Awwwwwwwww they are so cute!

Awww, very sweet. I'm not sure they're mice; I generally think of mice as a bit lighter. Do you know what their tails are like? Could they be moles or voles?

They probably are mice.......or rats...pretty much the same thing.......baby mice even look like baby squirrels a bit.

Sweet now. Vermin next week. Didn't you have a problem last year with them?

Now, now, Mary, you sound just like my son. LOL

I had (still have, I think) a problem with something living under the foundation of the house. That started before Bonzie set up camp here, though. She is a hunter and a half, so I'm not too concerned about this bunch. I just hope they'll have a quick, relatively painless end. I can't imagine they have much of a chance at longevity.

The tails, BTW, look like mice to me. I've never seen a nest like this in all the years I've lived here. I wonder if they could be squirrels, Ruthie. But squirrel would nest in a tree, no?

Field mice are dark.

A google image search brings up a large variety of different looking mice nests and several of the photos look like what you have... so I'd say they were mice.

I think they are cute!

Looks like field mice. I know what I would do :)

I think they're cute, too. I wish they were somewhere else, although living where I do, mice are unavoidable. I'll be interested to see if Bonzie's daughter, my little Peachy, proves to be as skilled a hunter in the house as her mother is outdoors.

When we first moved into this house many years ago, I tried to drown a litter of baby rats much younger than these. I wasn't prepared for how long it took, and what torture it was for the rats. Never again!

I think they are field mice, Susan. And tho I know what should be done I sure wouldn't do it. I can't kill a bug let alone a mammal!

LOL, Susan!

If you want them, more power to you.

My Gabriel and Molly are charged with keeping the little (cute, yes) critters out of my studio. It is a garage, and the mice can just waltz in. Nope - NOT allowed!

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I can't kill a thing either, but I sure wouldn't want them around. The little buggers can be destructive.

I am still haunted by the sight/sound of seeing a hawk grab a songbird and fly away with it. I so wished I had never heard that. And that was at least 3 years ago.

They are cute but so far they've caused about $800 worth of damage in two different cars parked in my driveway. That being said, I would leave them be or move the whole nest as far away from my house as I could.

I think moving the nest would be an exercise in futility. No matter how far away I might place it, the mice can zip back to the house faster than I can even imagine. :-)

I don't want to disturb the nest in case the mother is still around. I have no idea what that status is. Like I said, I think it's only a matter of time before the outside cat discovers them, anyway. In other words, I think this situation is going to go away on its own. Poor mice.

Susan I understand your caring nature, but have you considered this?

Some Facts About Mouse Reproduction

- Scientific name: Mus musculus
- Weight: 20-60 g (varies according to type)
- Life expectancy: 1-3 years (varies according to background, "strain")
- Sexually mature: 4-7 weeks (both males and females)
- Cycle of heats: 4-5 days, continuing all year round
- Gestation period: 19-21 days
- Weight at birth: 1-1,5 g
- Size of litter: 4-14 (even more), average 12 babies

Mare, I live on 30 acres of fields and woods. One little mouse nest is a drop in the bucket.

What would you like me to do? Shoot them? I'm not being sarcastic; I'm serious. I realize mice can be a royal nuisance, but what do you suggest I do with them? (I'm not saying I'll do it, of course......) ;-)

No comment.

LOL, Mare.

I don't know what you meant, but your comment (or lack thereof) prompted me to go take a look at the nest, which I hadn't done since late yesterday. It is now empty. So.....just as I figured.

Case closed.

With the long snout they looked more like voles to me than mice. Voles are very destructive. When they started developing behind my property it made the voles, moles and mice move around. I got a couple of the windup traps. They work real well and can catch a bunch of them. I usually put some poison in there but would dump them into a pail of water, then whack them with a 2x2 to knock them out (or kill them) and leave them to drown if they weren't already dead. No way I wanted them near my place. And they reproduce fast.

Thanks for that visual, Cynic.

You all realize that today is the Catholic feast day honoring St. Francis of Assisi? (the patron saint of animals)

Sleeperblues, I too have seen that happen and it broke my heart. I know that it is the way of the animal kingdom but I don't like seeing it.

No matter what they are/were, I could NEVER kill a living animal. Never.

They look like baby squirrels to me because of the coloring and the ears. We were at a sale where someone brought a rolled up rug for sale. When the rug was unrolled, there were 4 little baby squirrels in it and they looked a lot like what is in your picture.

Get rid of them now, they are so destructive, causes too much problems and damage. Rats, are horrible the destruction they cause inside your house, the chewing they do, they go through it all.

And then the babies, and their babies, and their babies.

They are not cute seeing what they have done living here.

Kathleen, I guess you didn't read the whole thread (and I don't blame you). I'll summarize my previous posts:

Animals of all kinds live on this property; I don't think "getting rid" of one small nest would have any noticeable effect. Plus I'm not an animal killer.

My outdoor cat, however, takes pride in her hunting abilities, and I'm sure she is joined by many other kinds of predators.

I don't know who did what, but the nest is now empty.

Because the nest was badly disturbed and its cover removed, mother mouse may have moved her babies. (Cat move litters at times, too.) Since the cover was removed, a predator may have gotten them. I'm assuming these are mice. They are not voles. Voles have a more pointed snoot and it tends to be hairless, or covered with very short hair.

Baby squirrels and rats look very much alike. Both newborns are practically hairless, but squirrel bqbies are larger. When older a squirrel's tail will be coverd with hair and a rat's tail is bare.

Most self respecting squirrels nest in trees and the upper parts of buildings. Squirrels have been known to invade attics of houses. (I had one such invasion, and so did my neighbor. Red squirrels are trhe worst - chewed a hole in my neighbor's roof.) Squirrels prefer a nest up high. A rat loves buildings and will nest at any elevation in a building or structure.

Voles are burrow dwellers. Typically, they like to burrow next to a foundation of a building.

Ground squirrels dwell in burrows much like a chipmunk. The main difference is that ground squirrels are larger. Our native ground squirrels have 13 lines on their backs, and are called 13 line ground squirrels. Around here, cats go after both chipmunks and ground squirrels. Our ground squirrels have lost the batttle to ferral cats, but somehow, a few wily chipmunks have survived. Chipmunks and ground squirrels are food for coyotes and foxes, too.

Well, call me crazy, but last night I found a mouse hiding under the kitty litter box; one of the cats must've chased it there. I tried to catch it in a glass to put it outside, but those little buggers are fast!

It snuck under the door to the room that I had closed (to keep it in and my cats out), and when I (immediately) opened the door one of the cats already had it in his mouth. The mouse was just frozen; I thought he must be dead already, but I gently got the cat to drop it, and it was alive and still in good shape (a drop of blood, but not deadly).

So - I scooped it up in the glass and took it outside to the woods. Yes, of course I know it'll probably come right back in to the basement, but there was no way I was going to stand by and watch the cat torture and kill it (as they do). I know that's "nature", but I feed my cats well and they don't need mice to round out their diet. I did not scold the cat. He was very proud of himself.

Yup, crazy to some, but I won't kill, or watch an animal be killed, either.