This is a Bucket about mice, specifically about deer mice. They are common around my place, on the edge of the 120-acre wood. Deer mice, more often than not, find their way into our garage, but thankfully not into our living space. I’ve read that deer mice seldom intrude into human occupied space. Our living space is also a canine occupied space, which I suspect is a more effective deterrent. In the garage, are strategically placed snap-traps along the walls where deer mice like to run. Sadly, but not too sadly, they end up snapped in place and quite dead.
I’ve learned during my life that the creatures we loathe and fear become less so after we learn more about them and their lives. This is so with spiders, snakes, and for me, big centipedes. And so it is with mice. But deer mice are too cute to loathe, if you must know. I’m sure you’d agree. Knowledge is power and settles our fears.
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To satisfy my curiosity about what small rodents move about unseen around our place and in the 120- acre wood, I purchased a live trap. I set it up under a western redcedar just beyond our back fence. I weighted it down with a couple rocks and concealed it with some cedar boughs. I baited it a with a few mixed nuts and left it overnight. Whoa! The next morning there was a deer mouse captured in the live trap. After some quick photos, I released it very close to where I had trapped it.
Deer mice are found over most of North America, and include 61 subspecies. Deer mice are nocturnal and spend their days in trees or burrows where they have nests of plant material. Deer mice are somewhat territorial and can have territories as large as three quarters of an acre. Deer mice are omnivorous, which surprised me to learn. They feed on seeds, fruits, arthropods, leaves, and fungi. There is plenty more information out there on deer mice. I’ll leave it to you to take a deeper dive.
I’ll be setting up the trap again soon and see if there is anything else to capture. I know we have voles in the yard. We have moles and shrews, too. But they’re not so easily trapped.
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