Ask RiotACT: Are there more mice around than usual this summer?

HenryBG said :

Summer isn’t the time for mice in Canberra, Autumn is, as it gets colder and the food diminishes they start making efforts to get inside your house.

Get under your house and examine where your pipes go through the floor. Seal up the gaps.

When you catch them, you have to kill them. It’s not meant to be pleasant, so do it like you would draw a tooth – as quickly as possible – take the mouse outside, head towards a wooden fence, quickly grab it by its tail, swing it firmly over-arm into the fence. It will die instantly.

I hope JH doesn’t see that.

Summer isn’t the time for mice in Canberra, Autumn is, as it gets colder and the food diminishes they start making efforts to get inside your house.

Get under your house and examine where your pipes go through the floor. Seal up the gaps.

When you catch them, you have to kill them. It’s not meant to be pleasant, so do it like you would draw a tooth – as quickly as possible – take the mouse outside, head towards a wooden fence, quickly grab it by its tail, swing it firmly over-arm into the fence. It will die instantly.

Charlotte Harper said :

No_Nose said :

When you say you have pets, you don’t happen to have birds in an outside aviary or backyard chickens do you? Because these will always attract mice…and then the mice will attract snakes!

Aaargghhh, snakes!!! No, no birds or chooks. I didn’t specify because I’m a bit embarrassed on behalf of our cat, who clearly should be managing this better for us. The dog sniffed one of the mice out for me yesterday and guarded it till I could catch it, so she’s in the good books.

Is your dog a vegan?
My Cairn Terrier would have dispatched a mouse/rat/rabbit/lizard immediately.

No_Nose said :

When you say you have pets, you don’t happen to have birds in an outside aviary or backyard chickens do you? Because these will always attract mice…and then the mice will attract snakes!

Aaargghhh, snakes!!! No, no birds or chooks. I didn’t specify because I’m a bit embarrassed on behalf of our cat, who clearly should be managing this better for us. The dog sniffed one of the mice out for me yesterday and guarded it till I could catch it, so she’s in the good books.

wildturkeycanoe said :

It is interesting that you have more than usual numbers of mice, as we seem to have a less than normal incidence. Usually I have to reset my traps every day or two but they have been sitting idle for weeks on end, with no mice in sight. Perhaps the regular mowing of the reserve behind us has limited their ability to live near our home, as previous years we had to send requests to the government to reduce the fire hazard of tall, dry grass.

We live four houses from a reserve also, but it is usually well mown. Still, plenty of places for mice to live amongst trees and shrubbery.

K_c24 said :

Bunnings has a fun array of mousetraps that capture and kill in various ways. I bought the rubber band choker style last time we had mice but unfortunately didn’t get to witness the result as the baits had already taken care of the problem. Don’t be scared of killing them. The fact you’re releasing them outside is probably why you still have them.

That thought did cross my mind yesterday. But I don’t even like killing ants. Tricky.

It is interesting that you have more than usual numbers of mice, as we seem to have a less than normal incidence. Usually I have to reset my traps every day or two but they have been sitting idle for weeks on end, with no mice in sight. Perhaps the regular mowing of the reserve behind us has limited their ability to live near our home, as previous years we had to send requests to the government to reduce the fire hazard of tall, dry grass.

When you say you have pets, you don’t happen to have birds in an outside aviary or backyard chickens do you? Because these will always attract mice…and then the mice will attract snakes!

I haven’t seen any mice, but I was surprised and I gave a surprised squeak (me, not the rat 🙂 ) to find a dead rat near my back door (I don’t have a cat) yesterday. A very handsome creature. I carried it down the back yard and threw it under the fig tree in a futile attempt to have dead animal smell dissuade bats, possums and birds to leave my figs alone. I am seriously thinking of caging in all my fruit trees.

Bunnings has a fun array of mousetraps that capture and kill in various ways. I bought the rubber band choker style last time we had mice but unfortunately didn’t get to witness the result as the baits had already taken care of the problem. Don’t be scared of killing them. The fact you’re releasing them outside is probably why you still have them.