Mice

[Maggie3fan]

I really need expert opinions...be nice...I'm sensitive?...for the first time I saw mice in Bob's tort shed. Saw them this morning when I opened the door...they ran under the sleeping box...



Here is the doggie door...

plz notice that the door part of the doggie door, has a burn in it...Years ago Bob knocked his MVB to the floor and it burned his carapace and a spot on the floor...years later a new floor is being put in and that burned section was used as the door...Bob chewed away the charcoal and I put a piece of plastic over it so the cold wouldn't come in...now look at that hole...something small chewed it's way thru the plastic. I will fight the mice on my own...

but my question is...anybody think the small field mice can hurt a 35 lb or 50 lb Sulcata?
Big Sam took a selfie with me...

 

[Rex1718]

They can certainly harm the tortoise. I don’t know that they would try. Mice have been known to bite and even kill pet snakes.
The bright side it’s not hard to catch mouse, or patch the floor

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I have a rat or two (or a hundred?) In my Redfoot pens at night.
I've never seen them do damage to the animals. They are certainly just eating leftovers.
My thinking is that if they're well fed on leftovers, they're not going to nibble on a tortoise.
However, I have trap set up, too.
I do not like killing rats, but nothing good will come from a big colony of them near my house!

 

[Toddrickfl1]

I have a rat or two (or a hundred?) In my Redfoot pens at night.
I've never seen them do damage to the animals. They are certainly just eating leftovers.
My thinking is that if they're well fed on leftovers, they're not going to nibble on a tortoise.
However, I have trap set up, too.
I do not like killing rats, but nothing good will come from a big colony of them near my house!

If anything maybe one of them will teach your turtles martial arts.....

 

[Maggie3fan]

If anything maybe one of them will teach your turtles martial arts.....

I also have rats...big...sleek...clean...and healthy lookin...I live on the edge of a 2 acre grass seed field in a rural area...so I will always have rodents...and voles...skunks...'possums...coyotes...foxes and an occasional mountain lion...I live with most in harmony...just am starting to worry about hurting a tortoise...I have a 33 lb Main Coon cat who at times goes outside with me...he saw a rat running across the grass...and all the sudden it was like a lioness pulling down a Wildebeest...violent...nasty and mean...maybe I should go against my morals and have an outside cat...
Big Sam is not into martial arts...he dances...the Hootchie Cootchie...

 

[Toddrickfl1]

I also have rats...big...sleek...clean...and healthy lookin...I live on the edge of a 2 acre grass seed field in a rural area...so I will always have rodents...and voles...skunks...'possums...coyotes...foxes and an occasional mountain lion...I live with most in harmony...just am starting to worry about hurting a tortoise...I have a 33 lb Main Coon cat who at times goes outside with me...he saw a rat running across the grass...and all the sudden it was like a lioness pulling down a Wildebeest...violent...nasty and mean...maybe I should go against my morals and have an outside cat...
Big Sam is not into martial arts...he dances...the Hootchie Cootchie...

I've got coyotes, raccoons, and bears in my backyard occasionally. Never seen any mice or rats though. I'm sure they're around here though.

 

[ZenHerper]

I've got coyotes, raccoons, and bears in my backyard occasionally. Never seen any mice or rats though. I'm sure they're around here though.

Where there's predators, there's food.

And I miss my bears. *sigh*

*************

Mice are more of a nuisance to large critters...they're moving around pretty vigorously all night.

But they do pee and poo on everything, so keep things cleaned up as well as possible and don't leave food leftovers lie out from one day to the next.

Need some snakes...

 

[ZEROPILOT]

If anything maybe one of them will teach your turtles martial arts.....

Or jump up out of a toilet at 2am like last year!

 

[Maggie3fan]

I've got coyotes, raccoons, and bears in my backyard occasionally. Never seen any mice or rats though. I'm sure they're around here though.

You keep your bears and I'll continue to feed my rats....lol

 

[LasTortugasNinja]

Mice CAN cause massive amounts of damage to a reptile, but that's almost always in situations where the rodent is trapped with an animal that isn't interested in feeding, so the rodent gets bold and/or hungry. Usually, a mouse's fight/flight response is heavily weighted to flight, so they won't approach anything big enough to eat them (torts might not, but I have seen turtles eat mice and water voles).

Mice can spread parasites, however. Also, once they find a cozy home in your tortoise pen, they might decide that nice warm human house is a natural next move in their quest to conquer the world. Best to kill 'em off and be done with them as soon as you see them.

 

[Maggie3fan]

Mice CAN cause massive amounts of damage to a reptile, but that's almost always in situations where the rodent is trapped with an animal that isn't interested in feeding, so the rodent gets bold and/or hungry. Usually, a mouse's fight/flight response is heavily weighted to flight, so they won't approach anything big enough to eat them (torts might not, but I have seen turtles eat mice and water voles).

Mice can spread parasites, however. Also, once they find a cozy home in your tortoise pen, they might decide that nice warm human house is a natural next move in their quest to conquer the world. Best to kill 'em off and be done with them as soon as you see them.

HAHAHA...my house had mice and rats before the tort shed...my Mother's Day present from my cats...
under the house I have rats as big as house cats...I deal with them...but to all the sudden see 2 mice run from Sam's water dish to under his sleeping box in the tort shed worries me. I can deal in the house...but I worry about my tortoises...I live in a rural area next to a grass seed field...there's no way I will ever be rodent free...

 

[Sue Ann]

Where there's predators, there's food.

And I miss my bears. *sigh*

*************

Mice are more of a nuisance to large critters...they're moving around pretty vigorously all night.

But they do pee and poo on everything, so keep things cleaned up as well as possible and don't leave food leftovers lie out from one day to the next.

Need some snakes...

Snakes? Worse than mice

 

[ZenHerper]

Snakes? Worse than mice

Need coyotes...

 

[Maggie3fan]

Snakes? Worse than mice

I like snakes...don't like mice...