help mice/rats

[jemma_charlie]

I keep finding dead mice or rats in my garden.

I'm not sure which they are as they are tiny with not much hair. Is there anything i can do to get rid of them, i know the council will remove rats but not mice.

My neighbour keeps chickens in a homemade coop which she cant get into to clean out properly and she throws their food on the floor as she finds the hanging feeder too complicated. I have let her know that i keep finding small creatures but she said they probably come from farms and fields about a mile away.

I always thought that babys stay near to their home and i presume they are babies as they are between 2 to 4 inches long

I don't want to put poison down as i have children one of which picks everything up and eats it.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated and if this is in the wrong place I'm sorry

Jemma

[FB.]

Can you post a picture (or perhaps a link to a picture - so that squeamish people aren't forced to view them)?

Even an adult mouse is tiny - it's body will only be about 1.75-2 inches, with a tail about the same.

So they could be baby rats, or mice of any age.

Almost certainly they'll be feeding on the chicken's grain, but it sounds as if someone's cat is catching them for sport and leaving them in your garden.
We have some bird feeders out in the winter and just after dawn each day (about 8am at present), a single mouse scurries around under the feeders for a few minutes, picking up the occasional scrap of food, or grain of seed that the birds dropped.


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[ginger ninger]

Hi Jemma, not a nice thing to keep finding more so with you having little ones, I'm not saying your neighbour is at fault, but baby mice/rat's don't wander far from there nest's or a good food source, especially this time of year, let alone a mile away.
Have you got a cat that likes to fetch you presents (rat's & mice)??
If not, I'd be tempted to ring the environment agency up and ask there advice. Lots of nasty things can be carried by rat's and mice, you can't be too careful.

[jemma_charlie]

hi thanks for the replies

I will take a photo of my next find, it may be a while as there havent been as many as there were in the summer.
I have cats which i suspect are killing them but i have also found live ones when digging around, i have got rid of my compost bin incase they were living in there or feeding from it.

The enviromental agency said if it is rats they take care of them for free and if it is mice they will charge whoever has them living in there garden. I don't want to create bad feeling between me and the neighbour if she is found to have them and is stumped with the bill. Equally i don't want the risk of them getting nto my property.

As for the size some of them are full grown mice size but still look like babys as they don't have much hair on them. If that makes sense, the full grown mice i used to feed my snake were fully covered in hair.

I'll go hunting today and get you a picture..

[jemma_charlie]

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...butler/025.jpg


as promise one dead creature complete with pink ruler. He is hairier then the others have been

[Two_Sheds]

Mouse.

I've got them in my garage, they've come in from the fields, what with the fierce weather we've had.

I'm setting traps. I was squeamish at first, but they die cleanly (broken neck, no blood) and happy (eating Mars bar).

See my separate thread for more info.

[jemma_charlie]

thanks TS I'm off there now....

[jemma_charlie]

[QUOTE=Two_Sheds;606768]Mouse.

I've got them in my garage, they've come in from the fields, what with the fierce weather we've had.

QUOTE]


i was hoping the cold weather had killed them off as i hadnt seen any for a while. in the summer i was finding 3 or 4 a day.

have checked the sheds and they dont have any lodgers,

Have spoken to the neighbour and she said she hasn't fully cleaned her chickens out for nearly a year, she just reaches in to pick up the poo she can reach!!! she also said the chickens had made a pile of straw and hay right out of the way in the corner, she found it odd as she never sees them there, I politely suggested she check it isn't a mouse home and maybe use the proper hanging feeder to deter the little buggers before they get into the houses.


Thanks for the help I'll see what enviromental people say now TS has itentified them.

[jackyspratty]

Hi, you could post on the chook thread too, as Im sure it ant be healthy for he chickens to live somewhere thats not been cleaned for a year! Everyone on rule the roost has been really friendly and full of useful advice. I'd ask them what they think too as they may have a few tips for you?

[FB.]

Probably an adult mouse - the size is correct.

I suspect that the mice will be stealing some of the chicken food - and that someone's cat is having a little sport with them as they try to make off with the loot.

Mice are everywhere - in towns and countryside. If someone's cat loves you enough to keep bringing you presents, there's not much you can do about it.

Just pick them up in a tissue and throw it in the bin. Wash your hands afterwards.

[Bigmallly]

Wait till you get one of these blighters............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7YvzrwpQxA

[Torreya]

Jem, you're so lucky the council are prepared to come out. When I rang Birmingham to say we'd got rats, the response I got was "so, you live in the countryside, what more do you expect" - helpful? Don't think so!!