How to humanely get rid of field mice in newark?

Submitted by tway862 t3_11ve9qx in Newark

My wife and I live in an apartment near downtown. Unfortunately we have recently had a problem with field mice.

My wife is a pescatarian and neither of us like killing animals if we don't have to, so we use humane traps to capture them. We usually end up catching three or four mice every year and taking care of them. We'd like to release them in the wild, but neither of us has a car and our budget is extremely tight, so we usually take care of them until they die (which is usually less than a year.)

Are there any humane options for releasing field mice in Newark? We have already called animal control and the local humane society, but neither of them are willing to help. We can't really make trips out to rural areas to let them go. We don't like the idea of killing animals, but we don't like the idea of them eating all of our food, either. I feel stuck. Does anyone have any ideas?

7

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

kzapwn t1_jcsswld wrote

Get a cat.

18

MohnJaddenPowers t1_jctbhii wrote

2nding this. OP, if you hold a moral point against killing animals, you would be counterbalancing the mice with a cat. The Newark Humane Society almost always has cats that they rescue from the streets or from Animal Control, which is a kill shelter.

You would save the life of the cat and gain a companion - yes, it's a responsibility to care for a cat but it will kill and eat the mice since that's what cats do by nature. The smell of a cat will deter most mice in the future until you or your landlord can find and fix their ingress points.

8

rogue1013 t1_jcud5gt wrote

The mice will go away as soon as they smell cats. Had a few mice in my apartment. Adopted a cat and they never came back. The cat didn’t even get a chance to hunt them.

4

dsarma t1_jctp1zt wrote

If she’s eating fish, she’s literally killing animals. I don’t know what failure of biology class happened, but fish are also animals, and the fishing industry kills several many animals that never make it onto your plate due to bycatch being discarded. For every fish you do eat, many more are thrown overboard as trash.

Call an exterminator and sort this shit out. It’s a health hazard, and your landlord will pay for it to get taken care of. Save the cognitive dissonance for something else.

8

novicevirus t1_jctxmhn wrote

You should check local ordinances before considering releasing them. Some states and localities have laws against relocating wildlife to prevent habitat disruption and prevent pest species from spreading.

If you’re steadfast in refusing to kill them, your best bet is to try to prevent them from entering as best you can. Caulk over any gaps in walls/floorboard and around and pipes or vents, no matter how small a hole seems you should cover it because they can squeeze through extremely small spaces. For larger holes you can fill them with steel wool to prevent them from coming in. It might be a bit of an up front investment but it’ll likely be cheaper over all than caring for them every year.

6

1Pichi t1_jcu14cn wrote

Mouse trap 🪤

3