I found this little guy (girl?) today in our Wick building. It was stuck in a cardboard tube that was set upright and it must have jumped in there. I emptied it into a bucket to get some pictures. I gave it some chicken scratch. Is anyone an expert on mice in the midwest?
I'm thinking maybe a white-footed mouse?
So adorable - I wanted to keep it but let it go after about 20 minutes of picture taking!
Claire
Not a very big mouse, but such big eyes!
I'm such a softie for anything small and furry. :-)
What innocent looking eyes it has. Cute, but you can keep them there.
t's a deer mouse. They are much cuter and the regular mice and if in captivity tame quite well. We had one that the cats had cornered on Thanksgiving eve. When it realised that there was no route of escape, it stood on its hind legs and was ready to do battle. I couldn't residt and scooped her up in a pet milk can. She slept in that smae can in a cage, the entire time I had her. She was with us for a couple of years and got so tame that she would snuggle in my pocket.
Ohhh...that's so adorable!!! Oh, now I'm so sad that I let it go....I could've had a cuddle mouse. :-(
He might come back anyway knowing that he was rewarded with chickenscratch. ^_^
Just be careful because deer mice can carry disease. They are the ones responsible for the hanta virus outbreak, I believe.
Yes, they are responsible for that - not too often, but one must be careful, it's true. I haven't seen it again, so I'm glad I took those pictures!
This afternoon, I went to the marsh looking for Swans to photograph. This little Vole, a close relative of mice, came out of the brush. It started feeding on the tender grass shots, at the edge of the parking lot, right in front of me.
The gentleman in this picture saw me photographing the Vole and ask it he could move in for a few shots. When he got this close, I couldn't resist snapping a few shots, of him photographing the Vole. I have never seen one feeding, in the open, like this before. It didn't pay any attention to us.
Awwww, that little vole is just adorable! I love it! Such tiny little eyes compared to my mouse - it's fascinating how they are differently adapted. And his cute little tail! What fun to have such an opportunity. I'm amazed it did not run away - seems it doesn't have the right "avoid predator" instincts!
You sure do grow 'em big in Alaska! My voles are quite a bit smaller than that one!
Folks: I was watering my cannas yesterday late in the day, and I saw something that looked like a vole/mouse slink under my ramp to the deck when I came up to a canna lily, now my question is this: do they harm canna lilies in anyway? And why would it slink away? I understand they like to eat bulbs and rhizomes; but, do they go underground (the voles) or above ground, as this one was definately above ground.
joy112854
Mostly they eat seeds and things above ground. I would imagine that there is plenty of fruits and seeds and nuts in Florida to keep it happy. It probably has a nest or stash under the deck near the foundation and was going back to drop off a load. They slink because their legs are so short.
I was a bit shocked to see it at first, but it doesn't look like a mouse, and I heard that voles look like mice. My deck has lattice all round it too; that I put up to keep animals away, there is no grass under there, it all died when I put up the deck; but a vole or mouse could get under it. Hmm. I haven't seen any vole holes, or tunnels, don't they have tunnels like moles?
joy112854
Joy - did you see the picture of the vole that is a couple of posts up from your original post? Did your possible vole look similar to that? My voles mostly tunnel under the snow in the winter, but I don't see them too much in the summer unless I am out at just the right time. Sometimes early morning or dusk. I think they are cute, personally. They do not cause damage in my garden and their winter tunnels make a bit of mess on the lawn but as soon as the snow melts and the grass grows you can't see it any more. I guess you don't have that problem in Florida!
I'm more concerned about how rapidly I'm told they multiply and how they love to eat roots and things, I have 80 canna lilies I don't want them to destroy dear. I also plan on planting a veggie garden for my second year behind my 6 ft privacy fence this Spring and won't be a happy camper if they eat my veggies and favorite flowers. There are ways to deter them though. I haven't seen any tunnels either. So; maybe it was a mouse? I have a tonic I can put down along my garden edges and yard edges that deter all kinds of critters, as they can't stand the smell, and just want to find out what critter I'm facing, I hope it's already moved on.
joy112854
I had about 20 cannas this year, and I know for sure I have voles, and there was no vole damage on any of them. They all flowered like crazy and I dug up the bulbs 2 weeks ago and they were not chewed or anything, so I do not believe that voles (or mice) eat my canna bulbs here in Iowa. I'm not guaranteeing that Florida voles don't eat them, but I suspect that they do not. I also understand that they don't like daff bulbs or allium bulbs, so I planted lots of those this year. :-)
One of the things I enjoy most about being out in the garden is coexisting with nature. I have a chipmonk or two, the occasional mouse and rabbits and birds that visit my flowers and vegetables. The only problem I had was when the bunnies got a bit out of hand and ate my soybean sprouts. I dealt with it then and have had no problem since. I think as gardeners, we are too quick to use chemical deterants and poisons. While there are times that I need to use them, I prefer not to and avoid them. One of my favorite deterants (and it worked for the bunny problem) is simply pepper spray that I make with habeneiro peppers and water. I always try to remember that humans are not the only ones who own the earth and the occasional nibble on a plant or dahlia tuber doesn't bother me.
