Mailbox Mice

jsheffield

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mailbox mice.jpg
Mailbox Mice:
It happens a couple of times a year... mice set up camp in my mailbox. They shred some letters and junk mail, the postal carrier refuses to leave our mail, I work to fix the problem
I've done traps and peppermint oil and mothballs and Irish Spring soap, and they still come back... a new encampment was there this morning when I went out to check on yesterday's mail and to run some chores.

I cleared out the shredded stuff with a stick (having been bitten once by an angry squatter, I now avoid jamming my hand in there), and today the mouse jumped out with a fuzzy still attached to her, nursing... I could see a couple of fuzzies still in the mailbox, so I called a temporary end to the forced resettlement, and left to do my chores, figuring the intervening time would allow the mum to retrieve her babies.

Only she didn't... I came back hours later and the mailbox was as I'd left it and the fuzzies seemed cool and lethargic. I did the only rational thing and fed them to my Redfoot. When cleaning out the mailbox, I found two fuzzies and gave them both to Darwin, who scarfed them down like it wasn't her first live prey.

I gave them both to Darwin because of my three omnivorous tortoises, she's the one who'll eat anything I put in front of her, and I didn't want to take a chance on hesitation or partial compliance in the feeding.

In general, I don't feed live prey, and wouldn't have done it today except that to not do so would have seemed wasteful, as the little mice were bound to die anyway.

Jamie
 

Emmawilly

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Mailbox Mice:
It happens a couple of times a year... mice set up camp in my mailbox. They shred some letters and junk mail, the postal carrier refuses to leave our mail, I work to fix the problem
I've done traps and peppermint oil and mothballs and Irish Spring soap, and they still come back... a new encampment was there this morning when I went out to check on yesterday's mail and to run some chores.

I cleared out the shredded stuff with a stick (having been bitten once by an angry squatter, I now avoid jamming my hand in there), and today the mouse jumped out with a fuzzy still attached to her, nursing... I could see a couple of fuzzies still in the mailbox, so I called a temporary end to the forced resettlement, and left to do my chores, figuring the intervening time would allow the mum to retrieve her babies.

Only she didn't... I came back hours later and the mailbox was as I'd left it and the fuzzies seemed cool and lethargic. I did the only rational thing and fed them to my Redfoot. When cleaning out the mailbox, I found two fuzzies and gave them both to Darwin, who scarfed them down like it wasn't her first live prey.

I gave them both to Darwin because of my three omnivorous tortoises, she's the one who'll eat anything I put in front of her, and I didn't want to take a chance on hesitation or partial compliance in the feeding.

In general, I don't feed live prey, and wouldn't have done it today except that to not do so would have seemed wasteful, as the little mice were bound to die anyway.

Jamie
Jesus Christ! I wish you'd posted a warning on that post! I wouldn't have done that, what a horrible end to the babies lives.
 

Emmawilly

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View attachment 332471
Mailbox Mice:
It happens a couple of times a year... mice set up camp in my mailbox. They shred some letters and junk mail, the postal carrier refuses to leave our mail, I work to fix the problem
I've done traps and peppermint oil and mothballs and Irish Spring soap, and they still come back... a new encampment was there this morning when I went out to check on yesterday's mail and to run some chores.

I cleared out the shredded stuff with a stick (having been bitten once by an angry squatter, I now avoid jamming my hand in there), and today the mouse jumped out with a fuzzy still attached to her, nursing... I could see a couple of fuzzies still in the mailbox, so I called a temporary end to the forced resettlement, and left to do my chores, figuring the intervening time would allow the mum to retrieve her babies.

Only she didn't... I came back hours later and the mailbox was as I'd left it and the fuzzies seemed cool and lethargic. I did the only rational thing and fed them to my Redfoot. When cleaning out the mailbox, I found two fuzzies and gave them both to Darwin, who scarfed them down like it wasn't her first live prey.

I gave them both to Darwin because of my three omnivorous tortoises, she's the one who'll eat anything I put in front of her, and I didn't want to take a chance on hesitation or partial compliance in the feeding.

In general, I don't feed live prey, and wouldn't have done it today except that to not do so would have seemed wasteful, as the little mice were bound to die anyway.

Jamie
[/QUOTE

I would have tried to save them. I have a heat pad and would have put them on that in the mailbox and hoped mum returned. I did that earlier this year when I found a baby mouse. I know not everyone would do that, but the idea of feeding live babies seems particularly gruesome.
 

Chubbs the tegu

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View attachment 332471
Mailbox Mice:
It happens a couple of times a year... mice set up camp in my mailbox. They shred some letters and junk mail, the postal carrier refuses to leave our mail, I work to fix the problem
I've done traps and peppermint oil and mothballs and Irish Spring soap, and they still come back... a new encampment was there this morning when I went out to check on yesterday's mail and to run some chores.

