Since early 2021 much of regional Australia is experiencing a mouse plague.
The rodents have kept multiplying through the summer, and are expected to continue to do so even through the winter, potentially threatening crops.
Now look at the result! It’s apocalyptic:
Check out the mice at Collie! East of Warren. @ABCRural
— Hugh Hogan (@Hughiehogan) February 1, 2021
Video courtesy of @harry_gaynor pic.twitter.com/pLwkfTpODW
Hundreds of thousands of mice are ransacking sheds and houses, getting onto and into everything across NSW, Qld, SA and Victoria, Australia.
The rodents are munching through crops and wiring, and to the horror of home owners they’ve even been found in bags of bread.
The whole district smells of mice.
Why this mouse plague?
Rainfall and good harvest last year contributes to allowing the mice to spike in numbers.
“Mice start breeding when they’re six weeks old, and have a litter every 19 to 20 days after that. They can have up to 10 pups per litter, which means the rate of increase is really dramatic,” he said.
“As soon as they have a litter of pups they fall pregnant again. They gestate the next litter while feeding the previous one.”
Farmers around Coonamble were lucky enough to have harvested before the infestation there began increasing in scale. But there is a risk the mice could continue breeding until autumn and threaten the next crop.
During a previous mouse plague in 1984, a farmer was shown on the evening news using a flamethrower to wipe out mice eating his crops.
A good cold snap, or lots of rain will do it. All their holes in the ground get filled up and they die.
Another hope is that when the rodents multiply too quickly, they tend to deplete their food sources, spread disease among each other and start to eat their offspring. That makes the population crash away rapidly. Maybe they should think about sending an army of killer hornets. They do a great job!
Meanwhile, the mouse plague continue and it’s not going to end in the near future (weather forecast are good!).
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Mouse and rats make great fertilizer. Bury the dead ones among your garden.
Can’t help but think maybe a judgment from God on Australia for their tyrannical medical dictatorship. We saw the horrific videos of cops beating citizens up in what is supposedly a free country where civil liberties are still respected. Can’t help but think that in the U.S. God’s disapproval will manifest itself in the case of our illegal, illegitimate president and his administration, the result of massive fraud. Hard to see how the good Lord who says, “Thou shalt not steal” and who hates all liars would bless a fraudster president.
Australian government declares war on feral cats in bid to save native animals…
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/16/australian-government-declares-war-on-feral-cats-in-bid-to-save-endangered-species
The Australian government has pledged to kill two million feral cats and create new safe havens for native animals in an attempt to improve the fortunes of 20 mammal, 20 bird and 30 plant species that are at risk of extinction.
Federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, unveiled a five-year threatened species strategy at Melbourne zoo on Thursday, promising to “halt and reverse the threats to our magnificent endemic species”.
maybe another origin of this plague! Thanks!
Well, mice varmints plague every rancher. Here’s how I prune down the numbers.
• Get a swivel top office trashcan.
• Fill with 5 inches of water
• Spread peanut butter on swivel top.
• Put can near woodpile or area of mousetivity.
I killed 102 in 30 days. Mice jump on the swivel top, and slide into the water. Take them out the next day, or the water smells foul.
Then I feed them to the wild owls near where they roost.
Take some cracked corn and put it down under the trees the owls roost in too. That way, they can pick off mice varmints at their leisure. My record night was night two, 14 kills.
If you’re wondering why mice steal the bait on snap traps, try crazy glue and dog kibble on bait tray. Nails ’em 95% of the time, and you can reuse the bait as it is stuck. Just add a dab of peanut butter.
Poisons are bad. They work great, but other animals can die from eating the poisoned mouse. Poison now is a blood thinner, so people assume it’s not as harsh. It is though. We discourage new ranchers from using it. We teach them better methods.
That’s great of you to teach others not to use poison.