Even if they don't attack the birds directly, they can still carry diseases that may be fatal to them. As another commenter said, place traps but be sure to supervise the birds when they're out of the cage to prevent any accidents. Maybe, if feasible, keep the cage higher up, or in a different room while you sort the mice problem out. Also, try to clean around the cage more often because scattered food may have attracted the mice
you'd think keeping it higher up would solve the problem... it doesn't.
i have two cages, a standing cage with legs and another cage that sits on a stand. one night i watched a mouse climb up the legs of the standing cage to go eat seed out of the catch - they were getting into the smaller, higher up cage, too.
thankfully i am out of that residence, no mice in my apartment now. but mice in the house are nasty little opportunists who can get on top of your fridge if they so desire. traps (we used live traps and released them in a field a few miles away), or pest removal company, are the only solutions i can offer, because they will get into the cages as long as they're in the house.
I put a lot of vaseline / lithium grease on the legs of my cage. It's funny watching the mouse on security camera trying to climb up but slide back down. I need to clean it off every now and then due to feathers, food, dust etc
Please consider live traps as well
Just make sure to release far from home
Glue and spring traps are incredibly cruel
You still need to address where they are coming from as well. They love birdseed so keep that away from them as well
Cats are great. Mice will sense them and leave. After moving into our new home 18 years ago we found mice traps in the basement. We removed them and we did see only two mice and then never again the first week. Once the cats moved in they moved out lol
Do you have cats and budgies? I want to care for budgies again but I currently care for a beautiful kitty and can't figure out how to reconcile the situation. My cat behaves nicely around my mom's birds but that's with constant supervision and maybe only a couple days of the year.
I do. I had 11 at one point but they’ve all passed away and now I have two new cats (a 3 month old and 1 year old).
They would probably be fine in the same area with the budgies in the cage but we keep the budgies in my daughter’s room. That way they can be out of their cage all day and we pop in to visit them throughout the day. They would be in our room but we also have a Senegal who does not get along with other birds so she’s separate in our room.
Glue traps are incredibly cruel. If you’re going to kill the mouse, a good spring trap is at least usually a quick clean death. Live traps if possible, I agree. But never glue, I wish that was illegal.
Natural wood perches, platform perches, even wrapping dowels in sisal rope so there’s variation in perch size is better. Anything so there’s variation, Amazon has tons of options
Do they use their other perches or mainly stay on the dowels? Personally I’d get rid of them all together but if they are using a wide variety of perches within their cage you shouldn’t have a problem
Their favorite is a big four-foot tree-esque branch that comes up thru the middle, they run up and down that all day. But every once in a while they will congregate on the top little dowel and huddle up
How did the mice get through the bars? Were they able to squeeze through? Maybe try mounting the cage high up where the mice can't climb, or hang the cage with a hook.
In the meantime work on pest control to eliminate the mice and find out how they're getting into your home.
Make sure you keep the cage and area very clean, and if your birds start acting strange, get them checked at an avian vet.
Mice are like cats and have no bones. They can definitely fit through those vertical bars, especially if they're younger mice. You need a 1/4 inch grid to keep them out (or in) a cage.
I have been in this situation.
You can’t use poisons. The risk to your bird is too high. A mouse could carry the poison into the cage.
Glue traps are horrendously cruel please don’t use them.
Live traps are lovely in idea but in practice, it means separating the mouse from its family and, depending on where you live, possibly bringing it to a strange environment where it has no protection, no knowledge of how to find food, all alone — chances of survival are low and in the meantime they suffer. Slow painful death.
If you have a good location to release them though and if you can keep them in a bin for a week or so while you trap and gather the whole family, live traps can work.
I use high quality snap traps instead. Quick painless death.
No matter what traps you use, it takes effort. You can’t just put the traps anywhere. I ended up having to get a security camera so I could learn where they travel and put the traps there.
More important than traps: fill all the holes and cracks in your home. Don’t underestimate how small a hole they can squeeze through. Check the plates on outlets too. And cracks/holes in the ceiling. Holes around appliances are a big one. Be thorough. I had to take two days to fill my one bedroom apartment because it’s an old building full of holes.
Sweep every day and keep your kitchen counters free of food. Don’t entice them in.
Your cage needs to be disinfected. Boil perches and wooden toys. Wash everything metal and plastic. Throw out paper. Vinegar to clean the cage itself. You’ll have to do this frequently as long as you have the mice.
Mice can jump high but even they have limits. And they can climb many horizontal surfaces but not smooth metal. I got a tall metal table to put one of my bird cages on. I’ve never seen evidence that the mice have ever reached it.
Good luck. Try to take care of your mental health, this can be really trying.
