Aw crap - mouse crap!

[zandperl]

Cleaning out the bottom of Kappa's cage today, I found mouse poop in the papers. !!! Kappa's cage is set up so that the tray in the bottom is lined with newspaper, then there's a grill on top of that, and another layer of papers on top of the grill. The papers on top of the grill get changed at least twice a week, the papers in the tray get

Comments

[cyaneus]

As I pulled up your entry, to my great surprise, I spotted a tiny gray mouse on the floor next to the couch, staring at me. Stupidly, I yelled "HEY" at it, and of course it ran away.

So looks like we may be in Mouse Wars together. Snap traps are helpful with small infestations. Anybody know the specific health hazards/diseases mice pose to birds?

[cyaneus]

I've just read that peppermint oil can be an effective mouse deterrent. One site suggested soaking cottonballs in it and leaving them in key areas to keep mice away.

[justnotangie]

I'm currently in a mouse battle myself and I will say this works well. I bought peppermint oil and a little glass spray bottle and I've been spraying the carpet around the cage every night and haven't seen any evidence of mice in that area since.

[zandperl]

As mentioned elsewhere, the problem with this "solution" is that essential oils are not good for birds. Breathing in too much of them can lead to seizures, and I don't know where the borderline is between enough to keep mice away and so much that it hurts my bird.

[justnotangie]

I think this is a weak argument unless everything you bring into your home is scent-free.

A few drops of oil on the carpet at the base of the cage is hardly going to be permeating their respiratory system.

[zandperl]

I consider it a higher level of risk than if I myself wore perfume, since essential oils are (as I understand them) more pure than perfume, and it will be staying around my bird rather than on me (and I move away from my bird). Each person's risk tolerance varies of course, but this particular choice is not one that I wish to take, just like I don't want to set out snap traps.

[entheos]

And, just so, everything I bring into my home is scent-free, from laundry detergent to dryer sheets to candles (which I don't burn anymore anyway). It's not that unusual, actually - tons of people are scent-sensitive these days.

[hrafn]

If you don't/can't get rid of -all- sources of scents, why bother removing any of them? That's a really weak argument. Those of us who just do not like stinky stuff still try to minimize it, both for ourselves and our birds, even if we can't get keep out every scented soap, dishwashing liquid, hand lotion, pot of flowers, and cup of cider.

[cyaneus]

Oh dear. Well, do you think just a cottonball or two in the kitchen--although it is just one room away from my bird--would be bad? I figure if I can smell it from where the bird is, it's probably too strong.

[zandperl]

Well, the problem with this "solution" is that essential oils are not good for birds. Breathing in too much of them can lead to seizures, and I don't know where the borderline is between enough to keep mice away and so much that it hurts my bird.

[stainedfeathers]

I feel your pain. We had starlings roosting in our roof for a while. They'd make scritchy noises that scared my bird in the night randomly. I finally got the appartment manager to do something about them when I heard something up there eating them (I think it was a cat or a snake, but the starlings we definitely a few less in number by the racket that went on that night...) Well, apparently there weren't just starlings up there. The birds can no longer get in but every few days I'll hear something scritchy with four legs moving around in my roof. It scares the ever living piss out of Aya, my sun conure, and he flys around his cage in a panic, banging into the walls of it and falling on the bottom. Far as I can tell, the mice/rats/something-scritchy-this-way-comes has not come into my appartment- I've found no droppings. What really scares me is if a snake decides that the critters in my roof may taste good and then discover that there's a nice caged bird inside the appartment that might also make a nice meal