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#1
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
for anyone interested from my previous thread last month i have an
update. i was cleaning the loft out at the weekend (a month later than expected!) and i saw a small hole in the roof felt and some shredded bits of felt where the mouse had gained entry! the mouse must have dropped 5 foot after gaining entry so i can only assume that the mouse had got under the tiles and couldnt find his way out and gnawed his way through the felt after feeling warmth underneath. i would find it hard to believe that the mouse would have been able to scale the angle of the roof felt to get back to its original point of entry with it being 5 foot up and a 45 degree angle sloping inwards. i caught one mouse up there fairly quickly after seeing infestation and haven't seen any other activity in the last month. |
#2
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 15:08:37 +0000, Nick wrote:
i would find it hard to believe that the mouse would have been able to scale the angle of the roof felt to get back to its original point of entry with it being 5 foot up and a 45 degree angle sloping inwards. You might be surprised what they can climb over/up/under... -- Tim. If the human brain were simple enough that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. |
#3
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 15:07:28 GMT, Tim Challenger wrote:
On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 15:08:37 +0000, Nick wrote: i would find it hard to believe that the mouse would have been able to scale the angle of the roof felt to get back to its original point of entry with it being 5 foot up and a 45 degree angle sloping inwards. You might be surprised what they can climb over/up/under... Okay, since you guys are all mousexperts, tell me: how do the mice in my friend's cabin on Saltspring Island get in? Where do they live once inside? (Cabin is an upper story over a two-bay garage, reached by an outside stair.) He gets the little wild mouse -- we think it's Peromiscus maniculatus (sp), a deer mouse, and in warmer climates to be feared as a carrier of hanta virus -- in considerable numbers in his place. It's clear that at times a gravid female has made her way in, given birth, and raised a large family. When he first became aware of the problem (little piles of cat chow stashed in cupboards) and bought a live trap, he caught over sixty of the pests in about a month. We've both searched endlessly for a way in and found nothing. My guess is that either they crawl under the door (perhaps 1/4" clearance) or up the outside of the building and in through an open window. Since the outside of the building is rough cedar and shingles, this isn't impossible. Of course, being a tender-hearted soul, he doesn't kill them! Instead they get released outside...right at the foot of the stairs up to his place. Comments? -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada [change "atlantic" to "pacific" and "invalid" to "net" to reply by email] |
#4
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
Rodger Whitlock16/3/04 7:20
snip Okay, since you guys are all mousexperts, tell me: how do the mice in my friend's cabin on Saltspring Island get in?snip Drainpipes? Up trees and drop from a branch (I've seen a rat do it) Gravid female caught by a bird and dropped? -- Sacha (remove the weeds to email me) |
#5
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 15:07:28 GMT, Tim Challenger wrote:
On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 15:08:37 +0000, Nick wrote: i would find it hard to believe that the mouse would have been able to scale the angle of the roof felt to get back to its original point of entry with it being 5 foot up and a 45 degree angle sloping inwards. You might be surprised what they can climb over/up/under... Okay, since you guys are all mousexperts, tell me: how do the mice in my friend's cabin on Saltspring Island get in? Where do they live once inside? (Cabin is an upper story over a two-bay garage, reached by an outside stair.) He gets the little wild mouse -- we think it's Peromiscus maniculatus (sp), a deer mouse, and in warmer climates to be feared as a carrier of hanta virus -- in considerable numbers in his place. It's clear that at times a gravid female has made her way in, given birth, and raised a large family. When he first became aware of the problem (little piles of cat chow stashed in cupboards) and bought a live trap, he caught over sixty of the pests in about a month. We've both searched endlessly for a way in and found nothing. My guess is that either they crawl under the door (perhaps 1/4" clearance) or up the outside of the building and in through an open window. Since the outside of the building is rough cedar and shingles, this isn't impossible. Of course, being a tender-hearted soul, he doesn't kill them! Instead they get released outside...right at the foot of the stairs up to his place. Comments? -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada [change "atlantic" to "pacific" and "invalid" to "net" to reply by email] |
#6
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
"Rodger Whitlock" wrote
snip My guess is that either they crawl under the door (perhaps 1/4" clearance) or up the outside of the building and in through an open window. Since the outside of the building is rough cedar and shingles, this isn't impossible. snip Comments? Reducing the gap under a door to 1/4" or less is the textbook recommendation for proofing against mice. They wriggle under doors etc. by flattening their ribcages, BTW. I've seen film footage this and of a mouse scaling a 20' vertical brick wall in remarkably quick time. They are also very adaptable to new environments. There is a fascinating account of a colony which established itself in a very large freezer store (in London, England, I believe). Within a very few generations and living solely on frozen produce with no free water present, the mice had adapted to their surroundings. They nested in the packing material and grew longer and denser coats than normal. (The infestation didn't say much about the vigilance of the staff who worked at the freezer store, however). - Tom. |
#7
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
