# I have problems



## JawsandChess (Apr 16, 2016)

Honestly, this is basically my country life: cats are barn cats, dogs are guard dogs, even when your guard dogs make up of an old Pomeranian with three teeth and a seven month old boxer shepherd, but what comes out of it is just what you would expect: no mice.

Not even a whisker. But sometimes, my cats even try to help the farmers keep their cornfields pest free, and I witnessed it play out with my three-legged cat Tripod. She came sprinting across the road as fast as her little legs could carry her and laid a stunned rodent at my feet.

And I'm keeping it. It's in a tub with bedding, a glass decorative bowl on its side for a house, and two dishes for food and water. I have a picture of him, but I don't have my phone on me at the moment (yes, I've confirmed it's a him). I wanted to keep him with Spot for a bit, but the guinea pig got scared of him and cowered in the corner.

I'm pretty sure this rodent is a vole, but I'm not sure.


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## LittleMan (Jan 16, 2016)

JawsandChess said:


> Honestly, this is basically my country life: cats are barn cats, dogs are guard dogs, even when your guard dogs make up of an old Pomeranian with three teeth and a seven month old boxer shepherd, but what comes out of it is just what you would expect: no mice.
> 
> Not even a whisker. But sometimes, my cats even try to help the farmers keep their cornfields pest free, and I witnessed it play out with my three-legged cat Tripod. She came sprinting across the road as fast as her little legs could carry her and laid a stunned rodent at my feet.
> 
> ...


Looking forward to seeing the little one!

Sent from my XT1045 using Tapatalk


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## JawsandChess (Apr 16, 2016)

Weell, owning him appears to be short lived. Apparently my mouser got into my room and either assisted in releasing him or she ate him. I'll check my room again.


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## LittleMan (Jan 16, 2016)

JawsandChess said:


> Weell, owning him appears to be short lived. Apparently my mouser got into my room and either assisted in releasing him or she ate him. I'll check my room again.


Ut oh.... 

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## JawsandChess (Apr 16, 2016)

Well when your bad day gets worse, you just keep chugging on...I'm sure he's just hiding somewhere...I hope...I tore up his bedding, though. I wish I had been more careful...


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## JawsandChess (Apr 16, 2016)

FALSE ALARM I FOUND HIM LAST NIGHT WITH THE HELP OF THE MOUSER I THOUGHT ATE HIM. He ate and drank last night (I'm feeding him a mix of guinea pig food and hamster food, and he apparently prefers hamster) and he let me scratch at his head and back. He's zippy (and still a wild animal so I'm being careful with my fingers and not turning into a domesticated one until I'm sure I want to keep him). I put some paper bedding in there and he's burrowing in it, so if I want to check and make sure he's still okay, I just have to watch for the moving bedding. Someone mentioned "Dis" as a name, meaning tooth, and someone else said "well, you already had a Cas and you have a Sam, so you might as will call him Dean and get it over with". Someone else suggested Drift because she has a hamster named Lockdown. "They can be friends," she said.

My brother and I are stumped. At first glance, he said field mouse, but we watched him and noted his short tail and now we're just guessing. Still no picture yet, but I will get one up of him and one of his new home.


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## JawsandChess (Apr 16, 2016)

He appears to be a vole. I'm pretty excited because I've never had one, and after some research, I'm pretty much doing okay (though I may add some dirt in the tub for him to burrow in and add some hay for him as well, also add some fresh greens, berries...the like). I'm also pretty sad because a lot of the sites told me to kill him because he was a pest, but I can't do that. And someone else thought it cruel to put him in a cage since he was used to being outside, but after completing my research, it gets hard for a vole in IL during the winter (as it is attempting to be). So I may keep him till spring or summer. Yes I know, wild animals belong in the wild. But but but.... XD I've taken care of baby birds before (sometimes for months at a time because one named Buzzard wanted to stay with me, so he pulled out his feathers and looked at me like "now try and let me go"). The only bird that kept coming back was Buzzard, who would eat watermelon with me on hot afternoons. Sometimes if I was working in the garden he'd land on my shoulder and bite my ear lobe just enough so I knew he was there, and we'd spend hours like that. I miss him sometimes, but I'm overall glad I found him as a pinky (no feathers, big blue circles for eyes, very big mouth) under the tree after a storm. He spent his first few weeks in a doggy dish XD


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## JawsandChess (Apr 16, 2016)

Here's the lil guy. He's very much still wild as my brother found out when he nipped him XD Skin wasn't broken, but he definitely noticed.


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## betta8 (Sep 9, 2016)

Aww, he is cute! :-D


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## thekinetic (May 22, 2012)

Aww, he doesn't even know he's safe! :3


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## JawsandChess (Apr 16, 2016)

The most annoying part of owning him is that he kicks bedding into his water. Like, who does that? And I hardly see him because he burrows, but that's fine. I hear him chewing food at night, the twerp. I want to give him actual dirt to burrow in instead some day soon, but bedding is much easier to clean (and his urine doesn't smell bad. You definitely notice it when you open the lid, but that's it).


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## thekinetic (May 22, 2012)

That's why when people keep rodents they use water bottles and not dishes. I know both my hamster and gerbils used to kick bedding into their food dishes, and when I say into I mean completely bury them. :3


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## AuntyAmber (Oct 13, 2016)

Jaws, you might be interested to know that small mammals such as voles have been known to actively seek out humane traps which have been set for surveys, because they know there will be food, a comfy bed and a safe nights sleep with no predators. A ranger told me he had rodent (can't remember which species) with a distinctive patch on its head which kept coming back to the same trap every time it was there, even though he knew he would get tipped out and weighed in the morning!

What I am saying is, it is quite possible your little guy will have no objection whatsoever to being kept in your cage, where he knows he will always be warm and fed, and away from predators (except maybe your cat...). Good luck!


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## Zazwaki (Dec 19, 2015)

Georgia's water bowl time to time will have the aspen shavings it. Sometimes completely filling the bowl. I've tried water bottles, but got frustrated with setting them up in a tank(29 gallon) and switched to a bowl. 

He's a cutie alright :grin2:.


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## JawsandChess (Apr 16, 2016)

AuntyAmber said:


> Jaws, you might be interested to know that small mammals such as voles have been known to actively seek out humane traps which have been set for surveys, because they know there will be food, a comfy bed and a safe nights sleep with no predators. A ranger told me he had rodent (can't remember which species) with a distinctive patch on its head which kept coming back to the same trap every time it was there, even though he knew he would get tipped out and weighed in the morning!
> 
> What I am saying is, it is quite possible your little guy will have no objection whatsoever to being kept in your cage, where he knows he will always be warm and fed, and away from predators (except maybe your cat...). Good luck!



Hehe, yeah, I know, but he was caught by my cat. I don't think he walked up to my kitty and asked for a gentle ride back to my house lol. But he does seem rather happy. I have him in a tub right now and cannot set a bottle up yet, but I will hope to be able to mix the bedding with the dirt, or find a better water dish, lol.


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## JawsandChess (Apr 16, 2016)

Update: As if to confirm popular thought that he believes to be safe, I walked upstairs to check on the lil guy and to fill up his food dish and he /shot out of his tunnel, went into the dish and grabbed my fingers/. I was so scared he was gonna bite my fingers off, but he sniffed them, dropped down to grab a piece of food and he started chowing down. During, I scratched behind his ears and his little foot started thumping.

*screaming*


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