...this literally just happened...

[moswen]

so i went into the "tortoise room" just now to deliver my babies their sunday treat (one soaked mazuri pellet, ayana my little pig ate 3/4 of it before she left it...), i dropped it in their enclosure and paused a moment to watch. as i did so, a MOUSE jumped out from under the dresser in there, sniffed around, had a stare down with me, and then jumped back under the dresser! i couldn't believe it!!

so now, i know what i have to do, but is there any way at all that the mouse can be getting into my babie's enclosure? and also, does anyone else feel posatively wretched for killing off a family of living things just simply because they chose the wrong place to call "home"?

here are some pics, these are two views of my tortoise enclosure:

and this is where the mouse appeared!!

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ok scratch that question, i just went in there to check on my babies again and the little bugger was INSIDE the long box that is not currently accessable to my babies! (in the last picture, the top left corner, he was inside that box inbetween the wall of the box and the wall of that hide box covered in fake ivy right there) at least it was the inacessable one, but MY GOODNESS! can my torts get sick from mice diseases? i know every animal has their own illnesses and things that make one sick won't make another sick but does anyone have experience with a mouse making their tort sick? i'm truly upset right now! i'm going to move the babie's enclosure into my living room for a few weeks i guess...?

 

[Angi]

I kill mice. I like the new traps that you squeeze and they open up and set add peanut butter and a piece of cracker and they kill instantly. I don't mind killing them, but I don't like them to suffer

 

[Tom]

First of all: Your enclosure(s) are awesome! Its like a modular hamster cage for tortoises. What a great idea.

Second: For heaven's sake, just put out a half dozen snap traps and don't worry about it. Don't move your whole cage and everything. If you put the traps out tonight you'll probably have the problem solved by morning. Try to find the traps with the metal striker plate instead of the plastic. Then bend the little spike up and impale a piece of dog or cat kibble on it. You need some kibble with a hole in the middle for best results. Finally, place the set trap with the food end up against walls and such. Try to put it in a pathway where the mice walk. They don't walk out in the open usually. They walk in corners where the wall meets the floor.

Good luck. Freeze them for two weeks and then you can feed them to your carnivores.

BTW, I don't recommend poison or glue traps. That always ends badly... and not just for the mouse.

 

[moswen]

oh thanks tom! i'm pretty proud of it, my babies were really needing more room than i initially gave them... and it took forever to cut a hole in that stubborn under-the-bed box! but i've discovered, all three of those fat little piggies just love sitting in the tunnel between the two tubs, and stubbornly refusing to let their siblings through! i hate those snap traps, but i really can't put poison in the tortoise room can i? just way too many "what if's." and i don't think i could put a squished mouse in my freezer, so good thing i don't have any carnivores lol!!! it looks like your little daisy is coming along beautifully, judging by your avatar picture!

 

[TortieGal]

You can get a have a heart trap and catch and release it some place well away from your house. They look just like the big live trap cages for coons and such. You can get them at coastal. I hate killing them two, I found to many that were still alive but hurt and I couldn't stand it anymore so I got the have a heart trap. I'm so glad we are mice free now! Hopefully it stays that way. I love your tortoise house, very cool.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I hope you catch that mouse and figure out how it got in!

Side note: Is there any way you can get the enclosure off the ground? The ground has drafts and is colder than up higher. Also, if those are MVBs, you need to have a lamp stand for them as it harms the bulb and it can harm the tort's eyes to have them at an angle. Its also easier to adjust temps by raising the bulb up and down when you have a stand, as when they are clamped you can't adjust it too much. Safer too.

Awesome enclosure! Wish I had a tort room.

 

[Candy]

You can get a have a heart trap and catch and release it some place well away from your house. They look just like the big live trap cages for coons and such. You can get them at coastal. I hate killing them two, I found to many that were still alive but hurt and I couldn't stand it anymore so I got the have a heart trap. I'm so glad we are mice free now! Hopefully it stays that way. I love your tortoise house, very cool.

I totally agree with this post. For some reason people don't look at mice as living creatures they just look at them as pests. You can catch them alive just as easy as you can kill them so why not do that? All of those traps are cruel and just like she's says it doesn't guarantee that it will kill them and then if it doesn't you will have to figure out how to. Not a good situation to be in. Once you catch it you can release it somewhere else, but unfortunately when you find one mice there are usually more of them so be careful. Good luck to you.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

You can get a have a heart trap and catch and release it some place well away from your house. They look just like the big live trap cages for coons and such. You can get them at coastal. I hate killing them two, I found to many that were still alive but hurt and I couldn't stand it anymore so I got the have a heart trap. I'm so glad we are mice free now! Hopefully it stays that way. I love your tortoise house, very cool.

I use the "catch-'em-alive" type traps, but then I drop the mouse into whichever small snake is currently hungry's tank...usually, the one my Emory's Ratsnake (Elwood) has...he's ALWAYS hungry!

Cycle of life and all that jazz...

BTW, Moswen...VERY cool housing unit!

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Just remember: the second mouse gets the cheese!

 

[Missy]

Mice can carry all sorts os disease and their droppings are the source of it. If you see one you probably have ten. How ever you do it get rid of them and clean droppings with bleach water. I would say your torts could be bitten or even eat mouse droppings and get sick. I love your pens they are super.

 

[Tom]

Just remember: the second mouse gets the cheese!

In my house the second mouse gets my foot. Ever heard of "the old lab stomp"? They are welcome to live and be free... outside my house. I actually enjoy watching their antics... when they are outside.

 

[moswen]

I have used two separate live mouse traps when we first moved in here we had a mouse in our christmas tree box, but neither of them worked. Can anyone post a pic of what you have used with success? I even baited one with peanut butter and one with cheese.

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Mice can carry all sorts os disease and their droppings are the source of it. If you see one you probably have ten. How ever you do it get rid of them and clean droppings with bleach water. I would say your torts could be bitten or even eat mouse droppings and get sick. I love your pens they are super.

Those are exactly the two same things I told my husband when he asked why it was such a big deal! And thanks everyone for the compliments on my craftsmanship lol!

 

[Candy]

http://www.realgoods.com/product/ho...sic&keyword=16-0083&sortby=bestSellers&page=1

 

[Tom]

I have used two separate live mouse traps when we first moved in here we had a mouse in our christmas tree box, but neither of them worked. Can anyone post a pic of what you have used with success? I even baited one with peanut butter and one with cheese.

Peanut butter and cheese almost never work. They can eat it without tripping the trap. You need some thing hard, like kibble, that's wedged in there or impaled, so they have to tug at it to try and get it. All the tugging will rip the trap. I'll try and take a pic for you tomorrow.