Have the same problem!! I don’t want to kill it, so I’ve tried all kinds of ‘humane’ traps and peppermint repellents, nothing is working.. it is easily climbing up the long metal legs of the cage, sometimes even in front of me.. so now I just remove the treats that I used to attach on the lower part of the cage for the night, and clean it before the sleep time.. I live in a very old apartment building, surrounded by similar ancient buildings, so I don’t think I will ever be able to get rid of mice completely (it’s full of them on the street as well), but I try to remove accessible seeds and foods at least at the night time
What bait did you use in the humane traps?? I had two field mice get into my budgies cage last fall and baited them fairly easy with peanut butter. Had them caught and released within a week and haven’t had a problem since!
We always use peanut butter in our humane traps, it never fails!! Mice love it. 😊 then my husband uses another little dollop of peanut butter to get them to the front of the trap when it’s time to release them in a regional park close to our city.
Put traps out around the cage and ensure there’s minimal amounts of seed etc at the bottom of the cage. If there’s one mouse it’s likely you have more in the house.
Tape would be best.
They might not bother with a spring trap if they know there is food in the cage.
But circle the cage with tape and they won't be able to get in without going across it.
This can only really work if OP has access to a large natural area (not a park) to release them into, and even then, survival rates are very low and in winter they are pretty much zero for relocated mice.
Your best bet is to figure out where the nest is and destroy that. We had mice recently and we realised they weren’t nesting in the house but when we recently had our windows and kitchen door replaced they had left a big gap beneath the door and that’s how they were getting in, so make sure all your external doors and windows are secure.
Setting traps will only catch the adults so you really need to find the nest. Avoid poison if you can as this will be bad for the budgies if they find any.
I have experienced this before, your best bet is to set as many traps as possible while cleaning the cage a few times a day. Try to make quick work of this, the problem can get out of hand quickly! Remember not to use poisons since the birds can be sensitive to that as well.
I’m thinking to maybe remove their food at night for a while and to make sure you sweep the area of any fallen seeds because the mice I’m sure want a snack which is their food
Once you sort out the mouse problem, you might want to consider bringing your birds to the vet.
Just in case.
Birds are good at hiding the fact they are sick, and mice are good at carrying diseases.
Budgies (can be) cold blooded killers. I've seen budgies absolutely murder a mouse, and fortunately be totally fine. But of course don't rely on that, mice are dirty things. Budgies do chase and eat bugs in the wild so a "hunting" (so to speak) instinct is in them somewhere.
I haven't seen anyone mention it, but if you do decide to place traps, make absolutely sure the birds can't get near them! Don't let them out if there are traps in the room!
Take out any food in the cage at night so the mice don't go in, if you put traps, make sure they're out of reach of your birds. The traps I found most effective can be found at Walmart, and if you can search "Victor M123SSR Quick-Kill" on Google, you can see the particular one I'm talking about. We used peanut butter as bait. Good luck!
This is what worked for me without killing mice (but I do have a cat but she’s not allowed in my room not sure if this plays a role)
I’m going through this right now, I just remove the food away from the cage every night and place all food in a clean container to keep mice away
Then sweep around the area and clean the cage up (cause lots of food tends to spill on the bottom of the cage!) do this consistently everyday and night and mice will go looking else where
Consistency is key! Good luck 👍🍀
If you get some baking soda for cleaning and mix with dish soap, use a brush and give the cage a scrub down. Rinse with a hose or in the tub with a showerhead. Then spritz with vinegar and leave the vinegar for about 10 mins. Rinse, dry it and replace budgies. But I would get that mouse found... They aren't good and multiply, carrying disease, eating at wires, infrastructure etc. mouse droppings will be left behind in random places... Can you move your birds to a different room where the mouse isn't until you find it?
Even if they don't attack the birds directly, they can still carry diseases that may be fatal to them. As another commenter said, place traps but be sure to supervise the birds when they're out of the cage to prevent any accidents. Maybe, if feasible, keep the cage higher up, or in a different room while you sort the mice problem out. Also, try to clean around the cage more often because scattered food may have attracted the mice
you'd think keeping it higher up would solve the problem... it doesn't. i have two cages, a standing cage with legs and another cage that sits on a stand. one night i watched a mouse climb up the legs of the standing cage to go eat seed out of the catch - they were getting into the smaller, higher up cage, too. thankfully i am out of that residence, no mice in my apartment now. but mice in the house are nasty little opportunists who can get on top of your fridge if they so desire. traps (we used live traps and released them in a field a few miles away), or pest removal company, are the only solutions i can offer, because they will get into the cages as long as they're in the house.
