major mouse damage: the cat must be broken!

I need a 'Plan "B" ' for mouse control!

Sunday I uncovered my 5 year old rambler rose 'Veilchenblau' only to find it has suffered major mouse damage over the winter. The lower 3-4 feet of all canes were completely girdled . :(

I thought I had done a good job covering it over with large quantity of earth the full length of it, but the mice proved equally good and finding it. :(

So, no choice but to prune it back to ground level.... very disapointing, it had canes 12 feet long....

On the bright side, there was enough cane unharmed to make a couple pots of cuttings, so maybe there's hope a 'veilchenblau' will bloom again in my yard........ I really like that rose.

To add insult to injury, I found that mice had nipped the tops off several of my little round cactus, (green grape sized) even pulling several out from the ground...they must have done that Saturday, when the cat was sleeping on the deck in the sun in full view of the rock garden..........

Oh well, I love that cat......

Ah cats. I know my young and crazy indoor cat would eat the voles in my backyard, but I also know that she'd go after the birds, in the tall tree. I dislike getting on a very tall ladder just to extract a frightend kitten -- had to do this once last summer (after she snuck out the backdoor of a friends house) not at all fun. So I'll just have to deal with the tunnels I found in the lawn when the snow melted. My cat is only useful for keeping my lap warm, eating my petunia seedlings, reminding me when her food bowl is empty, and decorating every light coloured object in the house (including all my white shirts) with black fur :-D

LOL, cats, ya gotta love 'em! I too, have a pair that aren't at all interested in mice and wouldn't know what to do with one if it walked up to them and slapped 'em in the eye. But they are great cuddlers...Ü

Don

I too have found mouse tunnels in the lawns and gardens and some plant damage. I notice that we are now 3 Ontarians with this report. Do you think it might have something to do with the very strange winter we had here this year?

We also caught four mice in the house. My two little lions would crouch and listen to the scratching and rustling with great attention, but would they open a cupboard door that they open any other time and waltz right in? Oh nooooooooo - not when there's actually really something in there :-)

--Ginny

normally our cat is an excellent mouser! his age must have caught up with him.....

must have a retirement party for him, he's pushing 17 years old!

Sue

Great to hear, Sue. I hope I am so lucky.

Don

I think its always been a problem in Ontario, it may be that you were just lucky not to have critters before. The warm weather probably allowed more to live -- easier to get food, no freezing to death, so it may be the cause of increased critter presence.

I know I have voles and not mice because voles are the little devils that burrow through the lawn -- mice do not burrow. They make vole tunnels under the lawn to eat delicious grass roots and grubs. They also tend to eat overwintering plants outside. Mice do not really like vegetation, they do like cereals and grains. If you have a bird feeder they will eat the seeds off the ground that those messy birds fling everywhere.

Grinning from ear to ear reading this thread. Reminds me of the time we had 3 cats and a little visitor. Imagine making use of the bathrooms facilities and having one run over your toes. :S Cats were given a serious talking too and a trap was found quickly and baited with peanut butter. The next morning one of cats was proudly showing off *his* decapitated prize (and the trap ;).

Haven't seen any mouse damage outside yet.......could be the lack of snow cover took care of anything they'd want to nibble on anyways. We did catch 4 in the back porch tho.

I guess I have both voles and mice then :-(

ROTFLOL! I'm burstin' here Pam. That sounds like something my "Little Brattling" might do.

This message was edited Apr 11, 2006 11:51 AM

Yep the little darlings do hold a *special* place in our hearts. ;b

Amazing how quickly they'll catch a sweet little chipmunk tho.....and how quickly we will move to pry apart their jaws.

This message was edited Apr 11, 2006 11:22 AM

Same mouse tunnels here & it looks like they might have got one of my Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate'. I remember two years ago I had purchased two Digitalis 'Anne Redetzky' & I didn't get to see either one bloom as the darn mice got both of them. It's a real bummer when you wait all winter just to see a special plant bloom, only to lose it.

edited for punctuation

This message was edited Apr 11, 2006 10:03 PM

I really can't complain, this year is the first year I've gardened and had any serious damage been done by the rodents. I guess it's 'my turn'.

With any luck the rambler will come back, (fingers & toes crosses)

happy rodent/pest free gardening!

Sue

Ginny since I have both problems from time to time (or most of the time?), I did some research. They are both mice. The burrowing ones who damage the plants are voles, or field mice. I read that those are NOT the ones who move in with you when the weather turns cold. They are a different variety. I have lost some plants to them over this past winter, when they took up residence in my newly planted front border. Worked all summer on that border, and now look!!!! Little creeps! BAM

Thanks for the info Bam. I never knew that voles were field mice. Fortunately, I think the only garden they ventured into was a new one next to my garage and all it has in it right now are hollyhocks, some mums I divided last year, and some inter-mixed foxglove and shasta daisy. So far it looks as though everything is fine. I hope you're able to evict yours for good! --Ginny

Just small sample of some of the damage that's frustrating me this spring. Well that's putting it a little too politely, but this is a child friendly environment. I think this was squirrels.

Oh Brenda, that is definitely not something you want to see. I know just how you feel.

Ahh, you too eh? This is just one incident. I'm finding holes where the crowns of prize plants used to grow, with a fan of leaves left around them. That lily was just one of many Sterling Star, so it's not a great loss, but some other things really upset me. Most damage is in my shade border.

OUCH!

Here are some interesting stats from the University of Nebraska Lincoln website.

