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