Unwanted Winter Freeloaders

[Axeman]

It's that time of year...unwanted guests start making their way into the house. For us, it's the occasional mouse.

Last night, I had set up two traps and caught two unwanted guests. Looking closely at them, it looks like I caught two different species. One is defintely a deer mouse. The second, was more of a mousey grey but like the deer mouse, had a white under belly. The difference between the two was that the deer mouse had a brighter white underbelly and the delineation between the white and the brown body was clearer.

I looked on the net, and the images of the house mouse showed a solid grey rodent. But I'm sure the difference that I saw between the two mice was more than a difference in phenotype.

Anyone ?

[thouc]

Could be a juv. Deer Mouse or a White-footed Mouse.

Check http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/view ... mit=Search for identification tips.

[Axeman]

Thanks Thouc....the second mouse turns out, thanks to the page you direced me to, is in fact a white footed mouse. Had the telltale black line down the back.

[Rob'in'To]

I never thought of paying that much attention to them little buggers myself.  I usually use the snap traps and kill 'em quick.  I used to use the live catch traps but figure its a cruel thing to throw them out in the woods during winter, especially when there's snow.

My cat caught one last winter in the house.  It lay there on the hardwood with kitty sitting all proud next to it.  I went and grabbed my camera thinking this was going to be a nice shot of our "Spoiled Princess".  And just as I was about to take the pic, the mouse jolted up and it was a live episode of Tom and Jerry once again.  Crazy that the mouse played dead for so many minutes and then took the chance to make an escape again.  He went flying out the front door soon after.

[Halton Hills]

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Came across a small Meadow Jumping Mouse while doing some gardening last week.

About the size of my thumb (tip to first knuckle).....very tame as I held it in my hand for the Mrs. to see.....  

She thought it was quite adorable......especially since it wasn't inside the house.....LOL

It looked like the pics below except all dark grey on top with contrasting white below.

Incredible how large the hind legs were in proportion to the rest of it's body.



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