The morality of killing mice

Status
Not open for further replies.
Drew99GT,

I appreciate your desire to not harm the "innocent". Killing takes a toll on your soul if you see too many of them. However, if you are seeing action once every hour or so, you need to seriously get them out, most likely killed, before they start spreading diseases that kills human. Releasing them to the wild isn't really doing anyone any good either, unless they becomes snake or eagle food.

IMO there is a difference between killing for fun/torture and killing to avoid further deaths. Yours fall into the later one.
 
My recommendation is to find yourself a few cats with oversize appetites. My cat is well fed, but begins hungrily meowing hours before feeding time. She LOVES food.

That being said, anything that flies, crawls, or scurries around our house is game for her. I've seen her catch and EAT everything from moths to house centipedes to spiders to mice.

Cats are natures perfect answer to rodents and creepy crawlies. Just as long as you don't get a lazy fat *** cat who just watches the mice run past.
 
OK, here's what you do:

Get a 5 gallon bucket, a coat hanger, a water bottle and some peanut butter. Straighten out the coat hanger and string the water bottle on it from top to bottom so it's in the middle of the hanger. Now, paint the bottle with peanut butter. Place the coat hanger over the bucket and secure it somehow so it won't move. This way, the mice can get to the peanut butter by walking on the coat hanger, but when they hop on the bottle, they lose their balance and fall off into the bucket and are unable to get out. You'll have a bucket of mice really quick. Put some food in there or they'll cannibalize.

Then you take the bucket outside and throw a cup of gas in there followed by a match. Rinse, repeat. (I'm kidding, you should put them in a double paper bag and stick them in the freezer.)
 
fill the bucket with beer and they will drown happy. I had a pair of cats that were incredable mousers. They hunted as pair. One night I was woken up by Midnight banging on the porch door. He had bagged a hen pheasant, almost as big as he was. He was sooo proud! I miss that cat.
 
If your goning with a cat make sure you get a female males don't make good hunters. I have three in the house and three, four in the barns its hard to find a mouse any place.
 
I've had pretty good success with putting lots of dryer sheets in the cabinet in my garage where they liked to nest. They don't like the smell.
Plus my oil bottles smelled springtime fresh!
 
Originally Posted By: AcuraTech
Cats are natures perfect answer to rodents and creepy crawlies.



Quote:
andyd: I had a pair of cats that were incredable mousers. He had bagged a hen pheasant, almost as big as he was.


Perfect?????
 
Well, after this mornings adventures, the mice are the least of my concerns. Bears are back in my neighborhood. Was out walking the dog and 2 older cubs and a sow were happily feasting on garbage from someone's trash can up my street. Every trash can in the neighborhood that's out is tipped over with garbage strewn everywhere.

I can't believe these idiots still keep their trash cans outside.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
...I guess I'm a big wussy.


I agree

Kill 'em. They spread disease and attract other creatures to set up home in your dwelling. When a nice rattle snake shows up in the yard it's cause those mice you've allowed to live in your house are fat tasty treats!

If you really have an aversion to killing them yourself, catch them in a live trap then take them to your local wildlife rescue as food. Around here we can give them to the raptor rescue.
 
On the Morality ladder of animal killing, etc. I think mice is on a very low rung of priority.

They are destroying your garage. It's okay to kill them since they are being pests and potentially dangerous, such as killing mosquitoes.
 
As others have said kill them. Although it is not fun, getting sick from them isn't fun either. I would spend some time and try to find out where they are coming into the house from and seal it up. There could be a few points of entry so take a good hard look.
 
my Dad and brothers live in the Poconos and get mice in the garage when winter comes. since there is no way to seal up every crevice, you have to kill them. killing mice is a great hobby for retired dudes.
and, if you are bugged out by mice, I'll do yo uone better: BATS. here in the city w/ lots of 3 story Victorian-era homes, bats are all over the place. I used to get one in the house in the summer and winter; when it got cold, they come down, and when the attic got too hot, they come down.
after like 8 years of that fear, I was finally able to seal up the house to keep them from getting in. an old house has LOTS of small gaps.
bats are the #1 carrier of rabies.
 
I'm not holding back. I've caught 8 of the little rascals and last night while tinkering in the garage, I saw a couple more come in. They're squeezing underneath the rubber seal at the bottom of the garage door in the corners. There's not much I can do about that. They can squeeze through holes the diameter of a pencil.
 
I think it's OK to kill mice if they are in your house and there is no other way of getting rid of them (i.e. not allowing them to come in in the first place). I am against indiscriminate massacre of animals if they are outside someone's residence, though.

If we are to believe the reincarnation theory, that same mouse could be a relative.
 
I don't mind killing vermin, problematic animals, or insects.
This is normal and good, overall.
But I detest torture in the process.
So all we can do is minimize this aspect, and maximize our methods that kill cleanly.

BTW, removing the food supply generally works, if killing really bothers you. Insects, mice, bears, whatever.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

C
Agitated neighbor
2 3 4
Replies
61
Views
3K
clinebarger
S
2015 Lexus GS 350 2GR-FSE Head Gasket Leaking
2
Replies
21
Views
1K
JeffKeryk
M
  • Locked
Could Just One Mouse Be Such a Problem?
Replies
16
Views
3K
Mr_Luke
M
Should i garage my car?
Replies
16
Views
944
Kurtatron
B
Ultra Black RTV. Is this going to work?
2
Replies
22
Views
2K
Nukeman7
Back
Top Bottom