Mice are magnetic – all you need is a stronger magnet!
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-09/nasa-levitates-mouse
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Hm. Might have to use cows, then.
We covered this in detail in my master gardener’s course on pests- mice are surprisingly habit driven, and tend to do poorly when relocated. It’s not that they can’t find food or water- it’s that they may not be able to (which is why I phrased it that way originally) and will likely suffer while they adjust to their new location, if they manage to adjust at all.
Add to that not having a home and hiding places in the new spot, competition from other already-resident mice, and so on, the humane thing is just to kill them outright, although it’s not the feel-good option of letting them run free as nature intended.
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How (or where) is catch-and-release illegal?
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Yeah, anyone who believes a mouse can’t chew through a plastic bottle hasn’t met very many mice.
I wonder if you could jigger the plans to use a glass bottle; more work, certainly, but probably feasible.
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Great reply, glad you took the time to edit it to get it just right.
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Ah yeah, her reasonable response of facetious faux-outrage saying she won’t attempt the project now because of the author’s gendered language. Give me a break.
So… when I let deer mice go in the woods it’s more cruel than killing them?
I think it’s more human to kill them with a mousetrap. I think mousetraps were even created as a better alternative to killing them with poison. One snap and they’re dead… probably.
You have to make sure you rescue them from the traps. If you forget, they starve to death. That’s not very humane, don’t you agree?
Poison isn’t a good solution. Just got for a quick-kill trap.
Poison works its way up the food chain. The concept is called biomagnification. The amount needed to kill a mouse is tiny, but predators eat lots of mice and the dose of the poison that they get is much higher.
It’s a pretty quick way to kill all the neighborhood cats.
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Usually Mark’s more on-point in his writing. You might enjoy reading his book Maker Dad: Lunchbox Guitars, Antigravity Jars, and 22 Other Incredibly-Cool Father-Daughter DIY Projects.
Or maybe not, since you’re not a father. But he is (with two daughters), which is why he titled it thus. But I’ve had a good time making some of those projects with my son, as well as with my daughter.
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Hmm. Well, I don’t think I’ll adopt this approach if I’m ever put in charge of refugee relocation.
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It’s not catch and release that is illegal. It’s catch and relocate that is illegal and it’s illegal in all of California.
If you’re in CA that’s illegal.
Rodent poisons kill owls and hawks as well.
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This isn’t a proper mousetrap.
There’s no crank to turn, no plank to slap, no chute to boot the ball down…
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House mice fare very poorly in the wild. They’re invasive and adapted to living around humans. Native mice should be able to fare in the wild (or very quickly get eaten by predators), though they’re less likely to wind up in your house. We did get a couple hispid cotton rats that found their way into our house after extended heavy rains. We trapped them and let the go in a habitat they preferred out in the sticks. No way I was going to kill those, they didn’t want to be in the house and would have starved if we didn’t free them.
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