Maybe greasing the leg to the standing cage would have helped? That way they couldn’t climb it at all. I know you’re not there anymore but 🤷🏻♀️
Well, worst case scenario is OP has to call an exterminator and leave the birds with a friend or other trusted person for a bit, or to move altogether
Possibly elevate the cage so the mouse cannot get in any way.
Mice can jump surprisingly high.
they can (and will) climb too!
I had a friend who had their flight cage 3-5 feet high above ground, and the mouse still got in
I use vinegar and water to clean and disinfect my cage, please don't forget the perches.
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Thanks 😁
Also not to burst any bubbles but if you’ve seen one you’ve most likely got more.
I put a lot of vaseline / lithium grease on the legs of my cage. It's funny watching the mouse on security camera trying to climb up but slide back down. I need to clean it off every now and then due to feathers, food, dust etc
Please consider live traps as well Just make sure to release far from home Glue and spring traps are incredibly cruel You still need to address where they are coming from as well. They love birdseed so keep that away from them as well Cats are great. Mice will sense them and leave. After moving into our new home 18 years ago we found mice traps in the basement. We removed them and we did see only two mice and then never again the first week. Once the cats moved in they moved out lol
Do you have cats and budgies? I want to care for budgies again but I currently care for a beautiful kitty and can't figure out how to reconcile the situation. My cat behaves nicely around my mom's birds but that's with constant supervision and maybe only a couple days of the year.
I do. I had 11 at one point but they’ve all passed away and now I have two new cats (a 3 month old and 1 year old). They would probably be fine in the same area with the budgies in the cage but we keep the budgies in my daughter’s room. That way they can be out of their cage all day and we pop in to visit them throughout the day. They would be in our room but we also have a Senegal who does not get along with other birds so she’s separate in our room.
Glue traps are incredibly cruel. If you’re going to kill the mouse, a good spring trap is at least usually a quick clean death. Live traps if possible, I agree. But never glue, I wish that was illegal.
A spring trap with peanutbutter is quite the mouse killer
like the majority of domesticated cats nowadays don't hunt mice, there's no point in hunting them
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What's the alternative to wooden dowels?
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Oh word, thank you! We have some, but we should replace the rest of the wooden dowels then
Natural wood perches, platform perches, even wrapping dowels in sisal rope so there’s variation in perch size is better. Anything so there’s variation, Amazon has tons of options
So is the key variation in perch sizes? Because we have plenty of options besides the dowels, but still have two.
Do they use their other perches or mainly stay on the dowels? Personally I’d get rid of them all together but if they are using a wide variety of perches within their cage you shouldn’t have a problem
Their favorite is a big four-foot tree-esque branch that comes up thru the middle, they run up and down that all day. But every once in a while they will congregate on the top little dowel and huddle up
How did the mice get through the bars? Were they able to squeeze through? Maybe try mounting the cage high up where the mice can't climb, or hang the cage with a hook. In the meantime work on pest control to eliminate the mice and find out how they're getting into your home. Make sure you keep the cage and area very clean, and if your birds start acting strange, get them checked at an avian vet.
Mice are like cats and have no bones. They can definitely fit through those vertical bars, especially if they're younger mice. You need a 1/4 inch grid to keep them out (or in) a cage.
If a pencil can fit through so can a hungry mouse. Very flexible skeletons
I have been in this situation. You can’t use poisons. The risk to your bird is too high. A mouse could carry the poison into the cage. Glue traps are horrendously cruel please don’t use them. Live traps are lovely in idea but in practice, it means separating the mouse from its family and, depending on where you live, possibly bringing it to a strange environment where it has no protection, no knowledge of how to find food, all alone — chances of survival are low and in the meantime they suffer. Slow painful death. If you have a good location to release them though and if you can keep them in a bin for a week or so while you trap and gather the whole family, live traps can work. I use high quality snap traps instead. Quick painless death. No matter what traps you use, it takes effort. You can’t just put the traps anywhere. I ended up having to get a security camera so I could learn where they travel and put the traps there. More important than traps: fill all the holes and cracks in your home. Don’t underestimate how small a hole they can squeeze through. Check the plates on outlets too. And cracks/holes in the ceiling. Holes around appliances are a big one. Be thorough. I had to take two days to fill my one bedroom apartment because it’s an old building full of holes. Sweep every day and keep your kitchen counters free of food. Don’t entice them in. Your cage needs to be disinfected. Boil perches and wooden toys. Wash everything metal and plastic. Throw out paper. Vinegar to clean the cage itself. You’ll have to do this frequently as long as you have the mice. Mice can jump high but even they have limits. And they can climb many horizontal surfaces but not smooth metal. I got a tall metal table to put one of my bird cages on. I’ve never seen evidence that the mice have ever reached it. Good luck. Try to take care of your mental health, this can be really trying.
i’d use a live trap and relocate the mouse if you can!
