Aw crap - mouse crap!
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
( Read more... )
Keeping mouse activity under control is usually a three-phase process: 1) deny their access to food, cover and nesting materials, 2) set traps, 3) plug as many holes as you can find with steel wool and duct tape. If you're unwilling to trap and unable to seal holes, you're going to have to go insane with Step 1 just to keep Kappa safe and your house clean.
The first priority is obviously going to be keeping then out of Kappa's cage. If you're not already doing so, change cage papers daily before bedtime, and take out any food bowls -- mice are active at night. If you use a cage cover, make sure it isn't touching or trailing near the floor where a mouse could climb. Greasing cage legs (with something inedible -- I use liquid soap to discourage both mice and ants) can help. The legs of an EFC may be too short for inverted cups taped around the legs to discourage climbers, but those are inexpensive and work very well.
Mice prefer to run along walls instead of crossing open spaces: pulling furniture away from walls can help discourage them from some areas of your house. Seal ALL bulk food in mouseproof containers, regularly inspect curtains, rugs, seasonal clothing, linen and towels for droppings, piss trails and nests, and, if your mice are deer mice, be careful cleaning up after them. Wear a mask and gloves.
Reply
For #2 I did get a no-kill trap and am willing to transport mice over the river for as long as it takes to get them to stop going into the birdcage.
As for #1, yeah I'm going to be changing papers twice daily at least until I stop finding poop in the cage in the morning. And I decided this morning to take food out over night since I started finding mouse poop in the food bowls. :( How the heck do they climb up into them? And why doesn't Kappa freak out about it? I guess Kappa will just have to complain about being hungry until I get up. (Note to self: weigh Kappa!)
Reply
if your mice are deer mice, be careful cleaning up after them. Wear a mask and gloves.
*Googles "deer mice"* Because of hantavirus and lyme disease? Are these something Kappa could catch and I should be freaking out about?
The images I find on Google seem to mix the house mouse and deer mouse. All the mice we've seen were around 1.5-2.5" long w/o tail, plus another inch or two of tail makes 2.5"-4". The mouse currently in the Havahart trap is light tan with a white belly and is slightly more plump, the two I caught previously were gray with a similarly colored belly and were on the smaller side. I think the tan one is a deer mouse, and the gray ones were house mice.
On the plus side, with all the cleaning that I was doing yesterday and today I think I finally found the last source of the moths we've been infested with. :-P
Reply
Leave a comment