I cleared out the shredded stuff with a stick (having been bitten once by an angry squatter, I now avoid jamming my hand in there), and today the mouse jumped out with a fuzzy still attached to her, nursing... I could see a couple of fuzzies still in the mailbox, so I called a temporary end to the forced resettlement, and left to do my chores, figuring the intervening time would allow the mum to retrieve her babies.

Only she didn't... I came back hours later and the mailbox was as I'd left it and the fuzzies seemed cool and lethargic. I did the only rational thing and fed them to my Redfoot. When cleaning out the mailbox, I found two fuzzies and gave them both to Darwin, who scarfed them down like it wasn't her first live prey.

I gave them both to Darwin because of my three omnivorous tortoises, she's the one who'll eat anything I put in front of her, and I didn't want to take a chance on hesitation or partial compliance in the feeding.

In general, I don't feed live prey, and wouldn't have done it today except that to not do so would have seemed wasteful, as the little mice were bound to die anyway.

Jamie
I would have done the same thing.
 

jsheffield

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I'm sorry if I gave offense or horrified, that was not my intent.

I'm an omnivore, my dogs are omnivores, some of my tortoises are omnivores... I try never to be cavalier or cruel, but we all eat meat, and sometimes it's live right before we eat it. I've tried to save baby animals before, and failed most of the time, so I thought I'd make their deaths useful.

Again, I'm sorry to upset, I hope you can believe that was not my intent.

Jamie
 

Emmawilly

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So if you ever get mice in ur house will you put food and water out for them?
I'll have mice in my shed come winter. They have an old fleece in there which they'll use for a nest in winter. I'll chuck a fat ball in there when it gets cold.
When I had one in the house, we got a humane trap which we used to trap and relocate it in the local park.
 

Yvonne G

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Ok, everyone be calm. What Jamie did was perfectly natural. Some folks even actually BUY live pinky mice to feed to their animals. Do we all have to like it? No, but there's nothing wrong with it
 

Emmawilly

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I'm sorry if I gave offense or horrified, that was not my intent.

I'm an omnivore, my dogs are omnivores, some of my tortoises are omnivores... I try never to be cavalier or cruel, but we all eat meat, and sometimes it's live right before we eat it. I've tried to save baby animals before, and failed most of the time, so I thought I'd make their deaths useful.

Again, I'm sorry to upset, I hope you can believe that was not my intent.

Jamie
Thank you for clarifying Jamie
 

Ink

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I am so glad you waited to see if the mom mouse came back. I would have done the same thing. Do leopard or Hermanns eat snakes?? That would be helpful for me
 

Tom

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I would have three concerns for future reference:
1. Poisons. Lots of people poison mice. It doesn't kill them right away. Not sure about mom passing poisons through the milk or not, but I would not have fed them to my animals unless I could be sure that no neighbors or gardeners, or anyone else could be putting out poison.
2. No one within a mile of my ranch uses any kind of poison because we all have animals, and everyone wants to make sure the natural predators are alive and well, so I continually "harvest" mice, rats, and gophers to feed to my animals. My second concern is parasites. I euthanize said pests as humanely as possible, and then freeze them for at least a month before defrosting and feeding them out.
3. Feeding them live is not cool. Its quick and easy to give them a humane, swift death. I'm not against killing wild animals for food or sport, but it should be done correctly with minimal suffering for the prey species. When my hawks catch a rabbit, I literally run as fast I can to humanely euthanize the rabbit and end its suffering. Hawks gotta do what hawks gotta do, but I do my part to minimize the pain of the prey animals. Same with the mice. Kill them first and then freeze them for a few weeks. No need for them to be eaten alive. Just my take on the matter...
 

Tom

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I'll have mice in my shed come winter. They have an old fleece in there which they'll use for a nest in winter. I'll chuck a fat ball in there when it gets cold.
When I had one in the house, we got a humane trap which we used to trap and relocate it in the local park.
You should know and consider that relocation doesn't work. When you remove just about any animal from its known territory and plop it somewhere else, they will almost always die a horrible painful death in one of many ways. Doesn't matter how wonderful the new territory seems to us, the animal doesn't know its way around. It doesn't know where food, shelter, and water can be found. That territory is also likely already occupied by a member of that species who will attack and kill or drive away the territorial intruder.

Our local DFW (Department of Fish and Wildlife) has done studies on this. Bears will travel up to 300 miles to return to their "home" territory, and most of them die trying. Coyotes will travel 25 miles. Even rattlesnakes will travel up to 3 miles trying to get home. If they are more than 3 miles from home, they usually get eaten, hit by a car, succumb to the elements without their familiar shelters, starve or die of dehydration, so said the researchers.

Mice in a new and unfamiliar place will almost certainly get picked off by a predator, and if not they will be relentlessly attacked by the resident mice and driven away. Same with ground squirrels and most other rodents...
 
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