jenniferatemple said:
But heck, I trap mice in the kitchen sink to avoid killing them. I hate to kill if there is any other option.
I have friends who trapped mice in a similar way when they had mice. They took them to a nearby public park. My husband prefers to deal with the holes that let the mice in. I would rather they stay outside to feed the raptors we have hanging around in the winter.
We used to do so many things to kill/remove wildlife that I regret it. It's been interesting, most of those things we found pests have benefits, not only as food for other animals. Moles give free aeration to the yard as they eat the grubs. Opossums can eat about 5, 000 ticks a year because of their meticulous cleaning habits and they cannot get rabies because their body temperature is too low. If they raid my bird feeders at night, I figure it is payment for all those ticks they consume in our pasture.
We were a little nervous early this summer, when we had too many rabbits and squinneys. Others wanted to deal with them, but I told them to just wait. We lost some cabbage and a rabbit started gnawing on a newly planted Serviceberry. We chicken wired those and had no further problem... and the populations dropped without us doing a thing.
We're starting to see more signs of deer, but unknowingly I planted things that repel them... they do not like strong scents as they need to smell for predators and I put Monarda all over the place for pollinators. Also, I am hoping they do more damage to the tree line. My husband doesn't want to get rid of it, but said he won't plant more. I want prairie and a tree line breaks that up the habitat.
