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We're all animal lovers, right? Well... yes and no. Lories are tops on my list. And at the bottom are
several "problems" including mice. As pets, mice are just fine. But as home and aviary invaders, they
are destructive little disease carriers. They chew up everything, they make a stinky mess, and many carry
salmonella.
Some homes and aviaries may in fact be "mouse-proof." However, most are not. Leave the tiniest crack, and
they mice will come. That's just the way it is. In the city it may take longer. In the country, it will be
sooner. Trust me on this.
If you suspect mice in your aviary, the first thing to do is raise the food so the mice can't reach it.
You can attach the feeding platform to a wall — if the wall is slippery. If it isn't, then up the
wall the mice will come. A better method is to hang the feeding platform from the ceiling. Three feet up is definitely
a safe height, as mice can't jump out of a large trash can. Two feet up will probably work too.
Use common sense to avoid feeding or watering the mice. For example, put a second, wider platform under
the primary feeding platform. The second platform will keep (some) dropped food off the floor.
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Another method is to place traps outside the aviary. Some types of traps can be used inside the aviary,
but obviously not if they are a risk to the birds.
Yet another method is simple mouse hunting. This is actually easier than it sounds. The weapon of choice
is the paintball gun. A direct hit on a mouse is totally and instantly fatal. However, paintballs
don't permanently damage walls or floors, and they don't bounce off of stone. In otherwords, you can kill
the mice without blowing holes in your house.
The hunting method is simple. Leave a red light on at night. This light can actually be relatively bright.
Then sit in a chair a few feet from a known food source. You can sing songs or whistle to help the mice
become accustomed to your presence. Then start blasting. Make sure every shot is clean — you don't want
the mice to learn that you're a killer... until it's too late.
If you feel bad about all of this blasting, just remember that failure to act may mean the death of your
birds. The world will always have plenty of mice. But you have relatively few birds... and so it goes.
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