How does one rid one's abode from a multitude of mice? Rosemary Conroy give you her thoughts on the subject.
Something Wild: Mouse in the House?
Air date: January 16, 2004
Welcome to this week’s edition of Something Wild. I’m Rosemary Conroy for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
What’s up with mice? They are everywhere this year — well, everywhere I don’t want them to be anyway. I have them in my house, my garage and even inside my car!
Yes, most of New Hampshire’s mice species prefer to move indoors in winter. And boy, are they ever good at it! A house mouse can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime…
If it weren’t for the fact that mice spread disease, can start electrical fires by gnawing on wires, and keep me awake with their loud scratching and chewing — I would probably be more mouse-friendly. I mean, they are kind of cute. And they do feed a lot of wild creatures.
That’s because there are so many of them: a house mouse can get pregnant 35 days after birth. And they can have 8 to 10 litters a year. That’s a lot of pitter-patter.
So how does one rid one’s abode of a multitude of mice? Preventing them from getting in is step one, of course. Not leaving food easily accessible is step two. And then, there’s mousicide.
I believe in good old-fashioned snap traps and I’ll tell you why: Poisonous baits are dangerous and glue traps are cruel. Sonic devices don’t work. And those havahart traps where you catch the little guys and then drive them someplace else are basically condemning the mice (or any animal) to a slow death. They’ll be out in the cold, with no shelter or food and in a strange territory.
It might make you feel better, but the mouse?
Of course, there is the live-and-let-live theory where you put together a box of food and rags someplace as an alternative mouse house.
Then the only problem then is getting them to practice family planning!
Something Wild is a joint production of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, NHPR, and the Audubon Society of New Hampshire.
For Something Wild, I’m Rosemary Conroy.
