Deal with mice?

[Poly]

Ok i am growing veg in a polytunnel in my garden, my terrier has alerted me to the fact there are mice living underneath next doors shed.

He currently has one cornered, he cant get to it and it cant get away.... and i cant get his focus off it!!

Now the worrying thing is that i dont know whether next door are putting down poison, if my terrier is catching the mice (not seen him do it yet) and eating them then i dont want him poorly. the other is i dont want them chewing through the plastic of my polytunnel and eating my vegiies... so what do i do about them??

thanks for any help or ideas you can give :o)


Oh and i cant ask the neighbours if htey have as they dont speak English. Lovely people who wave at me and smile, but i'm not sure i can convey the message!

[MuddyWitch]

What language do you neighbours speak? Can you not get your worries translated? (Try asking on here when you know their language...you might be suprized how cosmopolitan ISH is!) If not maybe drawing pics?

Mean time you can put down humane traps to catch the mice. (for the record we caught most of ours with chocolate spead!) If you decide to release rather than dispatch, then take them at least two miles away or they will return.

If your terrier is owt like my greys, once the wee beasties are dead they lose interest & don't actually eat them. This is good 'cos mine mostly kill rats from the waste land next door & I dread to think what diseases they are carrying! (I always wear disposable gloves to remove the bodies!)

Good Luck!

MW

[StripyPixieSocks]

Thing is, they've probably been there for ages and only today have you noticed because of your dog.

Mice live outside, it's part of the whole flora and fauna of the world... until they become a problem... leave them alone!

[Poly]

I have in the past kept both mice and rats as pets i love them!

I just dont want my tunnel which cost a lot of money being nibbled

They have probably been there years but they are venturing bloody close to the house and these i'm sure are field mice, we feed mice to our pet snake and they are completely different, they may live in the garden as long as they don't eat my tunnel

i am also worried for my pets in case the neighbours are poisoning the mice

My neighbours speak polish - if theres anyone who can help me get the message over to them i would be sp greatful

[the.fee.fairy]

Usually dogs kill by breaking the necks, so even i the mice are being poisoned, it shouldn't affect your dog.

I've seen Finlay kill a rabbit and he just shook it and broke the neck, there were no puncture marks or breaking of the skin at all.