Title: Mice, Voles, and Moles
Headings: Field Rodents: Mice, Voles, Chipmunks, and Moles
Field Rodents: Mice, Voles, Chipmunks, and Moles
Control

Content: They are excellent climbers and swimmers. House and white-footed deer mice can run up almost any vertical, roughened surface and climb and balance on wires. Their chewing of electrical wires may start fires. Mice can jump one foot straight up, live in temperatures as low as 14ºF and squeeze through an opening slightly larger than 1/4 of an inch. Their sense of smell is acute. In six months, a pair of house mice can eat about four pounds of food while excreting some 18,000 fecal droppings or pellets. Although mice are not blind, they do have poor vision and are unable to see clearly beyond six inches. In considering control measures for mice, it is important to know where they live and how they feed. Mice live in grassy or bushy areas, nesting underground in shallow burrows or aboveground in densely vegetated or protected areas. Also, they can build nests in thick hay or leaf mulches in the garden or cropping areas.