Topic: mice in my pond

[neilfrombury]

hi everybody
I'm a newbie to this marvelous website.
i was out in my garden earlier on tonight and having a general look around the pond when i spotted 3 dead mice floating on the top?
my pond is roughly 4 feet off ground level  and is in a raised bed.
i have a pet rabbit as well in my garden about 20 feet away and i have never seen any mice activity before,it came as quite a shock to see them floating in the pond.
my question is why/how have the mice got in the pond,and do you think its anything to do with the rabbits food supply.
any help would be greatly appreciated as my darling wife is worried that the mice may come in the house.
p.s. all rabbit food is kept in the house, in containers and there is none in the garage.
cheers
neil
  :-\

 

[telboy]

neil,
better in than out?

[labrat]

Mice will be attracted by any food supply. If you think you have a problem with the rabbit food then empty out the food dish (or whatever it is in) every evening. Also if the rabbit hutch is close to the house you could move it away so as to stop the house becoming an easy secondary target.

Mice are prodigious climbers. I've seen one climb 10ft up a pebble-dashed wall to get into a small hole in a neighbours house. Most critters find it difficult to get out of ponds with high sides and subsequently drown (good swimmers like hedgehogs fall victim to this). I have one or two of my downpipe drains uncovered and I often mice have fallen in and drowned in the u-bend.

I have locked dustbins full of my chicken food in the garage and I think the mice can still smell it because they always start appearing as the season turns and the food in the fields dry up. I regularly set traps with a peanut as bait.

[saddad]

Morning Neil... and welcome to A4A.. is that Bury Lancashire? I will be in Rawtenstall this afternoon.
If you wedge a cane or something in the pond diagonally they will climb out on that and not drown... (important stuff not just mice) I get lots of mice in the shed/outside loo where I store my spuds.. the peanut butter traps got 50 last winter...  :-X

[neilfrombury]

thanks for all the help and suggestions
Neil
bury in lancs

[Diddy]

I was going to say that they cannot swim, but remembered back to the dim distant past that one of my tame mice demonstrated that he could. Funny the cat could too, but it was not at the same time, fell in having a go at the fish,(looked more like a rat when she (it) got out).  Diddy.

[Geoff H]

Rabbit food won't attract the mice into the house, its all the other lovely stuff that attracts them in and now is the time when they come in.
We had not had mice and then my wife noticed that the waste pipe to the dishwater had been chewed through, luckily before the dishwater was switched on. I caught 7 mice and checked all round the house for a way in. In a corner I found a plumber had fitted a new waste pipe through the wall and had knocked the mortar out, allowing mice entry into the cavity wall. So i cemented it up. If you are worried about mice check the walls for possible entry sites. If you can squeeze the head of a pencil in a hole then a mouse can get through.
If I ever have a kitchen refitted I will in future make sure that all pipework is sealed where they go through the wall before the units are fitted.
Incidentally cheap supermarket cheddar is irresistable to them.

[KMARKSnr]

spring traps baited with peanut butter is deadly for rats and mice.8 mice and 4 rats in the out houses around the plots in 10 days. ;D

                          Regards.
                                 Mark.