Mice in the hutch

Hello all,

I need some advice. We have two field mice living in our rabbit hutch. I have two questions:

Is there a risk to my bunnies of mice in the hutch?

How do I get rid of them (all I can think of is bringing the bunnies in the house overnight and putting traps in the hutch)?

Many thanks

Jon

Mice go into my rabbit hutches all the time, and steal their food, never seems to cause any problem for the rabbits.

halfpenny said:

Mice go into my rabbit hutches all the time, and steal their food, never seems to cause any problem for the rabbits.

Click to expand...

We weren't too worried when it was only one mouse but now it is two we are worried that they will start nesting. They have got in the house a few times and it is tricky to get rid of them.

Could you not get a humane trap and put it just outside the hutch? You have to release them a few miles away though.

I'm amazed your rabbits tolerate them though. We got mice in our house twice this winter, both times when we were on holiday and our house rabbits were away. When our rabbits came back they seemed really stressed out with lots of stomping which we concluded was due to the presence of the mice. Our bunnies are very protective of their food even between each other so I think if a mouse was trying to steal it they would chase it away?

Wuezybun said:

Could you not get a humane trap and put it just outside the hutch? You have to release them a few miles away though.

I'm amazed your rabbits tolerate them though. We got mice in our house twice this winter, both times when we were on holiday and our house rabbits were away. When our rabbits came back they seemed really stressed out with lots of stomping which we concluded was due to the presence of the mice. Our bunnies are very protective of their food even between each other so I think if a mouse was trying to steal it they would chase it away?

Click to expand...

We tries the humane traps outside the hutch but I think they must prefer bunny food !!! The mice don't seem to bother them at all.

We used to have the odd mouse living in the rabbit hutches when I was a child, it never seemed to do any harm. The problem with mice is that they do tend to wee on everything and I'm not sure whether or not they carry any bacteria in their wee or droppings that might be harmful? I suggest cleaning and disinfecting the rabbit hutch thorougly and replacing all bedding frequently, and remove the mice whilst you do it? Can you not pick them up? Put a glove on because they do bite!

Did you put peanut butter in the traps? That seems to be their favourite from my experience.

Maybe you do need to remove the bunny food to tempt them into the traps. If your bunnies don't empty their bowl before bed time then I guess you may need to move the bunnies until the mice are caught..

As long as you have some sort of seeds, pellets etc that you are feeding your bunnies, mice aren't far away. If you have two there is probably more of them. We have a mice problem because we have birds in the house and my parrot throws his seeds out of the cage which attracts mice. Make sure you keep your bunny feed in lock tight containers (because mice can chew their way into bags) and pick up any extra seed that has fallen out of the cage. Mice shouldn't harm your rabbits but I am surprised they are going into the cage with them. Put traps down unless you want to use poison pellets (but they die in your roof and smell LOL)

Good luck I hope this helps

DarcyLouise

I am happy to see this post--only because I know I am not the only one with a mouse (mine's probably a rat though) problem. I just went around sealing off a couple of possible rat entrance-ways into the hutch.
I thought the rat(s) was in the hay, which I store in a tree house, but I really think now it is getting in the hutch at night as well.
Where are those owls when you need them?

Dustye said:

I am happy to see this post--only because I know I am not the only one with a mouse (mine's probably a rat though) problem. I just went around sealing off a couple of possible rat entrance-ways into the hutch.
I thought the rat(s) was in the hay, which I store in a tree house, but I really think now it is getting in the hutch at night as well.
Where are those owls when you need them?

Click to expand...

Mice aren't an issue really, but if you have a rat I would be more concerned....I would suggest a bait box (to protect all other wildlife and your buns and put it at the entrance to one of the holes and secure it in place and place something secure around it so in no way can the buns get to it. If you use a bait box and poison then I would wear gloves and fill it well away from your bunnies. Rats carry fleas/ticks which in turn can carry Myxi and they also urinate as they move about and can transmit nasty diseases. Wild rats i'm talking about here! I would get rid of it i'm afraid. As much as I hate killing anything, we had a rat problem from under next doors decking - never got near the buns (they are house buns) but we weren't happy with them peeing all over the lawn....and they multiply quickly!
We used to have domestic pet ones....they are obviously different and gorgeous

ermmmm what about a cat ? :evil:

sorry i dont mean it my cat always bringing in mice and i am forever saving the little critters. I see mice all the time in the garden after the bird food the rabbits dont seem to mind them altho they have never been in there cages as they are indoors. But correct me if im wrong but isnt one of the the things we get out bunnies vaccinated for carried by birds and mice?? i may be wrong on this one.

Rat was in the hutch again last night as he left his evidence behind. I scrubbed the hutch today, fastened the roof down where a slinky little guy might squeeze in. I'm going to remove any extra food before dark tonight (except hay), and may leave the dog outside.
The dog is what keeps me from setting any kind of trap.
I have had this hutch for years and this is the first time I've ever had this trouble.