Thanks Broots. That is pretty frightening news. Ginny both of our beds were newly dug, I wonder if they prefer that nice soft soil, with only newly planted plants. Echoes that is disgusting. I had a large crater where my one ladybell should be (adenophora confusa). Will look strange with just two, but not much I can do about it. Now they are burrowing a huge crater under my French Tarragon. This is war! I was so happy it made it through the winter, and they are now trying to kill it. Took over two shovels of dirt crammed down that tunnel to fill the hole underneath. This is not a child-safe environment, so I will use whatever I must to try to evict the little monsters. Cute or not. BAM

Bam, when I said "this is a child friendly environment", I meant I can't swear and cuss here on DG, which is what I felt like doing when I saw that mess. I would shoot them in a blink, if I could see well enough to shoot straight. The mice, I guess I'll just have to leave out poison. I've decided not to feed the birds anymore, because that just attracts them. The neighbor's barn cats hunt around here, but not after the snow gets too deep.

Very scary Linda, to think how many relatives last years mice must have by now.

We met a mouser by the name of Zeus yesterday.......he was HUGE!!! The greenhouse owner said he gained about 8 pounds this spring. :S

Plan B has been initiated!

Charles is a 7 week old solid dark grey kitten. Our younger son brought him home a couple of days ago, 'as a supplement to our current rodent control method.'

He's fitting in very well with the 3 dogs and elderly cat, thinks he's a tiger in a kitten body........

Charles successfully hunted a dangerous sock that was lurking under the bed this morning...... it took a great deal of leaping, pouncing, scratching, and biting but the sock finally gave up......boy was he proud of himself!

Wonderful! I hope you can provide a few pics of Plan B. (er I mean Charles). My second favourite thing to flowers is cats. No maybe they are my first favourite. So much fun.

Good luck with plan B. It sounds like he is a real sweetheart & a load of laughs. How do the other critters feel about Charles?

lets see, the cat is trying his best to ignore Charles. The female dog is trying to 'mother' him, licking (or tasting?) him, barely containing her enthusiasm, the old dog is intrigued and curious (but gentle) and the black crabby dog, is just that, crabby. Mutters under his breath about 'that NEW CAT', jealous much? Has already experienced Charles' claws on his nose......

During the day, when no one is home, Charles is kept apart from the dogs/cat (they could inadvertantly cause some harm) for now, he's supervised closely when we're home and has full roam of the house then.

He stays in my son's room, and he woke Eric up this morning by biting his nose........

Charles, enjoying a cat nap with Eric

Oh, so precious. I want him.

Oh gosh, he really is a sweetie. Cute photo.

might have to send your kitty out this way, saw a rat running from my garden this afternoon. Thought it had moved on, but apparently not.

Oh Linda, that's the worst. You take the prize for pests. Of all the critters that have driven me nuts, the rat thing just about finished me off. I sure hope you can get rid of it.

We didn't have much trouble with the 4 legged rats until the folks next door moved away and took their 3 cats and drug dealing son with them (and his 2 legged rats with him) Now the cats in the neighbourhood have bells on them, so the rats hear them. I cleaned out the lower branches of most of the bushes along the edge of the yard. I guess I'll have to clean out the back shed of old pots and plastics that it had it's winter home in. Not a job I look forward to. I was out in the dark last night with the dog, waiting for him to do his job... and has looking at my iris. Found a lovely green 2" long caterpillar having a lovely meal. The cat. is not going to cause any more problems for my iris.

Just a note your cat needs to learn to catch and eat mice. They will naturally chase and catch anything that moves but they need to learn to do the coop de gras. I lost my "Moose" kitty this spring to an automobile and he left no mice to live within 1/2 mile of my house. I shall miss him so much. I built this bed today for him to be buried in. I have planned to put a bird feeder, Squirrell feeder, and I suspect that the mice will visit the feeders this winter. I still have a back up cat Badger who grew up in a barn and learned all the "Coop de Gras" stuff too. It is always best to get a cat about 3 to 6 months old from a barn or other area that they have learned the skill and have been handled by people so they live to cuddle.

Looks like a great place Sofer for your mouser memorial. Sorry for your loss.

Sofer, it is always difficult to lose a beloved pet, isn't it? Your memorial to Moose is beautiful. May he bask in the sunshine of your memories always.

Charles seems to have the basic idea of the mechanics of the 'kill', lol! The hold with front claws, bite and hold and the dig/scratch with the hind claws. It was so funny to watch him with the sock........ he's still so much a baby, his eyes are blue....

He learned to navigate down the stairs this morning, on his way to breakfast.

The crabby black dog was surprised when Charles licked him on his nose....

I don't even want to think about rats.....ugh!

Sofer, so sorry to hear of your loss of Moose the mouser. It looks like you have created a great memorial to him.

I guess the retirement party for the old cat has to be postponed!

Yesterday, he brought home his second dead mouse in two days! Go kitty! It was so funny, he hung around on the back deck, pacing back and forth in front of the patio door, with the mouse in his mouth, making sure we saw his 'offering'. We made sure we all went outside and praised him!

just a quick note to report Plan B is doing well!

Charles Kat is all grown up and is a hunting/mouse killing machine!

Excellent news! Do you have a more recent pic to show us?

--Ginny

I have read that planting Fritilaria imperialis discourages moles and voles and squirrels. Something about the smell discourages them. Dont know about the mice.
Hardy zones 4-8.