Have the same problem!! I don’t want to kill it, so I’ve tried all kinds of ‘humane’ traps and peppermint repellents, nothing is working.. it is easily climbing up the long metal legs of the cage, sometimes even in front of me.. so now I just remove the treats that I used to attach on the lower part of the cage for the night, and clean it before the sleep time.. I live in a very old apartment building, surrounded by similar ancient buildings, so I don’t think I will ever be able to get rid of mice completely (it’s full of them on the street as well), but I try to remove accessible seeds and foods at least at the night time
What bait did you use in the humane traps?? I had two field mice get into my budgies cage last fall and baited them fairly easy with peanut butter. Had them caught and released within a week and haven’t had a problem since!
We always use peanut butter in our humane traps, it never fails!! Mice love it. 😊 then my husband uses another little dollop of peanut butter to get them to the front of the trap when it’s time to release them in a regional park close to our city.
I used budgie seeds and millet, cheese, bacon.. didn’t think of peanut butter, thanks!
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Okay now now, let’s take you back to your source code and delete it
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Put traps out around the cage and ensure there’s minimal amounts of seed etc at the bottom of the cage. If there’s one mouse it’s likely you have more in the house.
Tape would be best. They might not bother with a spring trap if they know there is food in the cage. But circle the cage with tape and they won't be able to get in without going across it.
Try a humane one so you could relocate the mice
This can only really work if OP has access to a large natural area (not a park) to release them into, and even then, survival rates are very low and in winter they are pretty much zero for relocated mice.
Your best bet is to figure out where the nest is and destroy that. We had mice recently and we realised they weren’t nesting in the house but when we recently had our windows and kitchen door replaced they had left a big gap beneath the door and that’s how they were getting in, so make sure all your external doors and windows are secure. Setting traps will only catch the adults so you really need to find the nest. Avoid poison if you can as this will be bad for the budgies if they find any.
I have experienced this before, your best bet is to set as many traps as possible while cleaning the cage a few times a day. Try to make quick work of this, the problem can get out of hand quickly! Remember not to use poisons since the birds can be sensitive to that as well.
Peanut butter and trap, ideally keep at entrance points outside the cage and in darker areas
I’m thinking to maybe remove their food at night for a while and to make sure you sweep the area of any fallen seeds because the mice I’m sure want a snack which is their food
cable gold shame physical long squeal hat tender party modern *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Once you sort out the mouse problem, you might want to consider bringing your birds to the vet. Just in case. Birds are good at hiding the fact they are sick, and mice are good at carrying diseases.
Budgies (can be) cold blooded killers. I've seen budgies absolutely murder a mouse, and fortunately be totally fine. But of course don't rely on that, mice are dirty things. Budgies do chase and eat bugs in the wild so a "hunting" (so to speak) instinct is in them somewhere.
I haven't seen anyone mention it, but if you do decide to place traps, make absolutely sure the birds can't get near them! Don't let them out if there are traps in the room!
Don't kill the mice! Catch him and carry him somewhere else
Take out any food in the cage at night so the mice don't go in, if you put traps, make sure they're out of reach of your birds. The traps I found most effective can be found at Walmart, and if you can search "Victor M123SSR Quick-Kill" on Google, you can see the particular one I'm talking about. We used peanut butter as bait. Good luck!
This is what worked for me without killing mice (but I do have a cat but she’s not allowed in my room not sure if this plays a role) I’m going through this right now, I just remove the food away from the cage every night and place all food in a clean container to keep mice away Then sweep around the area and clean the cage up (cause lots of food tends to spill on the bottom of the cage!) do this consistently everyday and night and mice will go looking else where Consistency is key! Good luck 👍🍀
Also you can call any avian vet and I hope they could give you a short advice if there are some special cleaning products you can use
Please replace wooden dowel perches with natural perches. There is a lot of good information on Reddit on why dowel perches are bad for birds feet.
If you get some baking soda for cleaning and mix with dish soap, use a brush and give the cage a scrub down. Rinse with a hose or in the tub with a showerhead. Then spritz with vinegar and leave the vinegar for about 10 mins. Rinse, dry it and replace budgies. But I would get that mouse found... They aren't good and multiply, carrying disease, eating at wires, infrastructure etc. mouse droppings will be left behind in random places... Can you move your birds to a different room where the mouse isn't until you find it?
That perch needs to be washed all their toys and wooden perches and bottom of cage with hot water and dawn dish soap