I am not against rat pets either, btw, just these renegades. (Though I kind of think of this recent invader as Templeton, the rat in Charlotte's Web.)

Dustye said:

Rat was in the hutch again last night as he left his evidence behind. I scrubbed the hutch today, fastened the roof down where a slinky little guy might squeeze in. I'm going to remove any extra food before dark tonight (except hay), and may leave the dog outside.
The dog is what keeps me from setting any kind of trap.
I have had this hutch for years and this is the first time I've ever had this trouble.

I am not against rat pets either, btw, just these renegades. (Though I kind of think of this recent invader as Templeton, the rat in Charlotte's Web.)

Click to expand...

You can get humane traps for rats too - and they really work. We have had a problem with water rats being so close to a river but have caught them in the past in humane traps... No problem now as my neighbour took in a pregnant stray cat and kept all 5 kittens. Now the garden swarms with cats and we haven't seen a rat for months!

I'd be very concerned re. rats getting near buns though. Not sure if leptospirosis is communicable rats - buns... (in their wee) but it can be fatal to humans. Also farming friend of mine tells me he has watched a rat pull a young live wild rabbit down into its hole and he wouldn;t put it past them to kill a grown rabbit, either. :roll:

Ha! I just saw him and he IS a mouse after all! I went to take away the food and inspect and there was this tiny little face up in the teeniest of holes. We startled each other, so I did not see his escape route, but I was relieved to see his mouse self instead of a rat. I really don't want mice around either so I will probably put out one of those humane traps as well.

once a year we used to get feild mice in my old buns cage if anything if the cat tried to get the cage my ole grumps kicked the cat out

I get field mice under my shed now and again. They never bother the rabbits. My dog caught one once. I thought he was playing with his poo because he was chucking a little brown thing up in the air and letting it drop on the ground in the garden. Feeling a bit sick I went out to tell him off and I saw it was a mouse. He hadn't killed it but it was in shock so me and my niece took it in and put it in a hamster cage till it came round then we let it go.

I wouldn't worry about a mouse, but I would be concerned about a rat.

I went with Bristol Cavy Rescue to collect a piggy as the garden was infested with them - they broke into the hutch and killed his friend.

I watched life of grime once with showed that rats are actually attracted to rabbit urine, so I guess its a good idea to be extra vigilant about emptying dirty litter trays if they are about.

when i had outdoor buns years ago, a charming little vole moved in with them. i wouldn't find anything charming if it moved in with the houserabbits though!

Alpha said:

But correct me if im wrong but isnt one of the the things we get out bunnies vaccinated for carried by birds and mice?? i may be wrong on this one.

Click to expand...

The mouse itself wont do much harm to the bunny, but mice can carry fleas. Which as Alpha pointed out, we get our bunnies vaccinated for VHD and myxomatosis, which can be spread by fleas, via the moving mouse. If it was me, id get rid asap, as even if your bunnies are vaccinated it isnt 100% safe, there have been a few cases on here of bunnies catching myxamatosis even though they were vaccinated!

We have our bunnies in cages and runs that are kept in a shed throughout the year, although there is a slight gap on the door as it opens inwards, so some mice get into the shed. Theres only been one occasion where a mouse has got into our bunnies actual cage, and this cage was high off the ground, with nothing i thought a mouse could climb up, clearly i was wrong! My bunny mustnt have liked it, as her food bowl (heavy, cermamic one) was tipped up over the mouse, what a shock i got when i lifted the bowl up! Another time we found a mouse in the bin in the shed, by the time my dad got home to get rid of it, the mouse had had a litter of babies and ate some.

We use humane traps which for us work aslong as we make sure there isnt anything nearby that would appeal to the mouse to eat. We always sweep the floor, keep the bunnies clean, and keep food and hay tidy and safe, and as high up as possible. We mostly get them during winter. I once had a mouse jump out of a bag of hay, scared the s*** out of me, so now im always a little wary! Rabbits will always attract mice, thats a fact, you just need to help minimise the risk in my opinion.

I am glad this was posted so recently as I was searching for mice problems on here. Yesterday a mouse appeared (possibly two) on our balcony where the buns live - we are on the 1st floor!!!

Anyway, it is a bit worrying because we don't know where they could have come in from, we think they are babies because they are so small - even small for field mice.

It is a bit gross though and hot - the balcony door is on the living room and is normally open all the time but it is shut to minimise mice infestation at the moment. Mice in the garden is one thing but here - yuckety. We have ordered some humane traps from online. We tried catching them ourselves but they are harder to catch than rabbits!!! :lol:

Thanks for the thread, glad I don't need to panic.

If anyone else has any tips I'd love to hear them

Emma