# Poisoning Field Mice (voles)



## Eric

We have h field mice getting into our yard and eating some of the plants. In my area of California every two or three years there's an outbreak of them in the spring and summer, as a result the exterminator companies get a lot of work. They typically setup poison boxes, I'm sure you've seen them where they go in and eat the bait and as a result it kills them.

I have no issues with what others do and I get the need for it, my personal issue with it is that it's surely a horrible way to die. I've looked up how it works and the long and short of it is thins their blood and they bleed out. No matter what the creature is this is a cruel and inhumane way for anything to die, there is no way they don't suffer in some way. I'm a bigger fan of snap traps because it's immediate and that's what we ended up using in the end.

We're also see some that appear to be dying of thirst, trying to suck the bark for any water they can get. These are a few that are left that aren't taking the bait in the snap traps, so we've put out water for them because dying of thirst is also a shitty way to go I'm sure. Anyway, this is just my rant and I know I'm a bleeding heart when it comes to this stuff.


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## Chew Toy McCoy

Field mice are adorable.  When my parents moved into their newly build house about a decade ago they would sometimes get field mice in their house due to an open field being nearby and their house is ground level, no crawl space.  That stopped eventually, not sure why.

I don't know what the humane solution is here, but it's always my preference if possible to first make the area(s) they visit less accessible/attractive.


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## DT

Maybe go all Willard and command them to destroy your neighbors?


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## Alli

Years ago we moved into an older home in NY. It was on a substantial piece of property, and the mice were abundant. The noise drove me insane, and they just appeared everywhere. So we made the mistake of buying glue traps.

The first time a mouse got caught in one I spent an hour trying to dig him free. I was horrified. Needless to say we threw out the rest of the glue traps and learned to live with the mice.


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## Gutwrench

Voles don’t give me grief since I deliberately let my neighbor have a slightly better lawn as autumn approaches. No reason to stay at Motel Six when the Ritz is next door.


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## Renzatic

Gutwrench said:


> Voles don’t give me grief since I deliberately let my neighbor have a slightly better lawn as autumn approaches. No reason to stay at Motel Six when the Ritz is next door.



That's some dagnasty stone cold plottage, brah.

Maybe I should do that. My moles have come back. They're digging holes all through the yard again, and my cats, who once so very effectively got rid of them, aren't doing their job this year.


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## Gutwrench

Renzatic said:


> That's some dagnasty stone cold plottage, brah.
> 
> Maybe I should do that. My moles have come back. They're digging holes all through the yard again, and my cats, who once so very effectively got rid of them, aren't doing their job this year.




I have the same issue with freeloading dogs. I walk through the room and they’re stretched out and barely raise their head to acknowledge me. 

Some days I shout, “Don’t look at me like that! You don’t even have a job!”


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## Renzatic

Gutwrench said:


> I have the same issue with freeloading dogs. I walk through the room and they’re stretched out and barely raise their head to acknowledge me.
> 
> Some days I shout, “Don’t look at me like that! You don’t even have a job!”




At least I can say that my cats occasionally try. 

Like I've got a groundhog that lives under the big tree in my front yard. He's this big old fat bastard, probably twice the size of my biggest cat. Waddles around everywhere like he owns the place.

One day, I step off the breezeway, and I see Pete having a staredown with the groundhog. At first, I think he's gonna try to eat it, because that's what the cats usually do with all the animals they catch in the yard. But no. The groundhog's too big. Too scary. So instead, they just keep staring at each other for awhile, like one is waiting for the other to blink until the tension finally breaks, and Pete rears up, and start smacking the shit out of the groundhog before hauling ass away.

The groundhog was unfazed. I'd say it probably confused him more than anything, but really, the groundhog always looks confused.

So no, he didn't eat the groundhog, and the groundhog has recently taken to digging these big holes in the side of the hill outside my house, but I at least have to give him some props for the attempt.


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## lizkat

Gutwrench said:


> I have the same issue with freeloading dogs. I walk through the room and they’re stretched out and barely raise their head to acknowledge me.
> 
> Some days I shout, “Don’t look at me like that! You don’t even have a job!”




Hell when my cats got older and were in the kitchen with me, and hoping for handouts better than what I'd just put in their dish.... and a mouse was stupid enough to show itself?   They'd look at it finally making a freaked-out 180º  and *then they'd look at me,* like "Ya wanna get that? We're busy waiting for a piece of that chicken you're cooking."


