On Sat, 1 Jul 2006 The Invalid wrote:

Our cats keep the mice at bay. They eat them, leaving untidy little
piles of guts around on the Patio.
Having them wormed regularly is a small price to pay to be rid of the
mice.

Our cats are no good at that. They catch them, play with them and then
let them loose again. In fact it's what causes the meece infestation in
the first place because the cats bring them in and then forget what
they've done with them.

David

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David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Caversham, Reading, UK

said...
snip
We've got one of them (the second picture down). They are excellent. We
caught about twenty of them that way a couple of years ago and released
them into our barn where they kept the sheep warm.
snip
Thank you. Looks like a hunt in the attic or toolshed is in order for a
suitable mouse holder. There's got to be something amongst all the mess
here that'll come in useful for once.

Here's hubby's (un)patented mouse catcher:

find a large plastic bowl (an old salad bowl is very good), a small toy
car, a bit of wire, a bit of cheese, and (ideally) a sheet of glass.

Attach wire to bottom of car, with about 3 cm sticking out at the back.
Attach cheese to wire. Put car on sheet of glass. Prop bowl on top of
car (preferably in a fairly precarious position), with cheese on inside.

Mouse goes under bowl, munches cheese, dislodging car which shoots
outside, bowl drops, and presto ...

The setup takes a bit of practice to work out trajectories, etc. but
works superbly after that.


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Klara, Gatwick basin