Outdoor Aviary - Mice !!

[Mands]

Hello. I have an outdoor aviary for my Cockatiels. We have just given them a much bigger one and shifted them into it. To our surprise the old one had a nest of mice in it, a ton of them.

We have no had any problem with any of them coming into the house, but now with getting the new cages inside with seed spillage outside of the cage etc, I am worried they may come inside. I am terrified of them, I am already getting jumpy!!

What do you guys do for mice problems? how do you control them? I also have 4 dogs that live inside but are outside most of the day so it would need to be safe. I imagine most aviaries have mice problems?

Thanks

[monotwine]

The aussies have brilliant coping mechanisms for mice. Mostly its how to stop them getting in the aviary initially with solid floors, base boards and even electric fencing. Mouse proof aviary are usually built to prevent infestations. Mice have only ever caused minor problems for me. Thankfully none have taken to eating chicks etc, but they do leave scent trails and therefore mouse=snake to me. Don't need to invite snakes into my aviary.

So I have a no tolerance approach. My aviary is not mouse proof (an oversight which will have to be rectified if I rebuild), but I have mousers (cats & dogs that let me know when one is around) and in safe locations away from all birds and pets I use special rodent bait - the type that does not affect the food chain. The bait box has never killed any for me and the bait remains untouched. I usually find any mice before they settle in for good, and either catch and release far away (if they are our wild kind) or catch and ... for the not native type (if my mousers don't get them first).

You only need one preggie mouse to invade the aviary and once they start setting up house almost impossible to eliminate without using poison/drastic measures.
They gnaw away at boxes, frames etc to make home and walkways and personally I cannot take the smell of them setting up home in any location for long.

Know someone that had one litter of mice come into their aviary via the hay bale.... left them cause they were cute.... 100's later and the whole aviary area had to be demolished to eventually eradicate them.

[monotwine]

LOL sorry only saw after the post that you are an aussie!

[cindy]

You can border the outside lower part of your aviary in galvanized sheet metal, go up about 3 feet from the bottom sinking a bit into the ground. Seal and cracks like under doorways, trim all bushes, trees and plants that are up against the outside aviary wall so they can not climb them.

Use caution with poison bait that you put down in the yard (especially if you have dogs since most is scent like peanut butter and can cause serious health risks if ingested). Mice/rats will pick it up/travel with it and carry it off to their nesting areas. Since their nests are located in your nest boxes I would be mindful of that until you can construct a way for them not to get in. They can climb mesh so making it solid on the outside can prevent that.

[Martie]

I have no experience with an outdoor aviary as my birds are all indoors in my basement bird room. For the first few years, I noted that mice would kind of come and go - also that if I saw one - or even evidence - it had a lot of friends. The key here is to make a really inhospitable environment - all the time - not just when I noticed them.

It seems most mice will run along the edges of the floor/wall, so I have traps set up all along the wall - about 2-3 feet apart - all the time. I also don't want to kill the mice myself (I know - makes no sense) so use regular snap traps rather than the run-in kind you can buy.

One problem with this was how to sweep around all the traps - and how to keep seed from falling on them - especially the ones under cages. I now save cube kleenex boxes, cut the openings down to the bottom, and place the set traps inside. This way, when sweeping, I can move the boxes to sweep around them with the broom - checking for dead mice as I go.

In keeping this system, I rarely see mice any more. Every so often - most notably in the fall - I will catch one or two - but it never gets to be more than that at any one time.

[Mands]

Thanks to you all for your advice. I am going to dream about those damn little creatures tonight for sure.

Hubby is attacking the problem so I will be sure to give him all your pointers on how to move them on to another place, maybe mouse heaven.

I cannot and will not survive if they come into my house, I will pack up and leave forever lol I am going to vacuum 3 times a day to be sure all the seed in the house is cleaned up, make some cage tidy wraps for the bottom so the seed doesn't come out.

I love my birds to much to let them take over.

Thanks again peeps.

[Sally]

Mice can be such a problem, they are disgusting. I too hate the smell, which becomes very noticeable when you have a lot of them. Not only that, but the little buggers are emptying seed hoppers overnight. I have only had one mouse get into my house, some years ago, and I trapped that one. However, my second birdroom is a room that is attached to the house on my back porch but not really part of the house. This room (and the entire porch) is getting in bad shape and will need to be knocked down and replaced, and I fear I will find hordes of mice at that time. I can't seem to get them under control in that room this time, and they are chewing the drywall to get in. In fact, I think now that they are nesting inside the walls. I have also had two snakes recently, and that is no doubt because of the presence of the mice.

I think Martie's comment about guarding against mice all the time, not just when you see them, is so true. I have only taken measures when I sensed I had mice present, then would relax when they were all gone. This time, they got ahead of me, and all I'm doing is trying to catch up with them--a losing battle.

