View Full Version : Shelter mice
Martin Trehal
07-18-2010, 10:40
Has anyone tried leaving the mice alka seltzer tablets to eat. They could be flavored with kool-aid or soup mix or anything else to attact the mice.
Why would you do that?
Panzer
Slo-go'en
07-18-2010, 11:00
It would make thier bellies explode and leave little mouse bits all over the shelter.
Danielsen
07-18-2010, 11:05
It would make thier bellies explode and leave little mouse bits all over the shelter.
No good in my opinion. Makes 'em harder to fry up for dinner. ;)
But in all seriousness... so you blow up some existing shelter mice. Great. Should be... what? A week until the next ones move in?
Better pack a LOT of alka-seltzer tablets...
lilricky
07-18-2010, 11:06
Mice, like humans, can burp, expelling the CO2 from their system. All you would get was alot of gassy mice. A better solution to get rid of shelter mice is not to eat/prepare food in the shelter whenever possible. And if you have to cook in a shelter due to weather, then be cautious about spilling and clean up after yourself.
Pedaling Fool
07-18-2010, 11:21
No, no, no...That alka seltzer thing is a myth. You need to feed them uncooked rice.
:D
Stir Fry
07-18-2010, 15:23
If hikers were cleaner and did not leave anything for them to eat they (mice) would not be there
even if every hiker dropped one little crumb of food each there would still be mice.
Yep, a Myth. "A rodent can't vomit" is along those lines, my Rats did it from time to time, not very often, but they did it. They sure can belch, It's actually funny to hear. :p
You have to ask, why would a critter who lives on refuse not be able to throw up if they accidentally got something bad. :confused:
Anyway, if they bother you, don't stay in the shelters!! They don't bother me, yet I don't stay at the shelters.
...Anyway, if they bother you, don't stay in the shelters!! They don't bother me, yet I don't stay at the shelters.
Now that's a live and let live attitude! After all, you are coming into their neighborhood. It's a hard enough life being a mouse what with snakes, and owls, and other hunting birds on the lookout for them.:eek: I say if you are going to kill them, you should have to eat them. Like Danielsen says, except stewing would be OK too...
Danielsen
07-19-2010, 00:15
I say if you are going to kill them, you should have to eat them. Like Danielsen says, except stewing would be OK too...
Actually, they'd be perfect candidates for pit-roasting. Heat up some good chunks of granite in a fire, put them in the bottom of a small pit, add a little dirt, wrap the mousemeat in some tasty leaves and place on the dirt, and fill the rest of the way in. With, say, a deer, that's quite a task. With mice you might as well be digging a cathole.
:banana:banana:banana
couscous
07-19-2010, 04:18
Maybe we just need more hikers from Malawi and Mozambique where you can be treated to barbecued mice. The book "Enough" mentions boys in Africa standing around brush fires capturing fleeing mice and roasting them like hotdogs. Personally, more cats like Ziggy on the trail would be a more appealing form of rodent control.
sheepdog
07-19-2010, 09:42
Has anyone tried leaving the mice alka seltzer tablets to eat. They could be flavored with kool-aid or soup mix or anything else to attact the mice.
now you did it
you will be flogged by mouse huggers :D
The mice are just the symptom, not the problem. Unless the underlying cause for the mice (bits of stuff they can eat) is removed, you can kill all the mice you want, and they'll be replaced by other mice. There will be as many mice as there is food for them to eat. No food, no mice.
Kelleelynn
07-19-2010, 11:30
Random Thoughts on Mice:
When I see a mouse I always scream lol then I am trying to catch it... The same goes for bats!
I was reading someones trail journal and a mouse went in someones sleeping bag and down their shirt, they woke up screaming lol I don't mind mice, they are cute little creatures, but I just don't see myself sleeping in the shelters with them.
I don't agree with those of you wanting to kill them or torture them. Food or not, its only natural the mice will cozy up in shelters, they are probably castles to them! We are in their territory and need to respect that.
People make such a fuss over mice.
I think people who kill shelter mice are really cool. :-?
Panzer
If you kill them, you should eat them.
FACT:
most serial killers started off by killing shelter mice... lol
Panzer
Tennessee Viking
07-19-2010, 13:44
Last thing shelters need are exploding mice and rotting guts. Perfect meal for predators and scavengers.
TIDE-HSV
07-19-2010, 17:48
Somehow, I knew this would turn into a recipe thread... :)
Disclaimer:
Do not view (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=8851&noignore=0&postid=13127#post13127)...if you don't want to see mouse carnage!
Sometimes its ether us or them....and for awhile I think they were winning.
Anybody ever see that movie Never Cry Wolf?
OutdoorsMan
07-19-2010, 22:50
This is one (of several) reasons why I don't sleep in shelters.
http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehsphl/factsheet/hanta.htm
Danielsen
07-19-2010, 23:44
Ooh, didn't even think about Hantavirus... fortunately that's only showed up in humans in a very small number of the myriad rodent-infested places we humans inhabit, so I'd think AT shelters would be pretty low-risk.
TIDE-HSV
07-19-2010, 23:52
It's almost entirely deer mice in the SW US. I'm not sure that I've ever read about it in the SE...
If you kill them, you should eat them.
Somehow, I knew this would turn into a recipe thread... :)
Anybody ever see that movie Never Cry Wolf?Awesome movie.
So seriously then, how would you prepare and cook a shelter mouse? I would guess that you would cook it in the skin, but do you need to remove any particularly smelly body parts first? Also, any risks, anymore than squirrels or whatever? What about soup?
It would seem a more practical and humane and ecologically sensitive way to deal with shelter mice, if the popluation was excessive. Besides, they might be tastey.
Alternatively...
http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/bgr/lowres/bgrn501l.jpg
Interesting link describing mouse hunting and cooking.
Includes this method for cooking, and a fun song about how not to get too carried away...
http://people.bridgewater.edu/~mtembo/mbeba.html
How to Cook Mice
The cooking of the mice is very simple. The mice are gutted, boiled in plain water for about half an hour and salted. They are then fire dried until they are nearly bone dry. Mice are never cooked any other way. In fact, there is a song among the Tumbuka, whose lyrics are in the Chewa or Nyanja language, which mocks a young modern housewife who did not know proper mouse cooking.
Ena sadziwa kuphika lelo Ku mbeba
Ena sadziwa kuphika lelo ku mbeba
Anyenzi, tomato, komweko lelo ku mbeba
Anyenzi, saladi, komweko lelo ku mbeba
Some do not know how to cook mice
Some do not know how to cook mice
Onion, tomatoes in the mice
Onion, cooking oil in the mice
In the song, the grave mistake the young housewife apparently committed was to assume she could add onions, tomatoes, and cooking oil to the mice. These ingredients are highly valued in modern popular Zambian cuisine such as beef and chicken stew. But they are a taboo in cooking mice.
Some might argue the real taboo ingredient when cooking mice, is the mice.
So the order seems to be to gut, then boil, then cook till bone dry.
Not sure at what point the pelt is removed. After boiling.
Martin Trehal
07-24-2010, 15:59
Actually, you leave the skin on. If they are stuffed with peanut butter, they have a better flavor. Remove the skin after slowly roasting. Seriously, I prefer not sleeping anywhere near a shelter, but understand that it may be unavoidable in parts of the trail.