Thursday, October 4, 2007

Safe and Humane Methods of Getting Rid of Mice


This is a Deer Mouse that must've fallen in one of our containers in the garage. Fortunately I found it before it died since the side were too slippery for it to escape. We released it in the woods.

There are many good reasons for not using the typical chemicals and methods used to get rid of mice, but here are my favorites:

• Avoid exposing kids and pets to chemicals. In the US, as many as 50,000 kids under age 6 are poisoned by rodenticide each year.

• Catch-and-release traps and high-frequency sound repellers are more humane.

• Glue traps and typical pest poisons like anti-coagulants, bromethalin and zinc phosphide have effects we wouldn't wish on our worst enemies.

This little guy in the photo was in our garage. He had fallen into a bucket he couldn't get out of and fortunately we found him before he perished. We've had many mice wanting to set up housekeeping in our garage since we have woods behind our house. We use a humane trap with a cracker inside spread with peanut butter. Seems the be a favorite of the mice around here. They can only get in if we leave the door open too long, so we carry them far back into the woods and release them. I don't want to take them too far away from their home territory so they don't have to fight for eating rights. They're cute, but they're not good to have within living quarters.

We have some input on The Frugal Life site with options submitted by forum members. Here's an article with many safe options to consider.

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