Mice
House Mice are light brown to light gray in color, with large ears, pointed snout and a small, slender body. The length of the head and body is usually 3 to 4 inches, and the scale-ringed, sparsely haired tail is about the same length. House mice can be distinguished from young rats, because young rats have relatively large feet and a large head, usually with a blunt snout and small ears.
Orchard Mice and other outdoor species of mice usually have a blunt snout and their ears are almost hidden in their thick fur, which is often darker brown or reddish in color.
Outdoors, mice eat seeds, fruits, grubs, roots, buds and bark. Indoors, house mice can eat any human food, and have even survived on flour alone and on meat alone. House mice mostly take small meals 10 to 20 times each day, mostly in different places, within a distinct territory which they mark with their urine. Most feeding is at dusk and just before dawn.
Mice have a much lower need for water than rats and can survive without drinking at all if they eat food with a high moisture content. When water or moist food is in short supply house mice can lose up to 40 percent of their body weight and, like a camel, make a dramatic recovery after a single drink of water.
Mice can breed throughout the year, raising their young within nests in such places as wall voids, attics, basements, and even inside sofas and armchairs. The gestation period is about 3 weeks and there are usually 5 to 6 mice per litter, and up to 10 litters per year where there is plenty of good food. Young mice are weaned in 3 to 4 weeks and can start breeding when they are only 6 weeks old. Most wild mice live less than 12 months, although caged mice have lived up to 6 years.
What Can You Do Against Mice?Mice can be discouraged by making it harder for them to get into buildings and by reducing the available food and nesting places. However, keeping mice out is difficult because they climb so well and can squeeze through crevices only 3/8 inches wide. Likewise they are very good at finding food and nesting sites. Even the best sanitation and mouse-proofing measures cannot be expected to achieve more than 89 percent control.
Total elimination of indoor mice is essential because of the dangers they represent, and this requires active killing measures using traps or chemicals known as rodenticides. However, the use of traps and rodenticides requires great skill in order to be effective and to avoid hazards to people or animals. The main skill lies in choosing the right positions and right numbers of traps or rodenticide placements. In the case of rodenticide baits, special bait stations may be required to safeguard children and animals. Also, because mice are often more resistant to rodenticides than rats, particular care must be taken to choose effective products, many of which are not available to homeowners. For these reasons, the use of traps and rodenticides is often best left to professionals. However, listed below are 10 specific measures you can carry out to protect yourself and your property against mice.
