newspaper. I went to Woolies and bought 4 new black snap traps to put out tonight...what other types of "bait" should I use???? I really need this bugger gone as I'm pretty sure its nesting...ie ripping up newspaper and taking it behind t.v cabinet

Thanks for your help in my mouse hunt

[murraysmum]

take ur kids to someones house and bait ur whole house and if that dont work call in a pest extermintaor

[NaeNae]

We recently laid bait in our roof for the rats we heard scurrying around up there. I hate the idea of poisoning things but they really are highly intelligent little creatures.

Have you tried just plain old peanut butter in your humane trap?

We have a cat also and he catches them and brings them inside ALIVE. I am forever "saving" the mice from the cruel claws of my moggy and releasing them into the barn. We have a lot of snakes in the summer months in there so I figure I will let the snakes do what they need to to the mice

[briggsy's girl]

ib got mine in a snap trap overnight (no bait, just lucky placement after watchinf him yesterday while i was feedin DD) took the whole thing outside for DH to deal with when he gets home - and i'm sure i hear another little mongrel now, sigh

i'm with you mako - doin my head in

[ll80]

we bait ours but next winter won't be able to with a toddler roaming around so I am thinking of building a bucket mouse trap.

here are some instructions
Build-a-Mouse-Trap

here is a YouTube Vid to show you how one can work.

How to trap a mouse
The vid doesn't show any mice drowning or anything, just how you get them to fall into the water.