For outdoor aviaries, I've read about burying mesh surrounding the aviary. You bury it at a 45 degree angle, and the mesh goes out from the aviary for several feet. This keeps predators from digging into your aviary, but I think you would have to use 1/4" mesh to keep out mice.

[henrietta]

I have also seen on a tv show that if you plug up small holes with steel wool that the mice can't chew through it!

[Nerien]

Look up "How to repel Mice" and you find things like this:

http://voices.yahoo.com/cheap-easy-ways ... 23594.html

here's some of what they say:

Herbal mouse repellents
Mice are said to hate the smell and taste of cayenne pepper, peppermint and cloves. Lightly soak some cotton balls in oils from one or more of these foods and leave the cotton balls in places where you've had problems with mice. Another option is to make cheesecloth sachets from dry cayenne, mint, and whole cloves and leave them in places where mice are, such as under beds and corners.

Ammonia
Ammonia is thought to get rid of mice because it smells like the urine of a possible predators. Fill caps from plastic bottles with ammonia and leave them out anywhere mice might be tempted to enter, such the pantry or under the sink.

Bounce fabric softener sheets
Although it may sound like the ideal stuff for mice to use in nest, apparently mice abhor the scent of Bounce fabric softener sheets. To use these to get rid of mice, just tuck the a few of the fabric softener sheets into crevices where mice are likely to enter the house and in food storage areas.

I have used mint to drive out ants, and it worked, so I would give these kind of ideas a try. If your outside aviary is no longer in use, it would be safe to put the little caps of ammonia along the edge, as your dogs could not then get to them.

We have two indoor cats, and yet occasionally still get mice, so just the presence of a predator animal won't keep them out if they are determined enough, especially if the cats or dogs aren't good mousers. When our kids were a babies/toddlers, we basically wrapped the big stone hearth at the fireplace in pillows and cushions so they couldn't crack their little skulls on it. Once they were both steady on their feet, we pulled the pillows out from around the base, to find a mouse nest in the back corner of one. Even with three cats in the house at the time, the mice knew they were wimps and were living under the pillows in the corner of our living room!!! Kitties got no special treats and lots of joking, loving verbal abuse that night.

[Mands]

Gosh, sounds like I am in big trouble. I am prepared to bring in an exterminator if I have to. I am so terrified of them I would have another stroke (I have had 3) if I seen one inside.

I will give hubby all of your advice and see how we go. We just talked about it and he told me just how bad the situation is outside. He said they are just so fat from all the seed they have been living on in the cage. I am going to get a big plastic bucket that is sealed to put all my seed inside in so they cant find that. And vacuum as many times a day as needed.

I will also talk to him about the wire around the bottom of the new cage to prevent them getting in.

Thanks heaps for all of your advice, it is very much appreciated.

[finchmix22]

Remember that mice chew through plastic. I'd get something chew proof to store seed. Good Luck.

[Nanajennie]

LOL sorry only saw after the post that you are an aussie!

Sorry but that just made me laugh so hard! ahhhh how cute was that

Good luck with your mice problems, I don't envy you But I hope you find the solution soon .

[Mands]

Yep that's me - The Chick from Down Under

[sarehptar]

My house got mice when I was storing my outdoor birdseed in a plastic bucket in my breezeway... Switching to a small metal can with a bungee cord to keep the lid for-sure closed did the trick to keep the mice out of the seed.

Also, bizarrely enough, watch out for thin plastics such as plastic grocery bags and plastic wrappers--I had mice come in an ignore the seed but go crazy over a roll of trash bags, stealing pieces of the bags to make their nests with!

[Hilary]

As many of you know I had to drastically downsize after getting mice in the house - it was aweful. Here's my experience with some of the common mouse fixes:

Cayenne - sprinkled it across doorways. Effect - could see their little footprints as they ran back and forth.

Peppermint oil - soaked cotton balls and left around the house. Effect - mouse nests lined with cotton balls smelled really good.

Dried ox blood (the kind for gardens) - sprinkled. Effect - see "Cayenne"

Mothballs - left boxes open in the eaves and attic. Effect - none that I could see.

Electronic Repellents - plugged into walls. Effect - none that I could see.

Traps - used the run-in kind that snap and put them where I knew the mice ran. Effect - got a bunch of them.

Poison - used a wide variety of poisons, being careful to put it where my dogs couldn't reach. Effect - very effective when there was no seed to eat.

I finally got rid of the mice by cleaning all seed out of the cages every night. Spilled seed and dirty paper liners went into a heavy-duty covered trashcan, and I used tupperware cups with locking lids for seed cups so I could "lock up" the seed every night. When the mice got hungry they ate the poison. The key is to make sure there isn't any seed around to attract or eat. Mice are most active at night, so that's great that your dogs are indoors then. I had no problems when I still had my cat.