Placing cage wheels in water didn't deter mice from climbing.😠

[TobyTheQuail]

I received some great ideas on how to stop the mice from climbing up onto the quails' cage. In the meantime though, I still needed a quick fix so I dunked the wheels in water. I know...this is probably going to rust them but I'm desperate. It seemed to work for the first 45 minutes and then, I don't know how, they found a way back in. Arghhh! I would hate to find out that these little boogers can swim now. Can they??? Btw, that's a pic of him running off once I caught him.

 

[Nabiki]

Yes, mice and rats can swim. I'd set some snap traps around and get rid of him that way. Unfortunately, if you let them hang around, they're just going to multiply and carry disease into your quail's home and your home.

 

[muddy75]

In looking for a “humane” method of dealing with your mouse problem, you’ve not only been “foiled” by the fact that mice can swim and jump but death by drowning is one of the least humane methods of dealing with a “pest/predator” problem.....(same for freezing and suffocation). Get some traps and/or pet proof poison holders.

 

[Geckolady]

OK, I have the solution to all the OP's problems. Why didn't I see it before???

To keep the mice from invading the quail cage after food, he can put food on the floor for them. He can buy little hamster-sized bowls and fill them with peanut butter, cracked grain, and other snacks so the poor little beasties won't have to exert themselves getting into the quail cage. Then he can lay some nice bedding down so they have somewhere to breed and a soft place to lay their little headsies. Since they love to gnaw, he can provide them with little hamster gnawing sticks, or better yet, some nice furniture. Then he can live happily ever after, and so can the mice.

The rest of us are wasting our time here. And OP, if you ever move to Arizona, please let me know so I can avoid renting to you. Enjoy your day!

 

[Geckolady]

You keep wanting to be humane to the mice and rats. I'm guessing you must be new to dealing with them. They are relentless. They will destroy your property and coop, and can give you diseases. You can't worry about being nice to them. It's you or them. War. The longer you wait, the more they will multiply, and the more rodents you will need to kill. The most humane thing to do is to kill as few as possible, and that means kill them now before they multiply even further. You won't like that option, but I'm sorry, it's the only one.

 

[SheaLoner]

Snap trap, glue traps, or cover the cages in 1/4" hardware cloth. You may be able to try coating the legs in vaseline, combined with the water it may keep mice out. But then they will just migrate to your kitchen.

 

[DigitalSuccubus]

Rub patroleum jelly or Vaseline all over them, the mice can't climb over it..

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

I AM going to get rid of them just not in such barbaric ways. What people seem to not want to understand is that these creatures just like u and I have the ability of feeling pain and agony. Ergo, if there's a kinder way to get rid of them without bashing their heads in or using glue traps to give them a slow, torturous death then that's what I prefer.

They do. However, they also, like people have said, get inside of a building and multiply. They are hard to remove. They can go after food, chew up your bedding, etc., and even bite people, spreading germs and disease. Any mouse-chewed food shouldn't be eaten by people, and if you've seen mice in your bedding, then that bedding should be washed immediately, costing you time and money.
It's unpleasant to kill them, yes, but death by snap trap and neck breaking is much faster and far more humane than any other way of exterminating them. It also doesn't give them time to be scared -- just one snap, and they're gone.
I'm not sure if there is a way to get them out without killing them -- I don't know if there are any animal removal services that try that, and I doubt that there are any home remedies in that vein of thinking. They'll just come back or move on to somebody else's home.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Mice unfortunately can swim. I always use cashews for my bait in mouse traps. If you have any, you could try that. If you have an empty cage, you could put a trap on there also.

 

[Ratchnick]

You can kill a mouse and still do it humanely. Snap traps are great for that. They make live traps as well, if you want to make them someone else's problem.