# Darn You Wild Mouse!



## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

At work in the avirys there has been a whild mouse living in the cupboard for at least 6 months, ive hurd him and seen a flash of him but could never catch him and as he was behaving himself i decided to let him stay as i knew he could squeeze under the back door so if i did catch him and set him free somewhere else (like i use to do with the ones in my shed when i had the rabbit and guinea pig) someone else would preberly move in. So far i think its just the one as ive rarly seen/hur him. 
Anyway, i went into the empty pen to get a new bag of guinea pig food as the bin was empty, so i move the bird food to find that this little wild guy has not only chewed a hole in the food bag and eaten some food but he has been digging it out of the page and has built a huge pile in the cornor! :shock:

Ive left most of his pile in hopes he wont do the same to the other bags as there is nowhere else to put them and i hate not having spairs as that means i have to drive to the farmers shop when each time we run out, so id rather go once and stock up then every week for a diffrent bag.

Ive warned him if i ever catch him i will stick my foot up his bum :lol:


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I have to keep everything food like in the mousery in cans and other sturdy containers. The wildies even go for packs of wet wipes and have chewed into sturdy Rubbermaid bins! I no longer store any large quantity of food in the mousery area. I actually caught a little wild boy last week in my live trap baited with bread, PB, and chocolate. He looked a over stuffed and little dazed when we freed him by the composters out back. Plenty of leftovers out there!


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

I second you on the phrase "everything food like". I once had a few deer mice chew into a bag of splenda. Suffice to say, once we found out and trapped them, they were completely emaciated. They thought they could live off no-calorie baking sweetener.  Still, do your best with the sturdy hard containers. Bags will never keep them out long-term.


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## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

I am hating my wild ones at the moment. I was all ok with co-existing...but they now avoid live traps of any kind!!! They are super smart and will eat the food out of the traps without triggering them. My mice got pinworms recently and enough is really enough. :evil: We also moved here from a house where we had to eat out for every meal because we couldn't keep a scrap in the house-we even found chew holes into the fridge through the seals. It's little wonder people are nervous about my wee babies, but thankfully all mine are contained (and medicated now). :roll:


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

i feel sorry for the poor guys, i let them live in my shed now i have no pets in there allthough it seems most have moved out now there is no rabbit feeding them. Hopefully we will get a store room soon at work for all the spair bags, the thing is that there is a. unwanted little bag of quality rabbit food where the mouse lives and he hasent even touched it!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I had used coffee cans for food in my mousery, but the wildies managed to chew through those as well. *sigh* It's not that I can't spare the food, the mites and worms are more than an inconvenience; I'm convinced that repeated treatment for these shorten the lifespan of my mousies.

I do know just what you mean about the wildies getting cagier. I've only managed to trap one in my live trap in the last few months.At least they can't steal the bait from that one....and I'm grateful that my cats do a pretty good job deterring an all out infestation. Catfood is irresistable to rodents, rodents are irresistable to cats...it works out pretty well! As long as I continue to be monomaniacal about cleaning up every last little crumb in the mousery and the kitchen, I should be able to keep the wildies at bay.


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## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

I've had to treat once for mites before on a select few bucks, and just started up again with the da-m worms!!! I'm just treating everyone, if they don't have them then it's preventative. I've heard many mouse owners give the bedding a spritz of the ivermectin spray when it's fresh and changed, do you? I'd like to start but I do hate chemicals, like you said, I worry how it effects long term.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

In the winter I leave my bedding outside for a night or two so it freezes. I keep open bales of aspen in a heavy duty rubbermaid bin to prevent wildies from playingin it and contaminating it. I spray bedding with Flea-Off if I've had even one tank with a problem. Right now I believe my mousery is mite free. I anticipate infestations, and check whenever I see a mouse scratching. Hairy critters are going to scratch some anyway, but I can truthfully say that I don't see anything in the part few weeks, knock on wood. But I'm ready for it, should it occur.


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

i rember when my last rabbit caught mites, im sure it was from her mousy pets she kept. Pets keeping pets lol

So far only had mites twice allthough i think the second lot were actualy left over from the first lot. changed spot on and got rid of it. i hated using it as was soo worried of overdosing someone. but then again i worrie over everything


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