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Talk about "off topic"........
Well this is really pathetic but here's the deal.......I feed the squirrels and birds in my backyard and noticed a small mouse eating under the squirrel feeder one day. Well today mama (or papa) and 4 baby mice were scampering all over my patio in broad daylight having the time of their life. They live in my neighbors ivy I think (that's where they kept coming from). If I could verify that these are NOT deer mice (deer mice carry a very dangerous virus) then I'd trap them live and take them far far far away (and I mean FARRRRRRRRR AWAY). But if they are deer mice then I'll have to have an exterminator deal with them.

I HATE killing these animals.....so I'm asking your help in identifying whether they are deer mice or not. I found pictures of deer mice and it appears they have white underneath their tail. These mice don't appear to have white underneath their tail but then some pictures it appears they don't have any hair on the tails at all so I'm confused.

There is one other odd thing.......they all have some kind of protrusion coming from their "end" under their tail. At first I thought it was their, well, "you know whats" but even the 4 babies have them.........unless all five of them were males.....but it looked more like a protrusion than "you know whats".

How embarassing..........well anyway, here's a few quick pictures........any help is appreciated.

These pictues were taken with a zoom lense so they look bigger than they are.....papa/mama is about 3-4 inches long? Babies about 2 inches

Ya know, I thought this was gonna be a question I could answer with PS/2 or serial or USB.

Mighty Mouse....

The pictures you have there show what appears to me to be what is commonly but mistakenly referred to as a "field mouse," and it is most assuredly male.

A "true" North American Field Mouse is actually a Meadow Vole, which has a different body shape and a tail much shorter than its body.

What you have pictured is quite likely a White Footed mouse, which has a tail longer than its body, while a deer mouse tail is about equal to the length of its body. If its back feet were smaller it might be a house mouse (mus musculus) due to the bare feet and tail, but I am still voting for White Footed. Deer Mouse ears are usually darker, but White Footed Mice usually have a white belly.

Both are known to carry hantavirus and can act as a conduit for Lyme Disease.

Many years ago I raised mice.

Looks like a mouse that's too alive.

Probably a common “House Mouse� judging from the color, shape of head and length of tail:

http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/mus_musc.htm

But they could be any number of the mice/rats we have in Texas (take your pick):

http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/ordroden.htm

Regardless, they need to go!

agbullet2k1 wrote:Looks like a mouse that's too alive.

An interesting quote coming from a guy with a gopher in his sig.

Seriously, they're actually pretty cute, till they take up residence in your house and leave droppings everywhere, and crawl into walls and die.

To answer the question, the "house mouse" (mus musculus) looks closer to the pictures you have than any other, including the white-footed, so that's my guess.

I don't know if mice have this characteristic or not, but I know that rats do not have any capacity for bladder control, and thus, they are constantly "dribbling" on whatever surface they are crawling over. In the rat world, that is a good thing, since they have terrible eyesight and they rely heavily on their whiskers and sense of smell to navigate their environment. In the human world, it means that everything they touch is covered in rat pee - not such a good proposition. In any case, if mice have the same "affliction," it would be a very good argument for exterminating them wherever you find them inside your domicile, garage, barn, etc.

Morn'
Being from a rural background, You need a cat.

Liko81 wrote:

agbullet2k1 wrote:Looks like a mouse that's too alive.

An interesting quote coming from a guy with a gopher in his sig.

Seriously, they're actually pretty cute, till they take up residence in your house and leave droppings everywhere, and crawl into walls and die.

To answer the question, the "house mouse" (mus musculus) looks closer to the pictures you have than any other, including the white-footed, so that's my guess.

That would be a prairie dog. Many years ago I raised one as a pet. Wonderful and social creatures. Would rather not hear about people who kill PD's for the "fun" of it. Those persons are not sportsman in any sense of the word. There are many legitimate reasons for terminating PD's I will admit however.

old farmer wrote:Morn'
Being from a rural background, You need a cat.

first thought in my head...

Liko81 wrote:

agbullet2k1 wrote:Looks like a mouse that's too alive.

An interesting quote coming from a guy with a gopher in his sig.

Seriously, they're actually pretty cute, till they take up residence in your house and leave droppings everywhere, and crawl into walls and die.

To answer the question, the "house mouse" (mus musculus) looks closer to the pictures you have than any other, including the white-footed, so that's my guess.

You have to respect a rodent with a machine gun.

Well thanks for all the information. I guess I need to "bait" the neighbors ivy where the mice are living. More mice will come from everywhere else in the neighborhood I would think but I guess the bait will keep killing whatever comes over here to eat. Unless I see some I'll never know if they are there or not. I've been in this house nearly a year and this is the first time I've seen the "family" (haven't seen them today). Guess a couple of them "moved in" when I started feeding the squirrels and birds. I was hoping to relocate them and be done with it but I don't think that is going to be the case. I was going to ask the neighbor to get rid of her ivy because she's said before she didn't care if it was there or not. But then I'm afraid the mice will run into my yard and/or my garage. So I guess it's best I exterminate them and then talk to my neighbor.

I know they are mice but I still hate killing them, especially if more are just going to come over anyway. But I guess I'd better take care of the problem. With those big ears I was hoping they were some kind of harmless field mouse that would just live in the ivy and leave my house alone but a few of you said you thought they might be house mice in which case I guess it's not a good thing to keep them around.

I am a cat lover and thought of a cat but then the cat would get my birds and squirrels....so that's not an option right now.

Again, thanks for all the info....even the Micky Mouse and Mighty Mouse suggestions

uh how about its a mouse what difference does it rely make in the long run

Oh I know a mouse is a mouse.....but some carry different viruses/disease than others. I guess I was just hoping to not have to kill them. They're a rodent just like the squirrels I feed but I guess they may get out of hand population-wise.

I'm going to try to get rid of my neighors ivy, move the bird seed and water up off the ground and see if the mice will just move on. Not sure moving the feed will help since the birds are messy and normally throw the seeds everywhere, even when in an above the ground bird feeder. So removing the ivy I think may be the key. There's not that much to cut down, just mainly on the other side of my fence. When I moved here the neighor already mentioned she didn't care if I cut back or killed the ivy. Now that I think of it, maybe killing the ivy rather than just cutting it back would even be better. That way all the vegetation would be removed.