number three

[kirkcudbright]

We caught the first two mice on the overnight shift. This one wandered in at dinnertime, shortly after I'd re-set it. We moved it to an aquarium (with plushy bedding, food, and water), and re-set the trap for other brother Daryl. Besides, it's got to be better than spending the night in a metal trap.

It was pretty agitated at first, jumping from the floor of the tank to the top of the water bottle. (Domestic mice just don't do that - if I left them on a table top, they'd still be there an hour later, because they won't jump farther than they can reach.) When it calmed down a little, it tried walking on the underside of the screen lid of the tank (and showed us that it's male). Eventually it calmed down enough to do what captive mice do best (sit and wait), and I was able to get a picture.

Cute vermin, exhibit 1:

Comments

[quietann.livejournal.com]

yep, that's what we have, too.

They are cute, and nothing at all like a house mouse or domestic mouse.

Clearly this is a creature who is designed to see, smell, hear, *and* touch very well.

BTW, don't be too sure that it's male. The females get very swollen, ahem, back there, when they are in heat.

awww

[lara68.livejournal.com]

it's one of the poopsmith's cousins! i second ann's opinion that it may not be as male as you think. male and female deer mouse genitalia look very similar. check out these pictures (http://www.spiritdancers.org/rilla/dmfvm.htm).

[lara68.livejournal.com]

also, fwiw, the poopsmith is much less jumpy than her "domesticated" cage mate, the queen of town.

[lisajulie.livejournal.com]

I don't know how far you are going to relocate these mice. My experience is that they have, as a friend expressed it, "extreme territorial fealty". IOW, they will travel much farther than you think possible.

The rule of thumb that I was taught - transport them a) over a watershed or b) over three major automobile arteries.

Good advice and it has worked for me. Although seeing one refusing to leave the live trap until it had finished it's almond almost made me break down and leave the trap open. I steeled myself, let the critter finish the nut, and then flung it out of the live trap into an appropriate yard. The mouse hasn't returned.

a different sort of mouse story

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

the husband of a pair of friends of ours caught a mouse and gave it a home (he's wanted furry pets, she's argued against them; she finally agreed to this provided he kept the cage clean; after all, it was only a mouse!). then they caught a second mouse and gave it the same home -- they're both boys, right? a third mouse, same home (same logic).

a few weeks later. two pregnant female mice (and one CLEARLY male mouse). the pair of friends quickly do a -lot- of research on sexing immature mice. about 14 babies are born, and as quickly as possible are separated into (now two) homes.

this was about a year ago, and there have been no new pregnancies. result? the pair of friends, all the babies, the two moms, and the one dad (woof!) are all doing well in their respective, and gender separated homes.

Re: a different sort of mouse story

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

When Kylie first got mice, we tried to get three females, but neither we nor the pet shop girl were much good at sexing young mice, so we were only mostly right (two girls, one boy). We caught the mistake before they bred, but since then we've had his-and-hers mouse cages. The one exception was when one of the boys was on his last legs, we put him in with the girls, who took much better care of him than his brother ever had. But still no babies.