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## Althea

Renzatic said:


> That's some dagnasty stone cold plottage, brah.
> 
> Maybe I should do that. My moles have come back. They're digging holes all through the yard again, and my cats, who once so very effectively got rid of them, aren't doing their job this year.



OK...moles are moles, voles are voles, and mice are mice.
Moles dig up your lawn because they're carnivores that eat grubs. Usually Japanese beetle grubs, but all grubs. The answer is to get rid of the grubs. I've almost eradicated the Japanese beetles by taking a can of soapy water and knocking them off my plants and into the soapy water. They're typically mating at the time, so you interrupt the cycle. It takes days/weeks, but you see results for years.

Milky Spore is an organic lawn treatment that kills grubs. I'll add that skunks also dig up the lawn looking for grubs.

Voles are herbivores that typically eat the roots of your plants.  They love sweet things, so I've used strawberries in the aforementioned snap traps.  I'm not a fan to poison/glue either.  If you have cats, they'll murder rodents, but you don't want them killing/consuming poisoned rodents.  I believe the poison kicks in once they drink water, which might be why Eric's rodents appear to be thirsty?

In the northeast, we get mice coming inside every fall, looking for a place to winter over.  I kill dozens in traps.  I don't like it, but it's a necessary evil.


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## Eric

Althea said:


> OK...moles are moles, voles are voles, and mice are mice.
> Moles dig up your lawn because they're carnivores that eat grubs. Usually Japanese beetle grubs, but all grubs. The answer is to get rid of the grubs. I've almost eradicated the Japanese beetles by taking a can of soapy water and knocking them off my plants and into the soapy water. They're typically mating at the time, so you interrupt the cycle. It takes days/weeks, but you see results for years.
> 
> Milky Spore is an organic lawn treatment that kills grubs. I'll add that skunks also dig up the lawn looking for grubs.
> 
> Voles are herbivores that typically eat the roots of your plants.  They love sweet things, so I've used strawberries in the aforementioned snap traps.  I'm not a fan to poison/glue either.  If you have cats, they'll murder rodents, but you don't want them killing/consuming poisoned rodents. * I believe the poison kicks in once they drink water, which might be why Eric's rodents appear to be thirsty?*
> 
> In the northeast, we get mice coming inside every fall, looking for a place to winter over.  I kill dozens in traps.  I don't like it, but it's a necessary evil.



This is a plausible explanation IMO. It appeared that they were trying to suck water out of the mulch, in either case what a terrible way to go for any living creature. Snap traps are quick and we got dozens of them this way in the end.


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## Althea

ericgtr12 said:


> This is a plausible explanation IMO. It appeared that they were trying to suck water out of the mulch, in either case what a terrible way to go for any living creature. Snap traps are quick and we got dozens of them this way in the end.



Yep.  I hate killing anything, but if I have to, it's the most humane way possible.

I learned about voles about 25 years ago. I had a row of beets in my garden, when for no apparent reason they started to die off one by one in the row. I couldn't understand it. I noticed a tunnel that broke the surface, and saw one of the buggers moving through. I didn't have internet back then, so I went to the local Agway and inquired.

Sure enough, it was voles.  I set traps with strawberries, and saved my beets.


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## Apple fanboy

ericgtr12 said:


> We have h field mice getting into our yard and eating some of the plants. In my area of California every two or three years there's an outbreak of them in the spring and summer, as a result the exterminator companies get a lot of work. They typically setup poison boxes, I'm sure you've seen them where they go in and eat the bait and as a result it kills them.
> 
> I have no issues with what others do and I get the need for it, my personal issue with it is that it's surely a horrible way to die. I've looked up how it works and the long and short of it is thins their blood and they bleed out. No matter what the creature is this is a cruel and inhumane way for anything to die, there is no way they don't suffer in some way. I'm a bigger fan of snap traps because it's immediate and that's what we ended up using in the end.
> 
> We're also see some that appear to be dying of thirst, trying to suck the bark for any water they can get. These are a few that are left that aren't taking the bait in the snap traps, so we've put out water for them because dying of thirst is also a shitty way to go I'm sure. Anyway, this is just my rant and I know I'm a bleeding heart when it comes to this stuff.



Just get one of these.



Winner, winner mouse for dinner!


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