Hello everyone! Meet Jerry (serial mouse attractor)

[Clayton]

Hi everyone! Firstly wanted to introduce my handsome boy (or girl maybe) Jerry Seinfeld-Stiller Hsu, named after all the important Jerry's in my life. Got him about 3 weeks ago love him to bits.

Have a little mouse problem currently (hadn't seen a mouse in the house prior to Jerry) I'm assuming they're going for Jerry's bowl and because he's such a polite young man (maybe) he won't make a noise and just let's em eat. Also saw one going for some of his food he dropped on the floor that I had forgotten to clean up. Caught one of them a few days ago but saw another this morning.

I read (on here I think) about someone using Tomcat Rodenticide blocks as it's somewhat humane and they bring it back to their nest.

My main concerns are:
Would I need to worry about Jerry at all? I don't think he'd ingest it as they'd be on the floor and I don't think Jerry's been on the floor once since I got him.
Also I've got king skinks living in the gutter and a drain just outside the room with Jerry's cage (I love them also, saw Jerry having a staring contest with one through the window the other day) and would they die if they ate the mice that I done assassinated? If so will I keep having to just set traps and emptying Jerry's bowl at night?

It would probably be best to get rid of them at their nest as I've also read they attract snakes and the only snakes I've seen here are death adders, tigers and jugites (I don't love them and don't know if the king skinks can keep them away)

Also I have about a million other questions but this is the most pressing issue so I'll start here.

Here's a photo of my boy doing his best gargoyle impression.

 

[Jcas]

Welcome to you and beautiful Jerry! Unfortunately , as you have discovered, mouse problems can definitely crop up when there is bird food in abundance. The absolute best thing you can do is to try to block up any and all access points in your house; anywhere at all that mice might be getting in. Otherwise, they’ll just keep coming in from outside and you’ll never be able to get rid of them. They can fit through an opening the size of a dime. Stuffing steel wool in smaller holes and cracks can be a good deterent. Setting up traps (in places where there is no chance that Jerry can get to them!) and cleaning up the bird food is probably going to be your best bet for eliminating the mice in the house.

As far as rodenticide/ poison goes, you’ve hit the two main reasons I wouldn’t recommend it: One, it puts your bird at risk of being poisoned. Birds love to explore and there’s almost no way you can guarantee that Jerry won’t get into it. The mice could even potentially carry it into his cage. Two, yes, anything that eats the poisoned mice is at risk of being poisoned. In the farming community where I live, we’ve had issues with hawks dying off because they were eating poisoned mice and rats, so your wonderful mouse eating skinks would be at risk!
I hope this answers a few of your questions!

 

[Clayton]

Welcome to you and beautiful Jerry! Unfortunately , as you have discovered, mouse problems can definitely crop up when there is bird food in abundance. The absolute best thing you can do is to try to block up any and all access points in your house; anywhere at all that mice might be getting in. Otherwise, they’ll just keep coming in from outside and you’ll never be able to get rid of them. They can fit through an opening the size of a dime. Stuffing steel wool in smaller holes and cracks can be a good deterent. Setting up traps (in places where there is no chance that Jerry can get to them!) and cleaning up the bird food is probably going to be your best bet for eliminating the mice in the house.

As far as rodenticide/ poison goes, you’ve hit the two main reasons I wouldn’t recommend it: One, it puts your bird at risk of being poisoned. Birds love to explore and there’s almost no way you can guarantee that Jerry won’t get into it. The mice could even potentially carry it into his cage. Two, yes, anything that eats the poisoned mice is at risk of being poisoned. In the farming community where I live, we’ve had issues with hawks dying off because they were eating poisoned mice and rats, so your wonderful mouse eating skinks would be at risk!
I hope this answers a few of your questions!

No worries, I thought that might be the case, think I will just make sure to empty his bowls when he goes to sleep and keep setting traps (in places Jerry can't reach.) Thanks for the info!

Also I think I've blocked off their entrance unless they're somehow getting between the glass screen door and and the flyscreen. Going to have a look this morning.

 

[sunbeam]

Jerry is beautiful!!!