Mice

Constraint – Mice

Appearance

• Mice are small, brown furred, short haired rodents with pronounced front teeth and a long hairless tail

Symptoms

• Mice can cause damage in crop paddocks immediately after sowing by digging into loose soil to consume seeds

• They also eat the newly sprouted seedlings before and after they emerge from the soil

• Mice also gnaw at the nodes on the stems of maturing wheat causing developing seed heads to fall

Damage

• In maturing crops of wheat losses of up to 30 per cent have been reported

Control

Once a widespread mouse plague has developed, it is unlikely that any eradication program will have much effect on mouse numbers. If control measures are to be at all effective, they need to be applied as early as possible in the breeding season and should aim at reducing the ability of mice to live and breed in areas near crops, storage facilities and buildings. Effecient harvest and storage of grain, as well as removal of stubble and remnant vegetation can decrease food supplies for mice. Baiting and natural predators can also decrease populations.

Links and Resources

CSIRO - Mice 4 page PDF. Introduction, best practices for control, monitoring, and assessing losses.

CSIRO - Mice plagues 2 page PDF. Information on mouse plagues, and minimising damage.

DEPI VIC - Mice Introduction, behaviour, damage, monitoring, control, predators, and human health. Publisehd 2012, updated 2012.

GRDC - Mice 4 page PDF. Introduction, observation and monitoring, control and frequently asked questions. Published 2011.

GRDC - Mouse management 6 page PDF. Crop damage, observation and monitoring, mouse plague dynamics, measuring numbers and breeding status, management and control, economic threshold, limiting population buildup, and frequently asked questions. Published 2011.