Those are your standard field mice, the ones that carry hanta virus. I always keep a supply of old, used plastic sacks and a spray bottle full of 1/3 water, 2/3 bleach, and when I catch one, I spray it down and pick it up with a sack, reverse the sack so the critter is inside, and into the trash bin.

My super-insulated store room, where we keep all the canning, has a dozen traps at all times. So we see them fairly often.

Yep, good old deer mice.

Bleach is for sissies. :-)))) (Kidding, of course!)

Cheers,
Michelle

Thank you!!! deer mice....hantaVIRUS!!!! YIKES!!! Good advice, using bleach.....I'll start doing that AND using a plastic bag to pick them up with. I'm putting them in the bird feeder, the magpies like em....:0) THANKS AGAIN!!!!! :0)

Here is a link that might be useful: Deer mouse info

I am proud to report that our local testing station is NUMBER 1 in the country for percentage of Hanta Virus infested Deer Mice.

We're Number 1! We're Number 1!

And I don't know anyone in my area that has gotten it. There must be some immunity that you get from living with Hanta Mice.

Cheers,
Michelle

Well, gee, Michelle, congratulations! What an honor! What a SCARY honor! But be careful with that stuff! IÂve sure never heard of anybody becoming immune to Hantavirus!

And a quick note while IÂm here! Back however many years ago it was that they discovered Hantavirus when people in SOUTHWEST COLORADO starting dropping dead (I think it was first discovered on a reservation), More people were getting sick AFTER they figured out what the problem was, and it turned out that some people were getting sick when they were sweeping up the areas with mouse poop and pee because they were stirring the virus up into the air when they were sweeping. So if youÂre spritzing with a spray bottle, keep your head back a ways to keep it out of any dust that might be blasted up by the force of the spray. Like most of us, I have mice around hereÂmostly in my garage (bird seed!), and IÂm always careful when IÂm cleaning up the droppingsÂeven tho IÂve never heard of a case of the virus here in the Denver area. (IÂm more scared of bubonic plague here in Denver! IsnÂt it a wonderful "dark ages" world we live in!!!)

So, Ms. Number 1, be careful around that stuff,
Skybird

I don't have the time to look it up right now, but Michelle is correct, the specific antibodies for Hanta Virus are widely found in the tested blood of folks who live on the western slope (Colorado speak for the west 1/3 of the state). Thats a good thing, or we'd all be dead. But that doesn't mean one needs to push your luck, so Clorox it is. Don't drip that on your good clothes, btw.

Sitting here at the computer, waving a huge, foam hand with the index finger extended, "We're #1"

I think it started out on the Rez near Shiprock? Somewhere nearby. And plague is everywhere here. David, is it near you? There is a huge prairie dog colony here, and they die out occasionally from plague. Yuck.

This is interesting!

Interestingly, while HPS was not known to the epidemiologic and medical communities, there is evidence that it was recognized elsewhere. The Navajo Indians, a number of whom contracted HPS during the 1993 outbreak, recognize a similar disease in their medical traditions, and actually associate its occurrence with mice. As strikingly, Navajo medical beliefs concur with public health recommendations for preventing the disease.

I read the recommendation for disposing of dead mice, and they said to bag the mouse then bury or burn it.

A small funny-gross-aside. When hanta was rampant, unbeknownst to my brother, a deer mouse crawled into his toaster, got stuck, and toasted. It took him a few days to figure out what that strange smell was coming from the toaster... So watch those toasters! It made me paranoid enough that I nearly always look in it before making toast. :-))))

Sweet Dreams!
Michelle

I see your finger David! Sorry I didnÂt include you in the Number 1 category! And IÂm definitely glad to hear about the antibodies. I hadnÂt heard anything about that before.

LOL, Michelle! Toaster mice! I wonder how much of a market thereÂd be for that! Yeah, thatÂs gross, but itÂs a very, very funny story!

You guys have plague too? I guess that gets you both a AAA Number 1 rating rather than just a plain old Number 1 rating. Dangerous world you have down there. BeautifulÂbut dangerous!

I guess IÂll stick to hanta-deprived Denver,
Skybird

Now I'm even more glad I have three cats! The only mice we ever see are dead ones (and thems are the only gooduns, too!).

Eewww! It may be awhile before I have toast again.

Coincidentally, I was on the phone with my mom the other day and we were having a conversation about chickens (prompted by this forum) and I was telling her that while I'd like to have chickens for the eggs, I don't think I could eat them. She said that wasn't surprising for the girl who tried to save a mouse and named it Pedro. I was puzzled and asked her what she was talking about. She then reminded me that (in my 20's) we had caught a mouse in our house in Indiana and I thought he was sweet so I kept him in a bucket for a few days. He didn't seem very well, which I think was probably the effect of the poison we put out. I know what you're thinking - we put the poison out when I found a bunch of my books chewed up. I didn't consider how "cute" the mice would be. Anyway, Pedro didn't make it of course. And fortunately there wasn't any Hanta or plague in Indiana!

Alice

They are cute. We had one stupid baby mouse in the basement for a while. He'd run right out into the middle of the room with those big eyes and wiggling whiskers. He eventually went in the live trap & was relocated outside. I think he was just lonely. :-)

Seems like a few cases of plague pop up in Montezuma county (where David is) every year...

And aren't cats a vector for bubonic plague?

Mmmm, toasty mouse whiskers. So delicious with fresh tomatoes from the garden. ;-)

Cheers,
Michelle

Ah, the sounds of summer - birds chirping, breezes stirring the lush, green leaves, the sound of mowing and bailing hay, and that bell ringing methodically with that summer time chant "Bring out yer Dead! Bring out yer Dead!.

Actually, folks are so tuned into that around here, that they phone up the health department pretty quickly when they see it happen with the prairie dogs, they all disappear within a couple of days, and it gets put in the paper and on the radio pretty quickly.

LOL You guys are a riot!

So they go up and down the streets of Dolores picking up the bodies in summer, huh, David?

Guess you better enjoy the "birds chirping, breezes stirring the lush, green leaves, the sound of mowing and bailing hay" while you can!

Down with the Black Death!

Skybird

Very funny, David! :-D

and Down With Black Death! Great new chant for Spring.

Cheers,
Michelle

Toasted mouse!!! Very funny Michelle!!!

I know they pick up dead squirrels every Summer in the Garden of the Gods & find bubonic plague. I live near there & do not pick up road kill so I should be fine.

I just want you all to know I am eating toast for dinner...right now...as I'm reading this.

I still find it more funny/lesson-ish than gross though.

I sometimes "worry" about that kind of thing with sweeping and raising dust while tidying which is why I love my heppa filter vacuum!

So far, no mice, but the neighbors cat killed and ate a mouse in front of me while I was over there...in their bathroom, with now where to run!!! I'm not sure I like that they keep their cat to themselves. Maybe they would rent it out?

I think our three dogs keep out the rodentia, which is good seeing as how I eat a lot of toast and leave crumbs sometimes.