Mouse nest - need advice!

[Thumperina]

They live under my front porch. I saw a mouse who must be the mom before, and was trying to catch her with live trap to relocate to the wild area but didn't succeed. I guess she was too busy tending to her youth. 2 days ago I saw the little ones starting coming out of the hole, they became more active since then. Right now the babies are about one inch long (without tail), furred and look like adults except for their size. I am afraid to think how many there are there. I saw 3 or 4 at the same time running on the ground. If I stand on top of the porch still and quiet, they don't sense me there and I can see them very well when they come out to explore.
I would like to catch them live and take them to wildlife park.
My question is if I need to wait a little to allow them some time to grow more and adjust to eat on their own.
No idea if she still nurses them.
How long do you think I should wait?

There is plenty of seeds on the ground that I throw out to wild birds after my cockatiels. that's why she probably settled there. But I can't imagine what they are going to do when they are completely out of the nest and ready to be on their own. I am frightened of that moment.

 

[Happi Bun]

It's great that you're using live traps and wanting to relocate them

The babies will likely be weaned at 4 weeks of age. Not very old at all, so if they look like mini-adults and are exploring often they are probably good to go. It would be great if you saw them eating solid food just to have more peace of mind. Litter size can vary but the average is 9 - 12 pups. I'm guessing there are more than 3 or 4, but if she's a first time mother or some of them have died then perhaps not. Just keep an eye out. If there are more I'm sure you will see them eventually.

Good luck!

 

[ladysown]

sounds like you have voles.. they catch fairly easily in live traps.. trick is to bait the path to the trap.

Check it daily. You need to take them a good couple of miles away and leave them in a well wooded grassy area. Do not pass them along to your neighbours.

 

[Thumperina]

Update, or the chronology once again

- Some mice activity is spotted in/around garage area maybe 1.5 months ago. We fixed gaps in front garage door, this is supposed to prevent mice traveling between garage and front of the house where I feed wild birds
- Live traps are set, one adult mouse relocated from garage to wild park
- juvenile mice are spotted looking out of holes in dirt near front porch about a month ago (that's when I posted first time)
- soon they stopped being seen except for one (I assume, others died? )
- maybe 1.5 weeks ago I see adult mouse first at the front, then in garage during the same day (wonder if it's the same one...), I can tell it is adult by how fast and confident it is and by its size
- we have a lot of showers, their holes at the front porch got all flooded. The water was standing there high. I was sure whoever was there, died. But no, I saw the same juvenile soon after.
- 3 days ago the only remaining juvenile at the front is found dead near her hole. Put her underground.
- 2 days ago, one juvenile got inside the empty waste basket in garage. Usually that basket has trash in it but that day it was emptied. The walls were too tall for the juvenile to get out (an adult would have no problems to jump over). It was jumping there trying to get out. I had a hard time deciding what to do. It was night time. I took her outside still inside the basket and let her out by vacant house nearby. The next day I didn't feel good about what I did.

Now there is a problem. Today I was feeding my rabbits inside the garage, and another juvenile was standing there looking at us as if it were saying - could I have something to eat please... I am leaving that one alone for now... I have a feeling it will die soon. I guess their mom isn't a good one. Maybe she is busy having back to back pregnancies - that would be nice to stop, too...

I am not sure what I should do... I feel bad for juveniles. and I want to make sure my rabbits are not going to get sick or anything. They (rabbits) come to garage for the night only. About 10pm to 6am

For now mice are not thriving at all. I don't know why. Maybe genetically they are not the best material, who knows. I have read they can be born in 3 different sizes.. so called "peanuts" are not meant to survive past nursing. maybe they are peanuts...
I have never observed anything like this before, or maybe I just wasn't observant enough. I have mice who can't grow for some reasons (and there is plenty of food to find in garage). I thought if it takes only 5-6 weeks for cockatiels to reach appearance of adults (I used to breed them), it should be less for smaller creature, mouse. It just strange to see wandering around half-size mice that don't grow.

 

[Thumperina]

sounds like you have voles.. they catch fairly easily in live traps.. trick is to bait the path to the trap.

Check it daily. You need to take them a good couple of miles away and leave them in a well wooded grassy area. Do not pass them along to your neighbours.

I would love to take them to a wild park that I have not very far. But the problem is that I am dealing with juvenile mice that don't grow for some reasons.

 

[ladysown]

if they are getting into your traps they are old enough to be transported.

Just because you are seeing juveniles doesn't mean they are the same ones. They grow quickly and reproduce just as quickly. if you need them gone you may need to up the ante a bit and live trap, dead trap, glue traps and more.

 

[Thumperina]

for now I transported several of them to a wild park and I see/hear no activity in my garage since that. But my husband said he heard a mouse inside my car.
Any idea what to do? thanks!

 

[ts786]

If a mouse is in your car, they commonly do this for warmth (and sometimes cooling). It's not unusual to hear about them getting into airducts (in both cars and homes), or parking themselves near to the engine block. If they are there solely for that purpose, they should leave eventually when the air temp and car temp are no longer different. If they decided to nest, that's going to be a huge PITA and nesting in the airducts is far from uncommon. With some cars, you can take portions of the air ducts out by removing the glovebox. With others, they make it really hard to reach. If you already have live traps, you could place them under the car hoping to draw the little guys out. If that doesn't work, you could try putting a source of heat, such as a few of those Hot Hands, inside the trap. If the mouse is there for the purpose of warmth, that may incentive them to relocate from your vehicle. YMMV.