Field Mice

[The Mouse]

Help - does anyone have a tried and tested way of getting rid of field mice? My garden is riddled with holes, and they have just tunneled right below the surface of the seedbed where the leeks were starting to germinate

I know some people say that planting garlic or sticking mothballs in the ground will deter them, but I'm not convinced - last year they made as many tunnels in my garlic bed as anywhere else! Have any of you found a method that has actually worked for you?

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Caz, are they definately field mice and not moles.

[The Mouse]

I think so, OH, though I'm no expert.

Firstly, the holes are so random, and there is rarely any 'hill' on the surface, although the tunnels are often so close to the surface that you can follow them easily. I don't know why, but I imagine mole tunnels to be slightly deeper.

Secondly, we had our local pest control expert out recently because there were rats about again, and I got him to look at the holes just in case the rats were to blame. He said field mice were the most likely culprits.

Finally, the only creature I have ever seen stick its head out of one of these holes looked like a field mouse to me - it definitely wasn't a mole, anyway. Though at the time, I was still blaming moles and just thought the mouse might be squatting

Whatever they are, I am desperate for a way to get rid of them - H E L P

[John]

Hello Caz
As you say it's probably field mice but another possibility is voles. They look similar to field mice but have a stouter body and shorter tails. They don't leave 'vole hills' like moles do. Anyway they are a nuisance because they disturb plant roots so much. I don't think they eat plants though.
I get them in my cold frames and they're a real headache. One method of getting rid of them or rather moving them off somewhere else that has worked for me is to pour a splash of weak Jeyes fluid down the their holes. If you can trace their runs then poke a stick into it to make another hole and again add a little JF. A little dilute JF doesn't seem to harm plants.

Hope this helps.

John

[alan refail]

I'm thinking along the same lines as John.

Field voles Microtus agrestis(also known as grass voles or short-tailed voles) are very, very common, much more numerous than rats and mice.




Earlier this year my field was full of the closely related bank voles burrowing everywhere. They were breeding like, well, bank voles. Then they all disappeared. Probably due to the nocturnal attentions of a local cat (not ours - he's too old and uninterested).
Now we're overrun by moles

[The Mouse]

I think you might have given me the answer then, Alan - get a cat

Come to think of it, the problem has only got really bad since our resident cat left a couple of years ago. He used to catch and eat them by the dozen, just as little snack between the rabbits.
Come to think of it, there was a rabbit explosion after he left too - that was last year's problem in the garden

Only trouble was, he usually only ate half a rabbit (the head !) before he went off to catch another. In mid summer the garden reeked of rotting rabbit; It was a daily job to go around collecting the remains (and throwing them into the field for the crows etc. to dispose of)

So on reflection, maybe I'll try John's Jayes fluid idea instead of getting a cat

[Johnboy]

Hi Caz,
This year I am infested with Field Mice and they have managed to swipe my first sowing of Dwarf Beans destined to grow in one of my tunnels.
It is not as though they were not protected. They have managed to get through a 1.5cm wire mesh and this is something that they have never managed to do before. I am beginning to think that it may be Shrews which are considerably smaller than either Mice or Voles.
BTW I have many feral cats that inhabit my barns and they have generally kept the vermin down but apparently not this year.
I never feed these cats but they get a milk ration every day and more to nursing mothers. They really eat very well and on the whole are really healthy. If I think a cat is not well they get treated by the vet. If they are healthy I have no chance of catching them. If they get caught that in itself is an indication that all is not right.
They have been catching Field Mice by the score this year. Why, god above knows!
JB.

[The Mouse]

Hi, Johnboy

I think you've pinpointed one part of the problem - I don't really know what I'm dealing with: voles, field mice or even shrews. I think I mentioned earlier that I have never seen more than a head peeping out of one of the holes, which is not enough for me to identify it by. And anyway, I suppose it's possible that all three are out there in my garden, each doing their own share of the damage .

What I can say is that one of the creatures out there doesn't mind taking bait meant for rats, and apparently isn't harmed by it. I say this, because the pest control expert kept coming back week after week to refill the trap, and days later it would be empty again, despite the fact that we hadn't seen any rats for ages. I discovered where it had been going two weeks ago when I started to dig a planting hole for a new apple tree - I started digging the stuff up by the spadeful That part of the garden had been full of tunnels, so I blame the resident critters (which still seem to be alive and well and very active).

But I'm still at a bit of a loss as to what to do about it. The tunnels are so numerous and over such a big area that I'm not sure if the Jeyes fluid treatment is practical - what do you think

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Caz, are we talking about cultivated soil, lawned area, or both where all these tunnels are.?

[The Mouse]

Hi, OH

My back garden is part lawn, part borders with the usual garden shrubs etc, and a section that I am using this year as nursery beds for some of the plants that I'll take to the allotment later, and for some winter veg I want closer to home.

The lawn isn't very badly affected - from time to time a hole might appear in it, on average maybe 1" diameter, but never any molehills.

The borders are full of holes, ranging from 1" - 2" diameter and when I use a trowel the surface collapses because there are so many tunnels underneath. However, because most of the plants in there are well established, it's not a huge problem, though I will certainly lose a few annuals if I don't check several times a day for ones that have been pushed back up from underneath!

The most obvious and damaging activity is in the part where I'm trying to grow veg. Every time I look, the tunnels have spread. I spotted the first parsnips germinating this morning - but the tunnels are within inches of them now

Help

[alan refail]

Caz

I don't know how much mice burrow, but 1" diameter is about right right for vole burrows. Sorry, not much help in getting rid of them.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Caz, it does sound to me as if it might be a combination of a mole and voles.

When you say you can see where the new tunnels are, do you mean that the soil is slightly raised, if so i think this will be a mole working just below the soil surface, they do often do this in cultivated soil.

If you go out in the garden, walking as softly as you can, at around 11 a.m or 4pm you can often see moles working if you wait a while.

[Johnboy]

Hi OH and Caz,
If you see movement under the soil like OH describes you grab the first shovel and smack it down hard on the bump and that should be that!
I have caught as many that way as with traps over the years.
JB.

[The Mouse]

Thanks for that Johnboy and OH

Yes, the soil is slightly raised.
I'll be out there tomorrow, armed with a spade - sounds like fun

Not sure what the neighbours will make of it, though. Still, they should be getting used to us by now - this time last year I had one of my sons stood out there for hours on end armed with a gun, because of the rabbits

[Monika]

Johnboy, I don't think it'll be shrews eating your dwarf beans because shrews, as far as I know, are carnivores, eating worms, beetles etc.