Rodger Whitlock16/3/04 7:20
snip Okay, since you guys are all mousexperts, tell me: how do the mice in my friend's cabin on Saltspring Island get in?snip Drainpipes? Up trees and drop from a branch (I've seen a rat do it) Gravid female caught by a bird and dropped? -- Sacha (remove the weeds to email me) |
#8
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
"Rodger Whitlock" wrote
snip My guess is that either they crawl under the door (perhaps 1/4" clearance) or up the outside of the building and in through an open window. Since the outside of the building is rough cedar and shingles, this isn't impossible. snip Comments? Reducing the gap under a door to 1/4" or less is the textbook recommendation for proofing against mice. They wriggle under doors etc. by flattening their ribcages, BTW. I've seen film footage this and of a mouse scaling a 20' vertical brick wall in remarkably quick time. They are also very adaptable to new environments. There is a fascinating account of a colony which established itself in a very large freezer store (in London, England, I believe). Within a very few generations and living solely on frozen produce with no free water present, the mice had adapted to their surroundings. They nested in the packing material and grew longer and denser coats than normal. (The infestation didn't say much about the vigilance of the staff who worked at the freezer store, however). - Tom. |
#9
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 22:39:50 -0000, Tom Bennett wrote:
Reducing the gap under a door to 1/4" or less is the textbook recommendation for proofing against mice. They wriggle under doors etc. by flattening their ribcages, Not to mention being able to dislocate the plates of their skulls. The skull would otherwise limit the smallest hole to about 3/8"... -- Cheers Dave. pam is missing e-mail |
#10
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 15:07:28 GMT, Tim Challenger wrote:
On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 15:08:37 +0000, Nick wrote: i would find it hard to believe that the mouse would have been able to scale the angle of the roof felt to get back to its original point of entry with it being 5 foot up and a 45 degree angle sloping inwards. You might be surprised what they can climb over/up/under... Okay, since you guys are all mousexperts, tell me: how do the mice in my friend's cabin on Saltspring Island get in? Where do they live once inside? (Cabin is an upper story over a two-bay garage, reached by an outside stair.) He gets the little wild mouse -- we think it's Peromiscus maniculatus (sp), a deer mouse, and in warmer climates to be feared as a carrier of hanta virus -- in considerable numbers in his place. It's clear that at times a gravid female has made her way in, given birth, and raised a large family. When he first became aware of the problem (little piles of cat chow stashed in cupboards) and bought a live trap, he caught over sixty of the pests in about a month. We've both searched endlessly for a way in and found nothing. My guess is that either they crawl under the door (perhaps 1/4" clearance) or up the outside of the building and in through an open window. Since the outside of the building is rough cedar and shingles, this isn't impossible. Of course, being a tender-hearted soul, he doesn't kill them! Instead they get released outside...right at the foot of the stairs up to his place. Comments? -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada [change "atlantic" to "pacific" and "invalid" to "net" to reply by email] |
#11
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
Rodger Whitlock16/3/04 7:20
snip Okay, since you guys are all mousexperts, tell me: how do the mice in my friend's cabin on Saltspring Island get in?snip Drainpipes? Up trees and drop from a branch (I've seen a rat do it) Gravid female caught by a bird and dropped? -- Sacha (remove the weeds to email me) |
#12
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
"Rodger Whitlock" wrote
snip My guess is that either they crawl under the door (perhaps 1/4" clearance) or up the outside of the building and in through an open window. Since the outside of the building is rough cedar and shingles, this isn't impossible. snip Comments? Reducing the gap under a door to 1/4" or less is the textbook recommendation for proofing against mice. They wriggle under doors etc. by flattening their ribcages, BTW. I've seen film footage this and of a mouse scaling a 20' vertical brick wall in remarkably quick time. They are also very adaptable to new environments. There is a fascinating account of a colony which established itself in a very large freezer store (in London, England, I believe). Within a very few generations and living solely on frozen produce with no free water present, the mice had adapted to their surroundings. They nested in the packing material and grew longer and denser coats than normal. (The infestation didn't say much about the vigilance of the staff who worked at the freezer store, however). - Tom. |
#13
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 22:39:50 -0000, Tom Bennett wrote:
Reducing the gap under a door to 1/4" or less is the textbook recommendation for proofing against mice. They wriggle under doors etc. by flattening their ribcages, Not to mention being able to dislocate the plates of their skulls. The skull would otherwise limit the smallest hole to about 3/8"... -- Cheers Dave. pam is missing e-mail |
#14
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 22:39:50 -0000, Tom Bennett wrote:
Reducing the gap under a door to 1/4" or less is the textbook recommendation for proofing against mice. They wriggle under doors etc. by flattening their ribcages, Not to mention being able to dislocate the plates of their skulls. The skull would otherwise limit the smallest hole to about 3/8"... -- Cheers Dave. pam is missing e-mail |
#15
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update on my "mouse in the loft"
Rodger Whitlock16/3/04 7:20
snip Okay, since you guys are all mousexperts, tell me: how do the mice in my friend's cabin on Saltspring Island get in?snip Drainpipes? Up trees and drop from a branch (I've seen a rat do it) Gravid female caught by a bird and dropped? -- Sacha (remove the weeds to email me) |
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