I don't mind sharing, they in their own ways, share with me. The little vole and mouse that tunnel under the snow and grass dethaches the grass, so the early rains can soak into the ground. It arieates the soil and exposes it to sunlight. It carries off fallen sunflower seeds from the bird feeder so they don't sprout all over the yard. It feeds the owl that sits in my locust tree and luls me to sleep with his gentle voice.
Next time something else passes through your garden, stop and pay attention to it. Watch it and enjoy it for the miracle it is. You will probably learn what it's doing and if it is harming anything. Then if it is possible to leave it alone to coexist, we can. Belive me, we are better off allowing natural preditors to keep populations in check than interfearing on our own. History has proved that!
Jyl - I agree 100%. I love the diversity in my garden and always plant some for me and some for the creatures who I share my land with. We're all in it together!
jlgaskin: I like your attitude, as I hate chemicals myself. I have this real neat book my dad had, he had one green thumb and since passing away I have it now. I say a book, he really left me lots of gardening books which I'm happy about as I'm a beginner gardener. Anyways, one of the books has lots of simple ways to deter bugs and animals if they are getting into your beds or gardens without messing up the balance of things. Some times these chemicals can kill the bugs that are good for your yard and plants; not to mention they are not healthy for pets or children. If you keep your plants healthy, they can usually fend off diseases pretty well on their own and all critters have predators or things they don't like.
Some college in Tallahasse, came up with the bright idea of mixing two species to make a love bug to control mosquitos, our county bought into it to control mosquitos, well, the love bugs have no known predators, so now everyone winds up with love bugs glued to their windshield wipers and everything. You deter mosquitos lots of ways, one by not leaving water in containers lying around for them to breed in, you can also put citronella or geranium plants where you don't want them, birds like them and so do toads, toads eat 15,000 bugs a year.
If you know a plant attracts a certain bug that will destroy it, plant a plant next to it that that bug won't go near or one that can be a host plant for one of it's predators.
Deer for instance don't like Coreopsis, Iris, Daffodils, Dianthus, Dusty miller, Foxgloves, Zinnias, Yuccas, Vincas or Purple Cone flowers. They also don't like deodorant soap or perfumed soap, smelly socks, old shoes or athletes foot/or baby powder, and they don't like human or dog hair. So if deer are getting to your plants these are ways to deter them and doesn't cost as much as pest control and doesn't harm anyone. I sprinkle pepper around my beds and outskirts of my lawn to keep the neighbors cats and dogs off my lawn and out of my flower bed. One whiff of this potion I have and they don't return. Nothing that will harm them, they just detest it and decide to go elsewhere. LOL
joy112854
I rehabilitate deer and raise several a year. The deodorant soap helps (Irish Spring is best, but it takes a lot of bars), the pepper spray works and so does the stuff that smells like rotten eggs, everything else doesn't bother them a bit. I can also attest to the fact that they eat the blossoms off daffodils and actually like Zinnias and Vinca. Not as much as hostas and roses, but they snack on them just the same. Believe me we have tried every potion and trick out there.
This is the only yard where the animals roam free and the plants are in cages.
I have at least one cheap goldfish in all my little ponds and fountains. They eat all the mosquitos before they fly and only cost me 12 cents each. Of course it's cooler here, I imagine that they would boil in Florida.
Have you tried that Plantskydd stuff? I have heard good things about it but have yet to try it. I find that by planting allium and garlic along the front of my beds with hostas in them, the deer never go past the edge of the bed to get to the hosta. I also plant quite a bit of lavender around. At least, that has worked so far (i.e. this year, will try it again next year).
Maybe cause you are from Michigan? You guys get some nice looking deer up there, here in Florida they are about the size of big dogs. LOL This is my first year planting daffodils but of course, they will be in pots on my deck, so think they are safe, the rest of my garden is canna lilies, and they are tough plants, the reason I like them, as I'm a new gardener, and my veggies are behind a 6 foot wooden fence, so they are safe. It's a new hobby and I'm really having fun with it, have had to quit cause it's too cold right now, sniffles; but, am looking forward to planting this Spring and summer again. I wish the deer would stick to this area though instead of trying to cross the highway, as sometimes they get hit and where this was once country, we're getting a lot like the city anymore around here it seems, the wildlife have no place to go.
joy112854
